Boldrup Plantation Archeological Site

Boldrup Plantation Archeological Site
Bolthorpe Plantation historical marker from city of Newport News
Map
Nearest cityNewport News, Virginia
Coordinates37°8′0.2222″N 76°34′32.0735″W / 37.133395056°N 76.575575972°W / 37.133395056; -76.575575972
Area42 acres (17 ha)
NRHP reference No.82004573[1]
VLR No.121-0005
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 16, 1982
Designated VLRSeptember 15, 1981[2]


Boldrup Plantation Archeological Site is a historic archaeological site located at Newport News, Virginia. A modern residential development has succeeded the 17th-century plantation. The area was originally patented by ancient planter William Claiborne in 1626. Three successive colonial governors lived at Boldrup (various spellings, including "Bolethorpe","Balthrope", and "Baldriff Neck"): John Harvey (d. 1646), Samuel Stephens (1629-1669) and William Berkeley (1605-1677). The last owned it through his wife (Gov. Stephens' widow), Frances Culpeper Berkeley, who with her new husband sold it to another member of the Virginia Governor's Council (and who would become the colony's secretary of state) William Cole (councillor) in 1671.[3][4] Although it remained in the Cole family for at least another two generations (William Cole (burgess) also serving as a burgess), a 'William Cole' advertised it for sale in 1776 and again in 1782, by which time he was living at Buckland plantation in Charles City County, which he had also inherited. Soon thereafter, Boldrup was owned by Judge Richard Cary, who was married to Mary Cole, daughter of William Cole Jr. and lived at Peartree Hall nearby, and at his death bequeathed it to his son Miles Cary.[5] The Cary family owned several nearby plantations in Warwick and adjoining counties, including Richneck, Marshfield (on Mulberry Island) and Windmill Point, but never resided at Boldrup.[6][7]

By 1896, little remained of the once-extensive plantation, which archeologists explored in the 1980s before the current residential development. William Cole's grave slab remains in a residential front yard; the graves of his second and third wives, and a pit house, were also unearthed and explored during those excavations.[8]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1]

Historical Marker placed by city of Newport News. Visible from Beechmont Drive.


Boldrup Plantation burial site
  • Site of the graves near the river
    Site of the graves near the river
  • Grave maker 1 of 3.
    Grave maker 1 of 3.
  • Grave maker 2 of 3.
    Grave maker 2 of 3.
  • Grave maker 3 of 3.
    Grave maker 3 of 3.
  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  3. ^ "Balthrope Historical Marker". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  4. ^ "Boldrup Plantation Archaeological Site". Virgina Landmarks Register. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  5. ^ NRIS Item 8 p. 2
  6. ^ "Windmill Point". Historical Marker Database.
  7. ^ NRIS Item 8 p. 2 continuation sheet 3
  8. ^ Loth, Calder, ed. (1999). The Virginia Landmarks Register: Boldrup Plantation Archeological Site. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-1862-4.