The Plantation at Prospect Hill: The True Story of the Overtons of Virginia and the War 1861 - 1865

By William M. Sheehan

The true story of one of the oldest plantations in central Virginia and the people that lived there over a span of centuries. This story is about the romance between Nannie Branch and William G. Overton that began before the war between the Union and the Confederacy, or as it is known today in Louisa County, the War in Defense of Virginia. Overt

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: Jan 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781649902375

William M. Sheehan

The author and his family were the innkeepers at Prospect Hill from 1977 until 2007 and continued the operation much as the Overtons did in the prior century. Guests were served meals family style and the inn was much as it had been. After they sold Prospect Hill to Dr. Bobby and Laura Findley and their children, they have operated the inn in the same manner.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Somewhere in central Virginia April 1698

Roger Thompson ran a finger under his collar and felt how soaked it had become. He was damp and cold from the three days of pouring rain that was only now beginning to lighten as he walked steadily along an old trail heading West. He was not soaked through since he was wearing the full set of buckskins he had made for him by an Indian family outside of Williamsburg for this trip. He was glad that both pants and jacket had shed most of he rain. He could see the sky ahead was beginning to clear. This rain is almost over, he thought. The daylight grew ever brighter as the morning progressed. He had prepared well for his journey into the West. He was now free to seek his way in this new world. This was virgin country with settlers moving West constantly. He had not seen any other men in the last three days. This was more like it, he thought. Less people, was the way he preferred it. Thompson was young, not too tall, yet solidly built. He had grown since his arrival in this new country, both in wisdom as well as in size. Standing just under six feet tall, with red hair that had been turning darker during his term as an indentured servant over the past seven years. That was all over now. He had paid in full by working for Ebaneezer Godfrey for the full term of his indenture. He had arrived in Jamestown at 15 years of age seeking his way in the New World. He was his father’s fourth son and knew from the beginning that he would never inherit the small family farm just outside of London. Now there was a stinking town if ever there was one, he thought as he remembered his youth. When he turned 13 years old his parents had sat him down and discussed his future. The eldest son, William, was going to inherit their farm and he was already courting Sally Reynolds. Everyone knew they would soon wed and begin having children so Roger was advised that he would need to make his way elsewhere. Many of his friends were in similar situations. They had to learn a trade and live in a town or move somewhere else in order to make their way.

He would miss his family but he was also motivated to find adventure, to move away, make his fortune, or at least begin farming, and then look for someone to marry. But first he had to find his way as his father had said. He loved farming, surviving off the land, raising crops and tending animals. He had always hated cities, like London, which he had visited twice with his father the first time and later with his brother, William. He detested the stink most of all. Everywhere they went it stunk, it seemed to him. From the filth in the streets, the rotting smell of garbage strewn everywhere, to the manure running down the center of the streets when it rained. It all smelled bad to him. The air did not smell like that back on the farm. At his home it smelled fresh, almost sweet to Roger. When he first arrived in Jamestown, the ir seemed almost the same. But the streets did not run and smell with excrement. And the sky was so blue above. On the ship he was cramped below decks and went topside to breathe in fresh air whenever he could. He did not make many friends on this voyage since he was so young and the men had mostly been older. The few women on board had been kept separate from the men since most were be-trothed to others who had arrived years before. Roger watched everything and everyone with a discerning eye. He knew he was still not fully matured and did the same when he landed. He soon found a family he felt would be fair to him and indentured himself for the normal term, seven years, learning all he could until he was now free. He was little more than a slave for those seven years with the Godseys but he had learned well and grew

strong while working on that small plantation. Now, at 22, he knew he could do most everything required to begin his life anew. He was ready to find his own ground. Roger reached into his pack for a piece of jerky and felt only a few pieces left. He knew he would need to hunt for game in the next few days as his supplies were getting low. The day was getting brighter and through the trees he could see the sun making its way West just as he was doing. He began to notice that the trees were larger and the grass seemed greener and more lush as he walked. He came to another path that crossed the Western trail he was on and stopped to look at his surroundings.

