Henrico County Historical Society
PO Box 90775   Henrico, VA 23273   (804)501-5682   hchsinfo@yahoo.com
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Henrico County Historical Society's motto, which is Preserving the Past in the Present for the FutureSkipwith Academy in Three Chopt District, Henrico County, Virginia.Log Cabin in Tuckahoe District, Henrico County, Virginia.Mankin Mansion in Fairfield District, Henrico County, Virginia.Dorey Barn in Varina District, Henrico County, Virginia.Bethlehem Church in Brookland District, Henrico County, Virginia.


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Lost Architecture - Brookfield Plantation

1806 insurance policy drawing of Brookfield Plantation, a Henrico County, Virginia structure that no longer exists.

Brookfield was the 2,000 acre plantation of the Prosser family in the late 18th century. It was here, in the year 1800, that Thomas Prosser's most trusted slave , a 24-year old black preacher named Gabriel, masterminded a massive slave uprising. The plot failed because of two slave informers belonging to the Sheppard family of Meadow Farm and because of a torrential thunderstorm that severely impeded transportation and communications.Gabriel and most of his inner circle were captured, brought to trial and subsequently hanged.

Windmill in Henrico County, Virginia.

The main dwelling at Brookfield is described in insurance policies of 1802, 1806, and 1815; it was a substantial two-storey frame, 5 bay structure with flanking one-storey wings. The farm passed from Thomas Prosser to Benjamin Sheppard between the rears 1806 and 1815. In the mid-19th century, the earlier house was evidently replaced by an even grander one. This mansion, which burned to the ground in 1910, was for many years the home of the prominent Dicken family. The later house at Brookfield was a two-storey frame structure whose most conspicuous feature was its colossal hexastyle pedimented portico with Corinthian columns. Two bronze lions now located in the yard of a home on Chamberlayne Avenue originally flanked the front steps to this house.

  • (County of Henrico,1995 (HC3))



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Lost Architecture Sites: Brookfield Plantation
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