In the early 1700's, Dr. and Mrs. John Mosby Sheppard established their home, Meadow Farm. They raised nine children. Four generations of the Sheppard family owned Meadow Farm. From this site, Tom and Pharoah, Sheppard family slaves, warned Mosby Sheppard of a proposed slave rebellion on August 30, 1800, later known as Gabriel's Rebellion. During a Civil War raid, family legend has it that the Union Major General George Armstrong Custis tied his horse to a cedar tree right in front of the farmhouse. In 1975, Elizabeth Adam Crump, wife of the late Adjutant General of Virgina, Sheppard Crump, donated Meadow Farm to Henrico County. The County turned the farm into the Meadow Farm Museum, a living history farm open for public visitation and which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Among Meadow Farm's many farm animals, there are two pigs that were accquired from Mount Vernon. Their names? George and Martha.
The County of Henrico opened Meadow Farm Museum to the public in 1981. Although the County completed sensitive restoration in the late 1970s to preserve and interpret Meadow Farm as a historic house museum, damage from Hurricane Isabel presented the County an opportunity to restore the original house and to reexamine documents pertaining to the original house construction. During the restoration process, portions of the house will reopen to the public in March. The museum staff will interpret in detail the material, labor, and expense involved in constructing and updating a home in 19th-century rural Virginia. Mosby Sheppard and his son John Sheppard built Meadow Farm in phases. Both men carefully documented the purchase of building materials and labor for work done between 1809 and 1858.
Some of the museum's event's are listed on our General Events page. More events may be found on the Department Of Recreation and Parks page of Henrico County government's website.
- Open to the public.
- (County of Henrico, Meadow Farm Museum, County of Henrico Div. Rec and Parks)
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Brookland Sites: Meadow Farm
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