Spencer, Virginia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spencer is an unincorporated community in Henry County, Virginia, United States. It takes its name from its earliest settler, James Spencer Sr., who moved from Loudon County to Henry County with his sons in the eighteenth century. Spencer's son James, Jr. died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina. (On his death, his widow remarried Nathaniel Bassett.)

Spencer was the founding site of the Spencer Bros. Tobacco Company, as well as D.H. Spencer & Sons Tobacco, both begun by the Spencer family.[1] The Spencer family built Grassdale Farm, their tobacco plantation beginning in the eighteenth century. Grassdale, once called "The Homestead," is on the National Register of Historic Places.[2] The Spencer family also controlled the Danville & Western Railroad, which stopped in the town, as well as a small collection of other buildings, including a post office, doctor's house and other appurtenances.[3] The family later sold their tobacco company to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.[4] R. J. Reynolds had grown up in nearby Critz, Virginia. Grassdale Farm was once owned by Thomas Jefferson Penn, who built Chinqua-Penn Plantation outside Reidsville, North Carolina. The Spencer family and the Penn family are related (Jeff Penn's mother was Annie Spencer), and the Spencer coat-of-arms appears above the entry at Chinqua-Penn.

[edit] References

  1. ^ James Harrison Spencer, Men of Mark in Virginia, 1908
  2. ^ National Register of Historic Places
  3. ^ Grassdale, National Register of Historic Places
  4. ^ The Tobacco Worker, Tobacco Workers International Union, 1907
v • d • e
Municipalities and communities of
Henry County, Virginia
County seat: Martinsville
Town
Map of Virginia highlighting Henry County
Unincorporated
communities
  This Virginia state location article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

Coordinates: 36°37′11″N 80°00′26″W / 36.61972, -80.00722