Chippokes State Park is a combination of natural history, cultural history, and outdoor activities.

Situated on the James River, this beautiful park offers visitors a sprawling recreation site with campgrounds, cabins, picnic areas, equestrian trails, James River beach access and visitors' center. Our farm museum, along with the original plantation, historic houses and farm buildings, lets you step back into time and offers a glimpse into the early history of Virginia.

One of the oldest continuously operated plantations in the nation, Chippokes State Park is one of the Commonwealth's most beautiful parks. Established in 1619 by English Captain William Powell, a Lieutenant Governor of Jamestown, this 1,400-acre farm located opposite Jamestown Island, has been the site of an active agricultural operation for nearly four centuries. Powell named the plantation after Choapoke, an Algonquian Indian Chief who was friendly to the English settlers in Jamestown.

After Powell's death Chippokes changed hands frequently, most times serving as a secondary plantation managed by overseers or farmed by tenants. There are many historically significant buildings and structures that can still be found on the property, including the two plantation houses, original plantation outbuildings, slave quarters, farm buildings and several colonial period archeological sites.

In 1918 Mr. and Mrs. Victor Stewart purchased Chippokes, and lived there until 1967. Upon her death, Mrs. Stewart willed the plantation to the Commonwealth of Virginia for the establishment of a museum of Virginia's agricultural history.