| Marlbourne | |
| Nrhp Type: | nhld |
| Nocat: | yes |
| Designated Other1: | Virginia Landmarks Register |
| Designated Other1 Date: | September 9, 1969[1] |
| Designated Other1 Number: | 042-0020 |
| Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
| Location: | U.S. Route 360, Hanover County, Virginia |
| Nearest City: | Richmond, Virginia |
| Coordinates: | 37.6542°N -77.2225°W |
| Built: | 1843 |
| Designated Nrhp Type: | July 19, 1964[2] |
| Added: | October 15, 1966 |
| Refnum: | 66000837 |
The Edmund Ruffin Plantation, also known as Marlbourne, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark in Hanover County, Virginia, 11miles northeast of Richmond.
Built in 1840, the plantation was purchased in 1843 by Edmund Ruffin, a Virginia planter and a pioneer in agricultural improvements; he also published an agricultural journal in the 1840s named the Farmer's Register. One of a group of intellectuals they called "the sacred circle",[3] he worked to reform agriculture in the South, promoting crop rotation and soil conservation; he is considered to have been "the father of soil science" in the United States.[4] Ruffin experimented with agricultural methods and mixed marl, defined as "a friable earthy deposit consisting of clay and calcium carbonate, used esp. as a fertilizer for soils deficient in lime" to add to soils.
He and his friends: James Henry Hammond, Nathaniel Beverley Tucker, George Frederick Holmes, and William Gilmore Simms, were pro-slavery and promoted a moral reform of the South. They published numerous articles in literary and short-lived magazines, promoting a stewardship role for masters to improve conditions under slavery.[5] [6]
Later Ruffin gained more attention as one of a number of secessionist fire-eaters; he traveled to South Carolina and is credited with firing one of the first shots at Fort Sumter in 1861. Despondent after General Lee's surrender in 1865, he left a note proclaiming his "unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule—to all political, social and business connections with Yankees, & to the perfidious, malignant, & vile Yankee race"[7] and committed suicide at Redmoor in Amelia County.[8] He is buried on the grounds of Marlbourne.
His Marlbourne plantation was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.[2] [9]