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Chapter
1
Virginia’s Traffic in the Atlantic World
Letter from George Washington to Governor Robert Dinwiddie (Front)
Chapter
2
The French and Indian War
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Chapter
3
Virginia and the Planter Class
Time Period

1623 to 1763

Virginia and the Planter Class

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Portrait of Lucy Randolph Burwell, a fourth-generation member of the Randolph family in central Virginia, one of the well-known wealthy and powerful “First Families of Virginia,” 1773. (VMHC 1951.35)
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Portrait of the Children of Philip and Mary Grymes of Middlesex County, about 1749–1750. The clothing and toy wagon are evidence that even children in Virginia could “dress after the same modes, and behave themselves exactly as [their counterparts] in London,” as one English visitor wrote in 1724. (VMHC 1893.3)
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Kettle found at Jenkins Neck, Gloucester County, late 17th century. The enslaved, poor farmers, and craftsmen left no portraits, furniture, or silver behind for historians to study. However, manuscripts kept by wealthy landowners listing the names of their tenants and archaeological excavation at home sites, trash pits, and outhouses reveal a great deal about the lives of “forgotten” families. (Courtesy of the Department of Historic Resources)