Richneck Plantation

Richneck Plantation was located on the Virginia Peninsula on the northern shore of the James River between Hampton Roads and Jamestown in the English colony of Virginia. The Richneck manor house's foundation was discovered during construction of the George J. McIntosh elementary school (named for a modern Newport News educator), and became an archeological dig, then listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]

Richneck Plantation Archeological Site
Richneck Plantation is located in Virginia
Richneck Plantation
Richneck Plantation is located in the United States
Richneck Plantation
Location185 Richneck Road, Newport News, Virginia
Coordinates37°8′48.4″N 76°31′44.7″W
Area2.7 acres (1.1 ha)
NRHP reference No.77001535[1]
VLR No.121-0028
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 8, 1977
Designated VLRFebruary 17, 1976 [2]

The earliest proprietor of Richneck Plantation was Robert Rich, second Earl of Warwick and a prominent member of the Virginia Company.[4] The Warwick River, Warwick River Shire, and Warwick County were all named for him. Warwick Towne was the first county seat, succeeded by this plantation under Miles Cary, discussed below.

In 1628, Zachariah Cripps patented this area, and later sold the land to Miles Cary Sr., who lived nearby at Windmill Point. After he died repelling Dutch invaders in 1667, it was inherited by his son Miles Cary (1655-1709), who after he came of age, constructed a manor house and lived there with his wife, Mary Milner, and family. Richneck became one of the most important plantations of the Cary family, one of the First Families of Virginia, with many members who served in legislative and government offices. It was successively inherited by Col. Wilson Cary (1703-1772) and his son Col. Wilson Miles Cary (1734-1817), both of whom successively served as legislators, as well as naval officers for the Lower James River before the American Revolutionary War. Wilson Miles Cary signed the Association of 1774 and sided with the patriots during the American Revolutionary War. They also farmed using enslaved labor. The Richneck plantation house burned in 1865, at the end of the American Civil War, and visited by a descendant, Wilson Miles Cary in 1868.[5]

Richneck Road remains in the Denbigh area of the modern independent city of Newport News, Virginia.

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Virginia Landmarks Register" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  3. "Richneck Plantation Site". National Park Services. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  4. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Warwick, Sir Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 340.
  5. Virginia Magazine, Vol. 9, p. 106


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