Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410050078
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PETER S. WILLIS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The musket blast was the starting gun for a day filled with speakers, period entertainment and reunions among the scores of descendants of Col. William Preston. It was a day "beyond our expectations," said Carolyn Carson, publicity coordinator for the event.
James I. Robertson Jr., a nationally known historian at Virginia Tech, spoke at length of the early history of Blacksburg, the historic significance of the plantation house that sits on the edge of the Tech campus and the many contributions of Preston.
"I'm very much interested in Smithfield Plantation because it epitomizes local history, and local history is the seed from which a nation's annals evolve," he said after the address.
Smithfield Plantation itself has seen many ups and downs in its 220 years. In 1774, the Preston family moved into the house, which also served as a frontier fort and a land office. This small, but once grand plantation home, one of the first frame homes west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, fell into disrepair in later years until it was finally dilapidated rental property, being used by the university to store hay.
In 1959, Janie Preston Boulware Lamb, the great-great-granddaughter of Preston, saved the plantation house from an inglorious end. She donated the house and land to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities with the requirement that it be restored to its former condition and serve as an example of Colonial-period architecture. At that time Lamb was president of the association.
The restoration of the house was largely because of the efforts of Dr. George Green Shackleford. Under his leadership, the newly organized Montgomery County Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities restored the house and grounds and continues to maintain and show the site today.
"Here was an opportunity to put history into action right on my doorstep," he said.
Raising funds to restore the house was one of the many challenges he and his wife, Grace, accepted. "Nobody greeted us with open arms. Thirty years ago historic preservation was a new discipline," she said.
The Shacklefords saw their efforts rewarded on Oct. 8, 1964, as Smithfield Plantation was opened and dedicated as a property of the preservation association. They were to serve as the plantation's first curators.
Saturday's celebration commemorated the day Smithfield opened its doors, restored to its former glory. The day also was an opportunity for more than 80 Preston descendants to gather and share more recent family history in the halls of their ancestral home.
It was this reunion-like atmosphere that made the day special for those involved. The celebration took a committee of more than 20 six months to plan, according to Frances Hutcheson-Russell, celebration chairperson.
"In addition to the celebration of the restoration of the house, it's really been a celebration of the Preston family and their heritage," Russell said.
For Preston descendant Jennifer Lamb Larus, 18, of Norfolk, the day was about family. "It's been really great meeting all the relatives I've never met before ... . It's such an extended family."
It was an emotional day for the grandson of Janie Preston Lamb. Bobby Lamb of Richmond talked at length about the many achievements of Col. Preston and his descendants. He paused in his conversation about former Virginia Gov. James Patton Preston and gazed about the crowd filling the lawn of Smithfield Plantation.
"My family had this land for well over 200 years," he said shaking his head. "People forget what a wild area this was 225 years ago."
Smithfield Plantation's "wild" past is a page for the history books, but it's future is still unwritten. There are plans for further reconstruction of plantation sites and expansion of the educational programs, said Carson, the publicity coordinator.
The future looks bright for Smithfield Plantation to former curator Shackleford. His eyes wandered across the ranks of militia posing for photographs and rested on a young girl in period costume chasing a rolling hoop beneath the shadow of the plantation house.
"It's so marvelous that a whole new generation of people here in Montgomery County are actively involved in the continuing preservation of this historic house," he said with a smile.
by CNB