Camping on a 400-year-old farm

It’s not every day you get to camp in a state park that has a farm that has been growing crops for more than 400 years.

My boys and I did just that when we spent three days at Chippokes State Park in Virginia. While camping with my stepmom in her pop-up camper, we had time to explore the park and the farm.

Located across the river from Jamestown, the land was originally a 500-acre land grant from the King of England to Captain William Powell in 1619. Powell arrived in Jamestown on the third supply ship from England. The farm, then referred to as a plantation, was named for the Algonquian Chief Choapoke, who reportedly befriended early settlers.

Tobacco was originally grown on the farm. Albert Carrol Jones was the first owner to live on the farm, moving there in 1830. He added peach and apple orchards and a distillery. Rumor is the farm survived the Civil War because Jones sold brandy to soldiers on both sides. 

The farm was bought by Evelyn and Victor Stewart in 1918 with a winning bid of $47,000 for the 1,403-acre farm. They restored the farm and worked on compiling its history, including that of the Native Americans who originally lived on the land and the African American slaves who lived and worked there when slavery was legal.

Twenty “historically significant” buildings are in the park, including the home of Henry Blount, the first African American farm manager. Others include the original river house (below), the Jones-Stewart mansion, brick kitchen, and dairy barn.  

There is also a farm and forestry museum with over 600 pieces of equipment. I’ve never seen such a collection of peanut and cotton equipment in one place. Also, the museum has a wonderful collection of tools used by cobblers, blacksmiths, coopers, and other jobs that were done on early farms. I’d never heard of a cooper, but discovered they built the wooden barrels that were used for many things including storing food and washing clothes.

Mrs. Stewart left the land to the State of Virginia in her will, stipulating it continue as a working farm. Now cotton, corn, soybeans, peanuts, and beef cattle are raised on the farm. Events including mansion tours and meeting the farm animals are held throughout the year.

The park includes 1.5 miles of riverfront on the James River. It’s the most unique beach I’ve ever been to, with fossils and shark teeth covering the shoreline. The boys spent most of the day looking for both and comparing them to the guide we were given.

Having grown up in Virginia, I’d never heard of Chippokes until my stepmom mentioned it as a good place to take the boys. It had everything little boys could want — woods, old tractors, and shark teeth — and was a great place to go for their first camping trip.