Central Hall

Colonel William Preston: William Preston (December 25, 1729 - June 28, 1783) was the oldest son of John and Elizabeth (Patton) Preston and was born on December 25, 1729 in Newtown-Limavady, Donegal, Ireland. Preston immigrated to America in 1738, settling in Augusta County, VA with his family: father, mother, uncle (Colonel James Patton) and 3 sisters: Letitia, Margaret and Ann.

Preston was involved in the House of Burgesses (1765 - 1770) which is where he gained much of his inspiration for the design of his future home of Smithfield. Through his career, he would go on to serve as a local militia unit leader, a county surveyor, a county sheriff and was a signer of the Fincastle Resolutions in 1775. The Fincastle Resolutions are often seen as a precursory document to the Declaration of Independence. Preston also served in the French and Indian War as well as the Revolutionary War.

Preston married Susanna Smith Preston (January 23, 1740 - June 19, 1823) in 1761 and the pair settled briefly in Augusta County VA, before moving to and settling at Greenfield Plantation, in current day Botetourt County. Eventually, they would move to Smithfield (1774) and Smithfield would become the main family seat/household. William and Susanna are the heads of the Preston Family that we discuss on the tour with guests - any other Prestons referred to on the tour are children, grandchildren or later descendants.

To access the slideshow about Greenfield:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1D-4tuJeorTLlxvzprZrZwxiVtWlCmrkDqWDjgXvtgWw/edit?usp=sharing

Smithfield Timeline:

“William Preston had been surveying land in the New River Valley since the early 1750s and by the early 1770s had come to own considerable acreage there himself. By then, European settlement and the business of surveying land was expanding westward, and Preston came to see that Greenfield would soon be inconveniently distant from the focus of that business. As a result, in the early 1770s Preston purchased several contiguous tracts of land along Stroubles Creek, a tributary of the New River running from east to west across what is now Montgomery County. This land would soon become the core of Preston’s new homeplace, Smithfield, and on it he set out to establish a plantation complex that would demonstrate and perpetuate his family’s position among the local elite.” (In the True Blue’s Wake, p.12) Smithfield was constructed in 1776 by indentured servants and enslaved labor and existed as the private family home of the Prestons from 1776 - 1930s.

From the 1930s - mid 1950s, Smithfield was leased to Virginia Tech and was used as a storage facility, storing hay and chickens, along with providing housing for tenant farmers and their families. In 1959, Smithfield was given to Preservation Virginia by owner and Preston descendant Janie Preston Boulware Lamb. Lamb was President of Preservation Virginia at the time. Between 1960 - 1964, Smithfield underwent a full restoration to bring the structure back to what it supposedly looked like in the 1700s. Much of the structure is original to 1776 - the flooring in the Main Passage & Drawing Room and many panes of glass were replaced. The brick flooring and whitewash on the bottom basement/winter kitchen level were put in in the 1960s renovation. There are pictures in the front passage that show what Smithfield looked like before it was restored; this is always interesting to point out to guests.

Property: At its founding, Smithfield encompassed all of what is now Blacksburg and Virginia Tech, totaling more than 2,000 acres of property, and is referred to as “Greater Smithfield”. Through generations of Prestons, “Greater Smithfield” was split, accommodating the establishment of two smaller daughter plantations: grandson, Robert Taylor Preston’s home, “Solitude” (located on VT’s campus near the Duck Pond) and grandson James Francis Preston’s home, “Whitethorn” or “White Thorn” (located in the current day Hethwood neighborhood, now a private home).

Crops: Smithfield was known colloquially as a plantation but differs from deeper South plantations in what was grown on site. Primarily, Smithfield produced cereal crops: wheat, corn, barley etc. as well as hemp and flax. Hemp was Smithfield’s main cash crop; Preston’s hemp was highly sought after for the creation of military supplies during the Revolutionary War as hemp can be used to create rope. Tobacco may have been grown in small quantities for household use but the climate and location in this area is not conducive to proper commercial growth of tobacco or cotton as you would find in deeper Southern plantations. Preston also utilized the orchard onsite and produced both cider and whiskey in the onsite mill. Indigenous People: Siouan speakers may have lived in present day Montgomery County prior to the arrival of Europeans. Under pressure from Seneca and other indigenous people, they abandoned this area by 1740.

When William Preston and other European settlers arrived in the area it lie between powerful indigenous peoples including the Shawnee, Cherokee, and Catawba people who used it as part of a raiding corridor in their conflicts with each other and the settlers. William Preston played an important role in subduing the Mingo and Shawnee during Lord Dunmore's War and the Cherokee in the 1776 Cherokee War. In the latter a 6,000 man force, including 2,000 Virginia militia under William Christian and 4,000 North and South Carolina militia, invaded Cherokee territory and destroyed 50 Cherokee towns in retaliation for Cherokee raids aimed at forcing Virginia and Carolina settlers off lands the Cherokee believed they had illegally settled. This forced the Cherokee to sue for peace. Governor Patrick Henry appointed Christian and William Preston as commissioners to come to terms with the Cherokee at the Long Island of the Holston(present day Kingsport, TN) In the resulting treaty in mid 1777, the Cherokee ceded much of the disputed territory to Virginia and the Carolinas but continued to pose a threat to the New River Valley as British allies for the rest of the Revolutionary War and Preston's life.