As he knelt down, he could see many deer prints. A herd of does had passed by in the last few hours. He looked up and saw the sun was now almost above him so the day was almost half over. This new path was larger than others he had passed and more beaten down by many animals over the years. Had men also walked here, he thought? He could see no footprints in the ground but that meant little, he knew. He decided to explore a bit of his surroundings. He turned South and began walking uphill as the rain now subsided. The path seemed to follow a ridge line falling away on both sides as he continued south. This day is going to be hot, he thought. About time, he mumbled to himself. Yes, it was a going to be a good day. He stopped as he saw a large tree ahead.

This was a magnificent oak tree. His jaw dropped in awe as he came up to it. Five or six men would be needed to spread their arms and measure the circumference of this tree. Roger immediately removed his buckskin coat, his pack, and placed his musket on top and began climbing the tree. Up and up he went placing his hands and feet carefully as he rose higher and higher. The day grew much lighter as he neared the top of this tree. He held his breath in awe as he looked out at the beautiful view that lay before him. It was outstanding. He could see all about him for miles.

Deep forests spread all around him sloping away and then rising to another small summit more than a mile ahead. It looked to him like an enormous bowl had been scooped in the earth that lay open all about him. In the distance he also saw the mountains he had only heard about. They were dark, seeming almost deep purple in the distance, with misty clouds all around them. He stared as these mists rose to meet the clouds above. He was enraptured at this prospect, this view, that spread out before him. He stayed aloft in the tree for the better part of an hour before climbing carefully back down to earth, all the while wearing a big smile.

You found it Roger, he thought. This is finally the place. He knew this was the ground he had been searching for. He was going to stay here for the rest of the day and explore this land.

Over the next two days Roger Thompson walked over and surveyed in his mind the rich land he had found. He knew it was rich since he could tell that on one side of the ridge the land was almost all clay and even the grasses grew sparsely. But on the other side of the ridge the soil was indeed rich. His fingers dug down into darker soil that had little glimmers of shiny glints of what seemed like metal. He knew that here on the inner side of this ridge the trees were much larger and denser than on the outer side. And everything here also seemed greener, if that were possible.

Roger also found a stream and walked it back to the source and found a bubbling spring coming out of the ground spreading in a small culvert that spread out before him. And this small stream was running to the west, the first westward stream he had seen on this journey. Here was water near the top of the rise facing North that stood among a small forest of oaks and poplars and, best of all, many locust trees for him to build his cabin.

This is where I will live, Roger thought to himself. This is good ground. Here he would begin clearing the land and make his way in this new world. He walked up the hill to the large oak tree he had first climbed and chopped a large ‘T’ in the bark of the tree. His mark.

Roger Thompson called his new cabin and land Prospect Hill because of the magnificent prospect, or view, he saw that first day that he climbed to the top of the big oak tree. He soon began to have neighbors as others arrived over the years and that oak became the line tree. All the properties in his neighborhood began there spreading in different directions. Not only was this oak tree the biggest and tallest tree around but everyone knew where it had stood over the centuries and paced off their land from there. He had walked from that oak with his neighbors whenever a dispute arose. They began from that tree and began pacing so many paces to the next grove or group of trees to mark their boundaries with everyone agreeing. This was how lands were surveyed when he began his farm in the early 1700’s.

After several years and meeting his neighbors who quickly claimed all the surrounding land, he married a widow, Mary English, who had two sons before her husband died from the fevers that had taken so many. He had befriended them as they first arrived and welcomed them since he knew that there would be many who came for this rich soil. When Mary’s husband died in 1718 Roger soon asked her to marry him. He knew he had to act quickly and she agreed. She needed a husband to care for her two sons and he needed a wife. By now he was almost 34 years old and they both needed each other. They soon began having children, 11 in all over the years and