2017 William D. Rieley Fellowship Westover Plantation Charles City, VA

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After the landing of the colonists at Jamestown in 1607, a private English company undertook to settle lands farther upstream along the James River. Such settlements were known as "Hundreds". Included among the leaders of these settlers were John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas, and three brothers of Lord De La Warr, the first Colonial Governor of Virginia- Francis, John and Nathaniel West.

As early as 1616, John Rolfe wrote about West Hundred, and in 1637, 2000 acres of the plantation called Westover was patented by the Colonial Governor to Captain Thomas Pawlett. He sold the property to the Bland family who in turn sold it in 1688 to William Byrd I. His son, William Byrd II, founder of the city of Richmond, is known for the diaries he kept in which he documents his life in Virginia and England. His library at Westover was the largest in the colonies, with over 4,000 volumes. Both William Byrd I and II are buried at Westover with William Byrd II's tombstone located in the center of the garden.

A quintessential James River plantation house, Westover is one of the country's premier examples of colonial Georgian architecture. Until recently, history has supported William Byrd II as the builder of the current house, but dendrochronologic testing on attic beams indicate that they may date to circa 1750, thereby making William Byrd III the builder. Georgian design elements are exemplified in Westover's symmetry, elegant proportions, distinctive brickwork and pedimented entrances.

In early January 1781, Benedict Arnold's fleet landed at Westover, then owned by William Byrd III's widow, Mary Willing Byrd. First cousin to Arnolds' wife, Mary was considered Loyalist- leaning and was confined by Arnold's men to the upper stories of the house while his army destroyed her fields, fences, livestock, and plant nursery. From Westover, the British marched to Richmond, the new capital of Virginia, and set the city ablaze. Despite being left in massive debt after her husband's 1777 suicide, Mary succeeded in keeping possession of Westover until her death in 1814. By the turn of the next century, Westover would change hands seven times.

Near the end of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign of the Civil War, Westover was used as headquarters for Union Generals while the neighboring Berkeley Plantation was converted into a major military base. During this time, Westover's East wing was hit by a Confederate cannon- intended for Union troops and lay in ruin until the property was purchased in 1899 by a Byrd descendant. Mrs. Clarise Sears Ramsey was instrumental in rebuilding the East wing, modernizing the house, and connecting the main house to the previously separate dependencies with hyphens.

Westover was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Crane in 1921 and has remained in the family since. The National Historic Landmark is situated beneath 150-year-old tulip poplar trees and alongside ancient boxwood. The grounds include formal gardens, a rare iron clairvoyee, plantation outbuildings such as a five-hole privy, icehouse with tunnel, a collection of barns of varying ages and three sets of elaborate 18th-century English wrought-iron gates, among the most elaborate in America. An expansive lawn meets the banks of the James River. The site of the first Westover Church is 400 yards west of the house, and includes the burial sites of a number of prominent Virginians, including the first Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, William Byrd and his wife, and William Byrd II's daughter, Evelyn Byrd.

Krista Reimer is the 2017 Rieley Fellow for Westover Plantation in Charles City. Krista is a Master’s candidate in Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, and holds a MSc and a BSc in Mathematics.

University of Pennsylvania - 3rd year of 3, Masters of Landscape Design (2018); McGill University - MSc - Mathematics (2015); University of Manitoba - BSc- Mathematics (2013)