Greenway Plantation

Greenway Plantation is a historic wood-frame plantation house and former agricultural estate in Charles City County, Virginia. It is located just west of Charles City Courthouse, with Historic Route 5 and the Virginia Capital Trail passing nearby. The property is one of Charles City's early Colonial-era plantations and is particularly notable for its associations with Judge John Tyler Sr. and his son, John Tyler, who later became the tenth president of the United States. The principal house was built around 1776 by Judge John Tyler Sr. The approximately one-and-a-half-story structure has a distinctive T-shaped plan, a symmetrical south-facing facade, beaded clapboard siding, wood-covered gable rooflines, and end chimneys characteristic of Southern Colonial architecture. Its brick foundation is primarily laid in Flemish bond, although sections displaying possible English bond may indicate later additions or alterations. The estate historically included several outbuildings and covered approximately 1,100 acres, or about 4.5 square kilometers. John Tyler was born at Greenway in 1790. He inherited the property after his father's death in 1813, when he was 23 years old, and lived there until 1829. At age 39, Tyler sold Greenway and moved to nearby Sherwood Forest Plantation. The site's historical importance therefore extends beyond its architecture: it documents the early Virginia environment of a future U.S. president and the social and agricultural structure of a large plantation estate. Historical documentation also records that as many as 16 enslaved people lived at Greenway. Their presence forms part of the property's history as a Virginia plantation and reflects the labor system on which many such estates depended. The available reference material does not identify these individuals by name or provide a fuller account of their lives. Greenway Plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. It remains privately owned and maintained rather than operating as a conventional consumer brand, public attraction, or commercial hospitality business. The buildings have reportedly experienced little alteration and have been documented through the Historic American Buildings Survey of the Library of Congress, including photographs, measured drawings, and descriptive pages. Greenway should therefore be understood as a historic property and cultural-heritage site, not as a commercial plantation brand.

Greenway Plantation is an early Virginia plantation property in Charles City County, situated near the county courthouse and close to the routes that connect the historic communities of Williamsburg and Richmond. The surviving main house is a wood-frame, one-and-a-half-story building that dates to approximately 1776. Judge John Tyler Sr. is identified as its builder. Tyler was a Virginia judge and the father of John Tyler, who later served as president of the United States. The house represents a Colonial-era Southern plantation residence. Its front southern elevation is symmetrical, while its overall plan is unusually T-shaped. Beaded clapboard covers the frame walls, and the gabled rooflines are wood-covered. End chimneys emphasize the building's traditional Southern Colonial character. The foundation is constructed chiefly of brick laid in Flemish bond, with portions that may show English bond and could reflect additions or changes made over time. The property historically consisted of the principal dwelling and multiple outbuildings set within an estate of approximately 1,100 acres. John Tyler was born at Greenway in 1790. After Judge Tyler died in 1813, the 23-year-old John Tyler inherited the plantation. He remained there until 1829, when he sold Greenway and relocated to Sherwood Forest Plantation nearby. Tyler's connection gives Greenway national political significance in addition to its architectural value, although the property is chiefly interpreted as a historic house and plantation landscape rather than as a presidential institution. Greenway's history also includes the lives and labor of enslaved people. Historical descriptions state that as many as 16 enslaved individuals lived at the plantation. The supplied sources do not provide names or detailed biographies, but this fact is essential to understanding Greenway as a plantation rather than merely as an architectural artifact. The estate's operation belonged to the broader system of slavery that shaped Virginia's economy and society before the Civil War. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. It is privately owned and maintained, and the structures are described as having survived with relatively little alteration. Preservation documentation has been produced through the Historic American Buildings Survey of the Library of Congress, which recorded the property with photographs, measured drawings, and written documentation. Greenway is consequently significant both as a surviving eighteenth-century Virginia house and as a documented site associated with the Tyler family, plantation history, and the development of historic preservation records.

• 1969

  National Register listing

  [1]Greenway Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Greenway Plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

• 1829

  John Tyler sells Greenway

  [1]Greenway Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  John Tyler sold the plantation and moved to nearby Sherwood Forest Plantation.

• 1813

  John Tyler inherits the property

  [1]Greenway Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Following the death of Judge John Tyler Sr., his 23-year-old son John Tyler inherited Greenway.

• 1790

  Birth of John Tyler at Greenway

  [1]Greenway Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  John Tyler, the future tenth president of the United States, was born at Greenway Plantation.

• 1776

  Construction of Greenway Plantation

  [1]Greenway Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Judge John Tyler Sr. built the principal plantation house in Charles City County, Virginia, around this period.

A privately maintained Virginia historic property valued for its Colonial-era architecture, association with John Tyler, and documentation of plantation-era history.

1. 1Greenway Plantationen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Greenway, State Route 5 vicinity, Charles City, Charles City, VAloc.gov