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Community — Real Estate — Varina — Tree Hill Farm — Brookfield Residential — Pamunkey Indian Tribe — Kevin Brown

Native tribes fight to save Chief Powhatan's birthplace from development

,   and  WTVR CBS 6
1 min read
Chief Frank Adams of the Upper Mattaponi Tribe (left) says the planned development would desecrate a vital part of Indigenous history. (Courtesy WTVR)

Tree Hill Farm, tucked along Osborne Turnpike overlooking downtown Richmond, sits atop Eastern Henrico County with a rolling landscape of farmland and woods.

For Virginia's Native American tribes, the 523-acre property is the scenic birthplace of Chief Powhatan and a living connection to more than 13,000 years of Indigenous history.

Now, the farm is at the center of a fight over its future.

Birthplace of Powhatan at Henrico’s Tree Hill Farm added to list of Virginia’s most endangered historic places
New developer plans 10-year buildout of Tree Hill site but has pledged to ‘honor the rich historical and cultural contributions made by the Powhatan Chiefdom’ there
Henrico CitizenTom Lappas, Citizen Publisher

Brookfield Residential, a subsidiary of global developer BGRE, is moving ahead with plans to build 2,300 homes and more than 1.1 million square feet of commercial space on the site, including the area's first grocery store.

The Henrico Board of Supervisors approved the plan in a public process in 2007.

Tribal leaders say the development would permanently erase a sacred and irreplaceable piece of Indigenous heritage.

"This place must be sheltered from development. Once it is destroyed it is gone forever," Pamunkey Tribal Chief Kevin Brown said. "It would be like building a mall at the bottom of the Grand Canyon."

Click here to continue reading on WTVR.com, a Henrico Citizen partner organization.

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