Barboursville

The ruins of Barboursville, the home of James Barbour (1775-1842), are just to the south. The house was designed by Thomas Jefferson and completed ca. 1822. Barbour, who owned about 5,000 acres here, was governor of Virginia (1812-1814), U.S. senator (1815-1825), secretary of war (1825-1828), and minister to Great Britain (1828-1829). A proponent of scientific farming, he conducted experiments on his land and published the results in agricultural journals. More than 100 enslaved African Americans worked on his plantation. Barboursville burned in 1884. Barboursville Vineyards was established here in 1976.