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Historic house in Virginia, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Edmund Ruffin Plantation, also known as Marlbourne, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark in Hanover County, Virginia, 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Richmond.
Marlbourne | |
Location | U.S. Route 360, Hanover County, Virginia |
---|---|
Nearest city | Richmond, Virginia |
Coordinates | 37°39′15.13″N 77°13′20.92″W |
Built | 1843 |
NRHP reference No. | 66000837 |
VLR No. | 042-0020 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966[1] |
Designated NHLD | July 19, 1964[2] |
Designated VLR | September 9, 1969[3] |
Built in 1840, the plantation was purchased in 1843 by Edmund Ruffin, a Virginia planter and a pioneer in agricultural improvements; he also published an agricultural journal in the 1840s named the Farmer's Register. One of a group of intellectuals they called "the sacred circle",[4] he worked to reform agriculture in the South, promoting crop rotation and soil conservation; he is considered to have been "the father of soil science" in the United States.[5] Ruffin experimented with agricultural methods and mixed marl, defined as "a friable earthy deposit consisting of clay and calcium carbonate, used esp. as a fertilizer for soils deficient in lime" to add to soils.
He and his friends: James Henry Hammond, Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, George Frederick Holmes, and William Gilmore Simms, were pro-slavery and promoted a moral reform of the South. They published numerous articles in literary and short-lived magazines, promoting a stewardship role for masters to improve conditions under slavery.[6][7]
Later Ruffin gained more attention as one of a number of secessionist fire-eaters; he traveled to South Carolina and is credited with firing one of the first shots at Fort Sumter in 1861. Despondent after General Lee's surrender in 1865, he left a note proclaiming his "unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule—to all political, social and business connections with Yankees, & to the perfidious, malignant, & vile Yankee race"[8] and committed suicide at Redmoor in Amelia County.[9] He is buried on the grounds of Marlbourne.
His Marlbourne plantation was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.[2][10]
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