Clifts Plantation Site
A Busy Tobacco Plantation Once Flourished Here
Between 1976 and 1978, archaeological excavations on this spot revealed the remains of the "Clifts," a busy tobacco plantation. When first occupied in 1670, this land belonged to Thomas Pope, an English merchant and Westmoreland County planter, and was farmed by his tenants. After Pope's death, it passed to his widow Joanna, and later to his son Nathaniel, who lived here just over a decade. In 1717 Nathaniel Pope sold "the manner house erected on the second clift [cliff]," its outbuildings, and the surrounding 1,100 acres to Thomas Lee. Lee operated the plantation as a tenancy until the construction of the present Great House circa 1738. The buildings on this site were then torn down to make way for the road connecting Lee's new brick mansion with his landing on the Potomac River.
Marker can be reached from Great House Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
