OPEN DAILY
Gift Shop & Ticket Sales:
9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
Guided House Tours:
10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m.
Explore Berkeley’s gardens, grounds, exhibits, river shore, and museum at your own pace
Grounds close at 4:00 p.m.
CLOSED Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day
Upcoming Events
Virginia Thanksgiving Festival at Berkeley Plantation
November 3, 2024
Celebrating the First English Thanksgiving in the New World
Join us for a day dedicated to history, food, and fun with a living history program, tribal dancers, arts, crafts & jewelry vendors, choral music, Thanksgiving foods and a re-enactment of the Landing of Capt. Woodlief & his men.
Activities and entertainment 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Thanksgiving re-enactment and program 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
For more information, visit: virginiathanksgivingfestival.net
Christmas Events
Centuries of Christmas
December 7, 2024 through January 1, 2025
Berkeley’s elegant 1726 mansion will be beautifully decorated throughout the holiday season. Costumed guides will add a special touch with stories of Christmas at Berkeley through four centuries of history.
Christmas tours are conducted daily 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. The last tour begins at 3:00 p.m.
Christmas Wreath Workshop
December 7, 2024
Join our staff to learn techniques for creating your own Christmas wreath. We have all the items needed to make a beautiful wreath made from fresh greenery cut from Berkeley’s gardens. Make wreath making a holiday tradition and join us for a festive workshop creating a beautiful wreath to decorate your home for the season. Workshops begin at 10:00 & 1:00.
$45 per person. Reservations are required.
Candlelight Christmas Tour
December 7, 14, 15, & 20, 2024
Break away from the hustle and bustle of the holidays and let your imagination travel back to a Colonial Christmas. Enjoy an exclusive after-hours candlelight tour of Berkeley’s 1726 Georgian mansion. Hear tales of Christmas celebrations of a bygone era, while enjoying traditional decorations of holly, pine, boxwood, and cedar. Following the tour, gather for Christmas caroling and wassail served in Berkeley’s mansion. Reservations are required. $24.95 per person.
Welcome to Berkeley Plantation
Step back in time to a bygone era and experience a genteel eighteenth-century lifestyle. Nowhere can you find a more unspoiled and tranquil environment. Our history begins in 1619 when settlers observed the first official Thanksgiving in America. Berkeley’s 1726 Georgian mansion is the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison V, signer of the Declaration of Independence and three times governor of Virginia. The estate is also the birthplace of William Henry Harrison, ninth president of the United States, and ancestral home of his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, the twenty-third president. During the Civil War, Berkeley was occupied by General George McClellan’s Union troops. While at Berkeley, General Daniel Butterfield composed the familiar tune “Taps,” first played by his bugler, O.W. Norton.
Berkeley’s mansion is furnished with a rare collection of eighteenth-century antiques, Chinese porcelain, and English silver. Costumed guides tell stories of the first Thanksgiving, the Harrisons, Civil War, and the present owners of Berkeley. Native American, Colonial, and Civil War artifacts, along with historical paintings and exhibits, can be explored in the eighteenth- century basement museum. The original kitchen dependency and reconstructed slave quarters tell the story of the enslaved workers that lived and worked at Berkeley. Grounds tours are at your own pace and include five terraces leading to the banks of the James River with benches along the way to sit and enjoy the views.
During the autumn season, pick a pumpkin and explore Berkeley’s corn maze. On the first Sunday in November, Berkeley celebrates the historic 1619 landing. In December, the plantation is decorated with traditional holiday decorations of fresh greenery from Berkeley’s gardens. Tours, gift shop, museum, exhibits, special events, and children’s activities make visiting Berkeley an educational and fun experience for the entire family.
A Virginia and National Historic Landmark
Photography:
Gary Smith Images
Historical Firsts Await
America’s First Thanksgiving (1619)
The Creation and First Playing of “Taps” (1862)