The Tuckahoe Plantation
According to Tuckahoe tour guide Jessica Stith, to uncover the identity of the famed plantation’s ghost, you need look no further than the sprawling family tree of the Randolph family, whose illustrious name is intertwined both with Tuckahoe and America’s past. The Tuckahoe Plantation is one of Richmond’s most famous and haunted locations.
Book a Richmond walking ghost tour with Richmond Ghosts to know more about haunted Richmond and the mystifying secrets from an age past that it holds.
Who Haunts The Tuckahoe Plantation?
The Gray Lady, the moniker for the spectral figure bound to the Tuckahoe Plantation, is thought to be one of two prominent Randolph figures haunting the plantation. Their family has owned the plantation since the early 18th century, and it appears they have no plans to leave.
Murder At Tuckahoe Plantation
Mary Randolph fell in love with the plantation Overseer before fleeing Tuckahoe with her lover and birthing a child. This act incurred the wrath of the Randolph family, who pursued Mary and her illicit lover, slaying her beloved and their infant child before her very eyes. On returning to Tuckahoe, Mary was forced to marry the Reverend James Keith.
But, years later, in one final bitter twist, Mary received a letter from her former lover who had not, in fact, died in the family’s brutal act of revenge. The knowledge that her true love still lived tormented Mary to the grave, tying her restless soul to Tuckahoe for eternity.
The second of the Randolph family members believed to roam the grounds and colonial rooms of the property, tells a far darker and murkier tale that was a true scandal of the times. Judith Randolph and her husband Richard resided at the “Bizarre Plantation” in Cumberland County, VA.
In 1792, Richard was accused of murdering the offspring he had with Judith’s sister Nancy, who, for a period, ran Tuckahoe. Enslaved workers found the body of a white infant atop a pile of shingles while the couple were visiting a nearby plantation. This gruesome discovery led to a hearing and scandal that would engulf the Randolph family in a tale of intrigue and horror.
Years later, Judith was suspected of poisoning and killing her husband in a final act of revenge. Paranoia and, ultimately, madness lay in wait for the beleaguered bride as her life unraveled after her sister Nancy finally departed the plantation.
The tortured Judith finds solace in the great hall and spaces of Tuckahoe, still a prisoner of the scandal that rocked the Randolphs.
Teaching Thomas at Tuckahoe
Tuckahoe Plantation today stands as a beautifully preserved piece of Colonial history and a testament to the Randolph family legacy, whose original settling couple are often referred to as the ‘Adam and Eve’ of Virginia. It is, however, another famed family name that is etched in Tuckahoe’s tale.
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson would call Tuckahoe home between the ages of 2 and 9, learning to read and write within the building’s walls. His father, Peter, was entrusted with the plantation’s operation and the education of three orphaned Randolph children.
When the future President’s family left in 1752, the oldest of the orphans, William Randolph, was deemed to have come of age and was entrusted with the plantation’s operation at the grand old age of 11.
Jefferson returned to Tuckahoe Plantation throughout his life, displaying a fondness for the property that saw him through those formative years. Tuckahoe is considered one of the finest examples of an 18th-century plantation in existence today, with its outbuildings notably withstanding the ravages of war and time and remaining remarkably preserved. Visitors are treated to a complete snapshot of life during those times.
The Tuckahoe Hauntings
The true identity of the Gray Lady, so called because of the spook’s Victorian clothing, may remain an enduring mystery, but there is no doubting the unnerving effect this vaporous figure has had on both residents and visitors to the property.
An apparition has been seen entering and exiting a room through a closed closet door upstairs in the main building. Similarly, eerie figures have been seen wandering the plantation, only to disappear into thin air upon closer inspection. Witnesses have described a chilled mist ominously filling the air on hot August days. While lights mysteriously turning on and off have sent chills up the spines of others.
The husband of tour guide Jessica Stith experienced what he described as the sensation of having his hair pulled. Stilth then felt the indentation of someone next to him while lying down in one of the old slave cabins and a mischievous presence within the old walls.
In 1977, a matter of weeks after couple Tad and Sue Thompson had become the sole residents of the plantations’ manor house, Sue was awakened by the murmurs and rumblings of what sounded like people partying downstairs. Alarmed and confused, the bleary-eyed Thompson alerted her husband, Tad, whose Grandmother Isabella had bought the plantation from the last generation of Randolphs to occupy Tuckahoe in 1935. Nervously, they began to descend the narrow stairs but were greeted by an empty hall in eerie silence. If the Randolphs were indeed back from the grave for a celebration of sorts, the Thompsons, it seemed, were not invited.
Haunted Virginia
From Randolphs and Jeffersons, paranormal parties, and ethereal figures roaming as they please, Tuckahoe today offers visitors a touchstone of America’s rich and often turbulent colonial times. It is a chance to ponder some of life’s most enduring and mystifying questions. Although still a private residence, tours of the manor house and the plantation grounds are available all year round.
Whether you’re looking to dip into the nation’s history or perhaps even catch sight of people like the Randolphs who lived through it, you can do so on a ghost tour with Richmond Ghosts.
Read more of our blog for spooky stories just like this one. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram for more haunted content from across the nation!
Sources:
https://scrcguides.libraries.wm.edu/repositories/2/resources/1437
