Village View, a.k.a. Mansion House, Emporia, Virginia
Posted by: 
showbizkid
N 36° 40.848 W 077° 32.585
18S E 272762 N 4062477
Village View, also known as simply "The Mansion" is located just off of Highway 301 in Emporia. This plantation house was built around 1795 and at one time oversaw a 4,990 acre plantation.
Waymark Code: WMJQ9
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 07/30/2006
Views: 10
Village View or Mansion House was built about 1795 for the young heir James Wall. Since that time it has been the home of the Wall, Land, and Briggs families. The plantation itself, however, dates to 1726.
From 1735 to 1751 it was the home of Rev. John Betty, the first minister of St. Andrews Parish. The archaeological remains of an eighteenth-century house with a 47' by 17' English style basement and plastered walls, located adjacent to the Mansion House, are believed to be those of Betty's residence.
Absentee owners of the plantation during the eighteenth century include John Lynch, Michael Wall, Jr., the Vestry of Meherrin Parish, Littleton Tazewell (Clerk of Brunswick County) and his son Henry Tazewell (U.S. senator and father of the Governor of Virginia).
During the Civil War, the front parlor of the Mansion House served as the site of a council of war for Generals W.H.F. Lee, Wade Hampton, and Matthew Butler. In the late nineteenth century, rooms in the house, as well as its dependencies, have served as a doctor's office, a dentistry, an apothecary, and an academy for boys.
The plantation grew from its original 200 acres in 1726 to its maximum size of 4,990 acres in the late eighteenth century. In 1986, the Mansion House and its remaining four acres of land were given to the community by its last private owner, Sidney Briggs.
A Virginia State Historic Marker nearby commemorates this house.
Village View is available for tours by appointment. See the secondary website for more information.
Students at Longwood University performed an archaeological survey and excavation of the site in 1999, which provides some interesting details and photos.
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