Early conflicts with white Europeans, including the French and Indian War forcibly drove indigenous peoples from their native lands and allowed white European settlers to inhabit and use the land for their own endeavors. The “Draper's Meadow Massacre” was a small, violent conflict that occurred on the property that would become Smithfield about 20 years later. In 1755, a group of white settlers in an area known as Draper’s Meadow were attacked and many were killed by a band of Shawnee warriors. William Preston narrowly missed being a part of this conflict but his uncle, James Patton Preston, was killed in the attack. It is important to understand that this attack was not a random occurrence, rather it was part of the larger conflict of the ongoing French and Indian War (1755 - 1763). Regardless, the area that would become Smithfield was volatile between 1755 and the early 1760s.

Slavery at Smithfield: On August 28, 1759, William Preston purchased sixteen enslaved Africans who had recently arrived in America on a slave ship called the True Blue. These individuals were likely among the first enslaved laborers on Preston’s first plantation, Greenfield. Their descendants were likely among those who constructed and lived at Smithfield. “[Preston] paid John Champe & Company £752, Virginia currency, for ‘sixteen slaves sold from the True Blue’. The amount Preston paid suggests that most of the people he bought

that day were adults. The average price of an adult male slave on the Virginia frontier was £25 to £35, Virginia currency, in the 1750s and had risen to £55 to £70 by the early 1760s. Preston paid an average of £47 per head for the Africans he bought, which suggests most of them were adults.” In The True Blue’s Wake, p 11). We know that the Prestons owned 216 enslaved individuals between 1774 and 1866. These individuals were responsible for working as field hands to tend the land & monitor the growth of crops, working as artisan laborers (blacksmiths, weavers, woodworkers, etc.) and working in domestic roles (cooking, cleaning, personal servants, child minders, etc.)

The stories of the Preston family and the enslaved individuals who were owned by the Prestons cannot be told separately. The forced work of the enslaved ensured a certain lifestyle for the Prestons and allowed them to pursue other endeavors with their time and money like educational pursuits, business pursuits etc. The achievements of the Preston family were bolstered by the presence and servitude of their enslaved workforce. According to a tax roll of the same year, “by 1782, Preston owned 34 enslaved individuals in Montgomery County alone and was the largest slave owner in the county.” (In The True Blue’s Wake, p15)

“Between 1776 and 1865, the number of people enslaved at Greater Smithfield grew significantly, in spite of the estate divisions [...]

● 1783: William Preston dies, 34 enslaved individuals living at Smithfield

● 1843: James Patton Preston dies, 91 enslaved individuals living at Smithfield - this number continued to grow until slavery ended.

● 1860: The federal census of 1860, the last to include slaves, reported that the three Preston plantations

that had been a part of the original Smithfield held a total of 106 people in slavery: 50 at Smithfield, 33 at Solitude and 23 at White Thorn.” (In the True Blue’s Wake, p.24) Merry Oak Reflection (throughout the house) - allows guests to contemplate a specific question that ties into the tour information. Guests are encouraged to write their answers on a paper oak leaf and carry it with them through the tour. Leaves can be hung on the “Merry Oak” tree statue in the Dining Room. The Merry Oak: The Merry Oak, or “Merry Tree” as it is sometimes called, is a large white oak that stands in the front field of Smithfield. Once a gigantic, ancient tree, a storm in 2020 felled the tree and what remains today is a 20ft tall “stump”, though still impressive, size wise. This tree was an extremely important symbol to the enslaved community at Smithfield as it served as a gathering space and space for community interactions between people. Though no evidence has been found of the exact location of slave quarters at Smithfield, it is likely that this tree would have stood in the center of their domestic community/living space. “Descendants of both the Prestons and the families they enslaved have identified the tree as a place where those enslaved at Smithfield met to mark special events.” (In the True Blue’s Wake, p.38).

“This was almost certainly an echo of traditions carried aboard the True Blue from West Africa and brought to southwest Virginia by those first sixteen captives purchased by William Preston. Sacred trees have long played important roles in the religions and cultures of West Africa. Among the Gurensi people of northern Ghana, for example, sacred trees are seen as the dwelling places of powerful ancestors, the providers of protection to the descendants of those ancestors, mediums through which to communicate with God, and promoters of unity and solidarity in the community.” (In the True Blue’s Wake, p.38).