James River Plantations

The river sits behind this view, of course.

On Wednesday morning we drove 35 miles out on Va. Rt. 5, a very rural road, to see a couple of the James River Plantations. The river was the primary means of travel in Colonial times and you can see why when you take this drive. It is really the back of beyond. My overriding thought the whole time was "how did these people manage to get to these places--let alone get materials and provisions out here?" The only way possible a couple of hundred years ago was the rivers. Shirley Plantation is still the home of the original family who built the place way back when. They have taken good care of it and still farm corn, cotton, and soy beans. I loved the little dovecote until I read that they liked fresh quail or dove for dinner. Of course, I have a nice choice of restaurants which they didn't. There is that

After Shirley, we stopped in to see Berkeley Plantation, home of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and William Henry Harrison, the 9th President of the United States.

Not very good pictures: there was a lot of shrubbery around the house and it was hard to get a good angle on it. The second picture shows you the garden path to the river. Look at the bark on this tree; I don't know what kind of tree it is, but it was so smooth you couldn't help but run your hand along it.