Piney Grove at Southall’s Plantation

The plantation’s gardens and grounds are open daily to visitors for a self-guided tour that begins at an interpretive exhibit adjacent to the parking area. An audio tour is also available to guide visitors around the eclectic property. Surrounding the historic houses are productive flower gardens and numerous fruit trees that attract many butterflies, as well as a number of dragonflies that prey on them. Beyond the houses, a nature trail passes through a heavily wooded ravine containing some huge American beech trees. The ravine is inhabited by a variety of wildlife, including several species of flycatchers, woodpeckers and other passerines. Interpretive signs relating to both wildlife and man’s historic use of the land enhance the naturalist’s hike along the trail.

The site’s name is “Piney Grove,” and was adopted after the fields of the Southall Plantation had grown up with pines during the five decades (1790-1840) that the Southall family attempted to settle the estate of Furneau Southall. Incidentally, a portion of the oldest structure on the property was built with pine logs before the death of Furneau Southall in 1790. Today that dwelling is Tidewater Virginia’s best-preserved example of early log construction. The site also contains Ashland which was built in 1835, and Duck Church which was built in 1917. Bed and breakfast lodging is available in the 1857 Ladysmith house on the property.