Fodor's Expert Review Historic Smithfield Plantation

Almost a century before Virginia Tech's founding in 1872, the Historic Smithfield plantation was built in what was then the frontier wilds. Aristocratic colonist and Revolutionary War patriot William Preston moved his family to the estate in 1774, a year before the war began. Among his descendants were three Virginia governors and four U.S. senators. Today costumed interpreters, authentic period furniture, and Native American artifacts reveal how different life in the New River valley was more than two centuries ago.