Welcome to the history of Mount Pleasant Plantation and its people, whose struggles and triumphs richly reflect those of our nation from its beginning, through the Civil War, and down to its rebirth as an historic restoration in 2008.
You will see a Summary History, as well as detailed description of the archeological, architectural and family research that made the restoration possible. The Archaeological section presents the findings of three phases of work done
by a team of archaeologists headed by Nicholas Luccketti, of James River Institute of Archaeology. The first phase, 2000-2003, saw intensive archival research and an archaeological survey of the grounds closest to the mansion. These
areas were prioritized since construction and repair activity around the house could destroy archaeological resources. The main features were located, such as buildings, wells, cellars, paths, gardens, etc. and yielded an intriguing
picture of the plantation over time. All findings were recorded and the artifacts studied and preserved. In the second phase, full-scale excavations were done of the detached Kitchen, built at right angles to the land-side façade of
the house. This defined the early nineteenth century working yard of various paths, fences, drives, smokehouse and other buildings. Along the way, many significant historical features were discovered, including the location of one
of the slave quarters on the property, possible camp sites of the Quiyoughcohannock tribe, an indigenous burial site, and the earliest known English settlement of 1620 known as Paces Paines. For more detailed information regarding
these archaeological finds, please refer to our articles discussing the Enslaved Population of Mount Pleasant, as well as the Indigenous peoples who occupied the land well before the English made contact. Restoration of the mansion
began in 2001, with demolition of twentieth century wings and architectural details, so the archeological work was often one step ahead of construction work. Frequently, construction work was halted in order to further explore an archeological
feature. This helps explain the eight year restoration period of the mansion! The third, final phase will concentrate on areas further from the mansion. The History of the People of Mount Pleasant section, particularly that of the
Paces, Swanns, Cockes and Faulcons parallels that of the first English families to settle in the New World. They were influential in the earliest years of the Virginia colony, participation in the American Revolution, the growth of
the tobacco plantation system and finally, the great changes wrought by the Civil War. Unfortunately, as with most historic records, most of our information deals with the wealthy owners of Mount Plantation’s land, since it is their
lives that were recorded in deeds, inventories, letters and public records and much less so with servants and those enslaved on the premises. An important exception is that of the Skipwith family, some of whose members were freed by
John Hartwell Cocke II, as attested in Dear Master, Letters of a Slave Family, ed. Randall M. Miller. The Architecture section illustrates how understanding changes in the house over time led to determining the best way to
restore it. Historic Architect, Willie Graham, assisted by Mark Wenger, performed extensive investigations of the physical clues left in the mansion and studied the surviving building accounts. They discovered many renovations of the
mansion over the centuries, divided into Periods I (around 1740) through VI, and the present. As mentioned under Restoration, the accumulation of evidence was greatest for the period of 1803-09, when John Hartwell Cocke II owned the
plantation, so it was decided to restore Mount Pleasant to the time of his inhabitance.