The plantation is located two miles South of the campus of Hampden–Sydney College and Worsham in Prince Edward County, Virginia.[1][2][3] It spans 252 acres.[2]
History
The land was granted to Joseph Morton in 1739.[2][4]
The main house on the plantation was built in 1756 by Nathaniel Venable (1733–1804), who served in the House of Burgesses from 1766 to 1768.[1][3][5][6] The house is one story and a half, with a kitchen in another building to reduce the risk of fire.[5][7] About a hundred slaves worked on the plantation, which was used to grow tobacco.[5][7][8]
Since 2006, Dr. Charles Pearson and his students have been restoring the plantation.[1][2] They have unearthed ceramics dating back to the 1790s.[2] Some of those ceramics have been identified as made by the Leeds Pottery in 1783.[2] They have also found animal remains like pig teeth.[2] Simultaneously, the Esther Thomas Atkinson Museum on the H–SC campus has had an exhibit about the plantation called Beneath This Hill: Historical Archaeology at Slate Hill Plantation, Birthplace of Hampden–Sydney College.[1]
Further reading
Joseph Dupuy Eggleston. Historic Slate Hill Plantation in Virginia. 1945. Volume 355. 24 pages.[11]