University of Virginia Library

Historian States Opposition
To New Prison Location

By RICHARD PETTY

Robert A. Murdock, historian,
architectural historian, and resident
of the Green Springs district, has
stated that "those who are
responsible for the recently
announced decision to transfer the
state penitentiary to the Green
Springs district are at best
insensitive to the desires of the
people who live here, and above all
insensitive to the
historical-architectural and
aesthetic qualities of Green
Springs."

In order to understand Mr.
Murdock's charges, it is necessary
to understand why Mr. Murdock
feels Green Springs to be of
historical importance.

The building boom which took
place in Green Springs in the 1840's
and 1850's was a direct result of
the district's agricultural
productivity. The region became
highly prosperous during this
period as a result of canal and
railroad building booms which
lowered shipping costs and greatly
broadened the market for the
Green Springs produce.

Perhaps the single most
important factor in the prosperity
of the Green Springs plantations,
according to Mr. Murdock, was the
introduction of labor-saving, horse
powered farm machinery.

The partially mechanized
cultivation of the wheat freed the
planters from the need to
continuously pour their earnings
back into the purchase of slaves.
Consequently, they were able to
accumulate the capital necessary to
build more elaborate mansion
homes.

The genteel poverty of the
post-Civil War years preserved many
of the plantations from total decay
or remodeling. Careful restoration
by recent owners has brought most
of them back to their original
condition.

Mr. Murdock states that "there
are no comparable areas in
Piedmont Virginia where the
architectural historian can trace the
evolution of the Virginia house
from 1740 to 1860. Even more
important is the fact that the
people who lived in Green Springs
left us a detailed written record of
their ideas and activities."

"The ultimate indignity of the
proposed penitentiary," continues
Mr. Murdock, "is that the site
under consideration confronts and
will undoubtedly overpower two of
the most architecturally significant
houses in the country."

The two houses are
"Hawkwood", built by the younger
Richard Morris in the 1850's, and
"Green Springs," built in the
1780's or 1790's by the elder
Richard Morris.