Bellfield Plantation

{{Short description|Historic plantation site in York County, Virginia}}

{{Infobox historic site

| name = Bellefield Plantation

| image = Bellfield Cemetery, Digges Road vicinity, Yorktown, York County, VA HABS VA,100-YORK.V,4-1.tif

| type = Plantation

| other_name = E.D. Plantation

| mapframe = yes

| coordinates = {{coord|37|16|22|N|76|34|47|W|region:US-VA_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| location = York County, Virginia

| built =

| governing_body = National Park Service

| owner =

| designation1 = Virginia Landmarks Register

| designation1_offname = Bellefield Site & Cemetery

| designation1_number = Candidate Site 099-0002{{cite web |url=https://www.yorkcounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/134/Historic-Resources---2035-Comprehensive-Plan-PDF |title=York County 2035 Comprehensive Plan, Historic Resources |publisher=York County, Virginia}}

}}

Bellefield Plantation (or Bellfield, also called E.D. Plantation) is a historic plantation site located in York County, Virginia, United States. In modern times, the former site is located off the Colonial Parkway next to the York River and abuts Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.{{cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=39797 |title=Bellfield Plantation |publisher=The Historical Marker Database |access-date=January 22, 2025 |archive-date=January 21, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250121121039/https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=39797 |url-status=live }}

In 1630, the Virginia Colony made the decision to plant a settlement on the York River:

{{blockquote|"... for the securing & taking in of a tract of Land called ye fforest bordering uppon the cheife residence of ye Pamunkey King the most dangerous head of the Indian enemy ..."{{cite report |title=Virginia Land Office Patents |volume=1 |date=1623–1643 |edition=1 & 2 |page=105}}}}

John West (governor) received a land grant for this purpose, 600 acres "on the east side of Felgates".{{cite journal |title=Extracts from the Records of York County |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=26 |edition=1 |date=July 1917 |issue=1 |pages=27–37|doi=10.2307/1914574 |jstor=1914574 }} "Felgates" refers to Robert Felgate's 1632 grant of "350 acres lying at Kiskeyacke upon Pamunkey". In 1635 after the "thrusting out" of Governor Sir John Harvey, John West was chosen as temporary replacement,{{cite magazine |last=Thornton |first=J Mills |title=The Thrusting out of Governor Harvey: A Seventeenth-Century Rebellion |magazine=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=76 |edition=1 |date=January 1968 |pages=11–26}} and served until 1637 when Harvey was restored to his position. In 1640, West was ordered to England, along with neighbor John Utie, Samuel Matthews (captain), and William Peirce (burgess) to answer charges in the Star Chamber. All four were eventually cleared, and returned to Virginia.

West sold the original 600 acres, along with adjoining land for a total of 1250 acres to Edward Digges in 1650.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/BellfieldEstateGeneralStudy/mode/2up |title=Bellfield Estate General Study |last=Hatch |first=Charles E. Jr. |date=1970}}{{cite report |title=Land Office Patents |volume=2 |date=1643–1651 |page=316}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1915735 |title=Bellfield |magazine=The William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine |volume=15 |edition=1 |date=1906 |pages=36–39 |jstor=1915735 |access-date=November 4, 2024 |archive-date=December 3, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203142453/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1915735 |url-status=live }}{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography |page=48 |editor=Lyon Gardiner Tyler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWiel4PVkEkC&dq=Bellfield%20Plantation&pg=PA48 |publisher=Lewis historical publishing Company |date=1915 |place=United States}} It became known as the "E.D." Plantation at this time, and using slave labor, grew in fame for producing luxury tobacco.{{cite news |newspaper=Daily Press |title=A Cradle of Slavery on the York |url=https://www.dailypress.com/2013/05/25/a-cradle-of-slavery-on-the-york/ |date=May 25, 2013 |archive-date=June 3, 2023 |access-date=November 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603183739/https://www.dailypress.com/2013/05/25/a-cradle-of-slavery-on-the-york/ |url-status=live }} The plantation remained in the family until 1787, when it was sold.Tyler, Lyon G., "Pedigree of a Representative Virginia Planter", William & Mary Quarterly Jan. 1893 [http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/schools/wmmary/quarterly/planter.txt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127203834/http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/schools/wmmary/quarterly/planter.txt|date=2024-11-27}} also in Genealogies of Virginia Families: From the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.) 1982) vol. II, p. 169 et seq.

The Plantation was known as "Bellfield" by 1811, when it was advertised for sale as "Belfield, 1.000 acres in York Co., the only estate where the famous E.D. tobacco was raised, which never failed to bring in England one shilling when other tobacco would not bring three pence." The area would continue to be used for agriculture purposes up until 1918, when the US Navy purchased the land for establishment of Navy Mine Depot, Yorktown (in modern times called Naval Weapons Station Yorktown). In the 1930s as the Colonial Parkway was established, the land was transferred to the National Park Service.

class="wikitable" |+ Owners of Bellfield Plantation
Date of acquisition	Owner	Notes
1630	John West (governor)	Virginia Colony land grant
1650	Edward Digges	purchased. Buried in Bellfield's cemetery.
1675	William Digges	inherited
1697	Edward Digges	inherited
September 21, 1699	Dudley Digges (burgess)	purchased (from nephew). Buried in Bellfield's cemetery.
January 18, 1710	Cole Digges (burgess)	inherited. Buried in Bellfield's cemetery.
1744	Edward Digges (burgess)	inherited
1769	William Digges (patriot)	inherited
June 19, 1787	William Waller	purchased
Dec 1815	Scervant Jones	purchased
September 9, 1829	Richard R. Corbin	purchased
March 2, 1830	Robert McCandlish	purchased. Buried in Bellfield's cemetery.
1878	Robert McCandlish (Jr.)	inherited
August 7, 1918	US Navy	purchased
1930s	National Park Service	land transferred

{{Gallery

|title=Bellfield Plantation

|width=160 | height=170

|align=center

|File:Bellfield Cemetery, Digges Road vicinity, Yorktown, York County, VA HABS VA,100-YORK.V,4-1.tif

|Bellfield Cemetery

|File:GENERAL VIEW OF YORK RIVER LOOKING EAST FROM BELLFIELD PLANTATION SITE. - Colonial Parkway, Yorktown to Jamestown Island, Yorktown, York County, VA HAER VA,100-YORK,18-27.tif

|Looking East from Bellfield Plantation Site

|File:GENERAL VIEW OF YORK RIVER LOOKING NORTH FROM BELLFIELD PLANTATION SITE. NOTE NAVY PIER IN DISTANCE. (SAME VIEW AS VA-48-70 (CT)). - Colonial Parkway, Yorktown to Jamestown HAER VA,100-YORK,18-29.tif

|Looking North from Bellfield Plantation Site

|File:VIEW OF YORK RIVER LOOKING EAST FROM BELLFIELD PLANTATION SITE. - Colonial Parkway, Yorktown to Jamestown Island, Yorktown, York County, VA HAER VA,100-YORK,18-28.tif

|Looking East from Bellfield Plantation Site

|File:VIEW OF YORK RIVER LOOKING NORTH FROM BELLFIELD PLANTATION SITE, SANDY POINT AT LEFT. - Colonial Parkway, Yorktown to Jamestown Island, Yorktown, York County, VA HAER VA,100-YORK,18-30.tif

|Looking North from Bellfield Plantation Site

}}