Place:Berkeley, Charles City, Virginia, United States

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NameBerkeley
Alt namesBerkleysource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS51001810
TypeInhabited place
Coordinates37.317°N 77.167°W
Located inCharles City, Virginia, United States
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Berkeley Plantation, one of the first plantations in America, comprises about on the banks of the James River on State Route 5 in Charles City County, Virginia. Berkeley Plantation was originally called Berkeley Hundred, named after the Berkeley Company of England. In 1726, it became the ancestral home of the Harrison family, after Benjamin Harrison IV located there and built one of the first three-story brick mansions in Virginia. It is the home to two presidents of the United States: William Henry Harrison, and his grandson Benjamin Harrison. It is now a museum property, open to the public.

Among the many American "firsts" that occurred at Berkeley Plantation are:

  • In 1619 settlers celebrated the first annual Thanksgiving celebration after landing at Berkeley Hundred.
  • In 1862 the Army bugle call "Taps" was first played, by bugler Oliver W. Norton; the melody was written at Harrison's Landing, the plantation's old wharf, by Norton and General Daniel Butterfield.
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