This spread-out wooden mansion stands on Henry County property that was part of the Beaver Creek Plantation where Col. George Hairston built a brick residence in 1776. The colonial dwelling burned in 1839 and was replaced by the core of the present frame house by Hairston’s son, Marshall Hairston. The new structure followed a standard two-story, five-bay format used by many of Virginia’s well-to-do landed families in the early 19th century. Its interior is trimmed with straightforward Greek Revival woodwork. Wings, a portico, and a veranda were added around 1900. The Hairston family, among the state’s largest landholders, accumulated great wealth as tobacco planters. At a time when most tobacco farmers owned around 100 acres, George Hairston by 1826 owned 143,000 acres. By 1900 the family still controlled some 60,000 acres. Beaver Creek Plantation, their core holding, formerly included about 1,200 acres.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia