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Situated above the Appomattox River in southwestern Chesterfield County,
Eppington is a late nineteenth-century house built by Francis Eppes VI. Architectural historians consider the house with its 2 1/2-story, hipped-roof central block and one-story hipped-roof wings unique among early Virginia dwellings.
Thomas Jefferson's ties to the Eppes family and Eppington contribute to the plantation's history. He and Francis Eppes were married to half-sisters, and after the death of Jefferson's wife in 1782, he brought his two younger daughters, Maria
("Polly") and Lucy, to Eppington where they lived during Jefferson's years in Paris as Minister to France. Polly Jefferson married Francis's John Wayles Eppes in 1797, further strengthening the relationship between the two
families.
Today, the Chesterfield Historical Society is working with the Eppington Foundation and Chesterfield County’s Parks and Recreation Department, which manages about 400 acres of the original plantation, to develop plans
and interpret the site. Restoration of the house has begun and while it is not yet open to the public on a regular basis, it may be seen by appointment.
Submitted by Dennis P. Farmer
Photo by Nancy Carter Crump
Created
3/7/99, Revised 7/24/02
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