Greenway Plantation


Greenway Plantation is a wood-frame, 1 1/2-story plantation house in Charles City County, Virginia. Route 5, an east-west road, passes to the south of this property. Located just west of the county seat Charles City Courthouse, Virginia, Greenway is one of Charles City's earliest and most distinctive Colonial plantations. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Physical description

The plantation comprises approximately and consists of several outbuildings in addition to the main house. The frame structures have beaded clapboard siding and wood-covered gable rooflines. The main structure is symmetrical in its front, southern facade and possesses the end chimneys so characteristic of southern Colonial structures. It has a unique T-shaped plan and the brick foundation walls are constructed mainly of Flemish bond, with the exception of a few areas where an English brick bond is possible evidence of additions.

History

Greenway was built circa 1776 by Judge John Tyler, Sr., the father of president John Tyler. Future President Tyler was born here in 1790. When Judge Tyler died in 1813, John Tyler at the age of 23 inherited Greenway. He lived there until age 39, when he sold the plantation and moved to nearby Sherwood Forest Plantation. Although its architecture has significance, the historical colonial and federal figures associated with the plantation are the most notable facts about it.

Present use

The plantation is privately owned and maintained. The structures have remained well-preserved over the years with little alteration; they have been measured, photographed, and drawn for preservation by the Historic American Buildings Survey of the Library of Congress.