Hours of Operation
Historic Smithfield
is CLOSED.
Schedule your visit
to step back in time when operations resume June 13, 2020.
1000 Smithfield Plantation Road
Blacksburg, VA 24060
COVID-19 affects every person on the planet, but it presents an opportunity to come together as a global community. Now is our opportunity to stand together and support one another. Learn how your support and generosity can make a big difference here at Smithfield, by donating. Upcoming projects include.
1. Outdoor Signage:
Help us help you find and navigate Smithfield! Your donation will help us purchase and produce new directional and educational signage on our beautiful grounds and scenic walkways.
2. Collections Care:
Our collections are the heart of our story! Help us preserve and catalog our world-class collections. Your donation will help supply Smithfield with archival and storage materials and maintain our collections software. Keep Smithfield's unique history going strong for another 250 years!
3. Online Learning:
Includes: In a time of social distancing, online resources are more important than ever! Help Smithfield update its online presence and develop new online educational materials for families and students!
Historic Smithfield
William Preston, a leader of westward expansion and a prominent Southwestern Virginia Revolutionary War patriot came to settle at the eastern continental divide and established Smithfield as his home. In a land of log cabins and physical hardship, Smithfield, in its sophisticated elegance, became the political and social center of Fincastle County, Virginia (1772). Of course, the newly-formed County included all of Southwest Virginia and all of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a rather large area indeed.
Completed in 1774, Smithfield became not only the county’s political and social center, it was a beacon, a destination, for thousands of settlers moving west to seek new land and opportunity. Smithfield became a place of resting and storing new provisions before the next leg of the westward passage.
Travel back to the 18th century. Experience life in the home of a colonial leader with the guidance of a costumed interpreter who knows the culture as well as the artifacts.
Smithfield stands today as the finest example of an original, pre-Revolutionary structure in Western Virginia.
Smithfield is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register and is a member of the The New River Heritage Coalition. In 2014, Smithfield was designated by the Virginia General Assembly as the Family Homestead of Virginia Governors.
1000 Smithfield Plantation Road, Blacksburg, VA 24060 540.231.3947 info@historicsmithfield.org
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