Tufton Farm
Historic farm in Albemarle County, Virginia
Tufton Farm, located in Albemarle County, Virginia, borders the Monticello plantation. The farm was passed down from Peter Jefferson to his son Thomas Jefferson, whose grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph inherited the property. Thomas Jefferson experimented with plants and sustainable farming. It is now the site of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.
History
The land for the farm was patented in two separate tracts of 150 acres each by Peter Jefferson in 1740 and 1755. After he had the forest land cleared by enslaved people, he grew tobacco.
When he died, the property passed to his son, Thomas Jefferson. The farm was part of the original 5,000 acres that Jefferson owned. It was a quarter farm, located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Monticello's main house gates. The property was named for Lady Caroline Tufton (Tufton, Pembrokeshire § Name) by Martha Jefferson Randolph, Tufton was her schoolmate in Paris.
The public source identifies “Tufton Farm” as historic farm in Albemarle County, Virginia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tufton, Farm and Historic.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Tufton Farm”, the useful work is to connect “historic farm in Albemarle County, Virginia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q116265710. Authority coordinates are 37.999, -78.433. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1740 and 1755.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tufton Farm”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tufton Farm primary sources, Tufton Farm archive and Tufton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tufton Farm” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.