Located on the property of Thomas Jefferson’s historic villa retreat, Poplar Forest Golf Course is a 9 hole championship course which also boasts an impressive practice facility. For more information or to schedule a tee time call: 434-534-9418
May 13, 1969. Poplar Forest is a plantation and plantation house in Forest, Bedford County, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson designed the plantation and used the property as a private retreat and a revenue-generating plantation. Jefferson inherited the property in 1773 and began designing and working on the plantation in 1806.
This period from 1745-1840 in which Poplar Forest was sold many times in quick succession meant that many enslaved men, women, and children were separated from their families as the owners settled their predecessor's debts. The Cobbs and Hutter families maintained ownership of Poplar Forest into the twentieth century.
The house at Poplar Forest is made of brick and has an octagonal floor plan; it consists of a central square space and three sides made of elongated octagon rooms. There is an entry hall on the remaining side of the house, which is two smaller rooms divided by a short entry hall.
The Victoria Golf Club, founded in 1893, is the oldest 18-hole golf course in Canada in its original location, and second oldest in North America.
Jeff ThomasDesigned by Killian & Nuggent, the Poplar Forest golf course opened in 1981. Jeff Thomas manages the course as the Owner.
Niagara Golf Club circa 1875 This is the oldest surviving golf course in North America.
Let's take a look at Talega Golf Club. This course was built in 2001 in San Clemente. Fred Couples & Brian Curly designed this 18 hole course.
600 enslaved peopleDespite working tirelessly to establish a new nation founded upon principles of freedom and egalitarianism, Jefferson owned over 600 enslaved people during his lifetime, the most of any U.S. president.
MonticelloCharlottesvilleThomas Jefferson/Places lived
the Montreal Golf ClubThe first golf club in Canada was the Montreal Golf Club, founded in Nov 1873 by Scotsman Alexander Dennistoun; he was also the first president and the captain of the club.
Chicago Golf Club is considered the oldest 18-hole course in North America (although the club's original site has public golf, nine-hole Downers Grove, which dates back to 1892). Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx considers itself to be the first public golf course in the U.S. (1895).
The first golf course in the United States was Oakhurst Links, built in 1884 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It was originally a six hole track which was later expanded to nine holes. Oakhurst was the first course and golf club in the United States.
Designated VLR. May 13, 1969. Poplar Forest is a plantation and plantation house in Forest, Bedford County, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson designed the plantation and used the property as a private retreat and a revenue-generating plantation. Jefferson inherited the property in 1773 and began designing and working on the plantation in 1806.
The Corporation for Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest has been in charge of Poplar Forest since 1984, when the 501 (c) (3) organization purchased 50 acres of land and the original buildings with the goal to preserve the estate for the educational benefit of the public.
Slaves were present on the property from 1766 through 1865, when slavery was formally abolished in the United States. Present-day knowledge of the slave populations and their contributions to Poplar Forest is based on both archaeological and archival evidence. John Wayles used slave labor to originally develop roadwork on the property, and when Thomas and Martha Jefferson inherited the land that included Poplar Forest from Wayles, they also inherited 135 enslaved men, women, and children as well as other tracts of land in Amherst, Cumberland, Charles City, Goochland, and Powhatan counties. Because Wayles chose to split his estate among several heirs, slave families were separated in order for his heirs to pay his debts.
Scholars have determined that the enslaved community at Poplar Forest devised a commerce system amongst themselves; slaves were allowed a small plot of land with which to grow food and produce goods that could be traded or sold to fellow slaves as well as the owners' families and the outside market.
Scholars agree that the retreat house at Poplar Forest is an excellent example of octagonal symmetry; Jefferson's design for the building reflects a consistent geometric approach likely made possible by his well-known proficiency in algebra, geometry, trigonometry and Newtonian calculus.
The house at Poplar Forest is made of brick and has an octagonal floor plan; it consists of a central square space and three sides made of elongated octagon rooms. There is an entry hall on the remaining side of the house, which is two smaller rooms divided by a short entry hall.
Christian Hutter sold the property to James Watts’ family in 1946; the Watts family operated Poplar Forest as a dairy farm and worked with Phelps Barnum and W. Stuart Thompson to restore the house to the way it appeared during Jefferson's time.