Having just found this site, I have been having a great time reading messages, esp. those that provide a connection to my family history. So far, in my sporadic research, two of my maternal great-grandfathers served in the Confederate army. Charles H. Marks was a cadet at VMI and took part in the battle at New Market; William H. Harrison (Jr.) rode with the 13th VA Cavalry. I have a large place in my heart devoted to my southern ancestors and the James River area . . .
My relatively recent Harrison's of Prince George County appear to be 'cousins' to the Harrison's that owned Harrison's Landing/Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County and I have several books about that area, one of the best (IMHO) being "The Great Plantation" by Clifford Dowdey. Berkeley was first known as Berkeley Hundred (named after a location in England) when the first settlers arrived on the "Good Ship Margaret' under Captain John Woodlief. The Harrison's did not arrive at Berkeley until their second generation in the new colony when Benjamin Harrison II purchased the land (or an adjacent piece of property) from the family of Giles Bland. Benjamin II never actually lived on the land, but his son Benjamin III (born 1673) was placed there at a relatively young age and he quickly amassed over 20,000 acres. During his lifetime, Berkeley Hundred became known as Harrison's Landing (named for the landowner), since by the age of 24 he was securely established in the shipping business. He also built a mill and shipyard nearby. In the meantime, through a somewhat 'sneaky' deal involving Ben III's brother Nathaniel, William Byrd I acquired the 'next-door' property that became Westover Plantation. Ben III's son Benjamin IV built the plantation house that still stands, abandoning the site of Ben III's home to move back further from the river's edge.
By the time the Civil War came to call, the plantation was in sad shape. What family remained took off and McClellan's wounded troops were housed in the plantation house. I believe the 'Harrison's Landing' that was 'rebuilt' and used by the Union troops was located along the James River within a few miles west of the great house. The actual location and the sites of the mill and shipyard are things I hope to verify on our next trip to Virginia.
Berkeley now belongs to the Jamison family, which also brings up a Civil War connection. A young drummer boy was with McClellan's troops and grew up telling many stories of the grand old house along the James. One of his descendants, John Jamison, visited and, in 1905, purchased the property for a summer home. It was John's son Malcolm who realized a dream of restoring the property to its former glory as a prosperous farm and beautiful home.
Why do I love this area so much? Fast forward to the early 1920's, when my Harrison grandfather and his family lived in a small white house - still standing - on Coggin('s) Point on the south side of the James almost directly across the river from the plantation houses of Berkeley and Byrd's Westover (acquired at some point by another branch of Harrison's). I grew up hearing the story of how my grandfather would occasionally take my mother across the James in a small boat to visit her cousins on the north side of the river.