The Fairfield Foundation in Gloucester has donated an easement over Fairfield Plantation in the county. The Historic Preservation and Open Space Easement granted by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources protects 225.739 acres of land.

The property in southwest Gloucester is located on Fairfield Lane, Cedar Bush Road and Hickory Fork Road. The centerpiece of the property are the remains of the circa 1694 Fairfield Plantation manor house.

The ruins, an associated family cemetery, and other historic landscape features represent the 17th-20th century occupation of the property that began shortly after the Burwell family’s 1648 patent and ended in the early 20th century with a small shack occupied by African American tenant farmers.

The manor house was destroyed by fire in 1897. Its association resources included a kitchen, icehouse, enclosed gardens and occupation sites associated with enslaved African Americans that built, maintained and farmed the property.

The vast ...