This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Morgantown, W.Va. • Three plantations owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice's family are going on the auction block shortly — historic properties near Richmond Virginia, each with a manor house and hundreds of acres of working farmland.
Jay Justice, leading the Justice Companies while his father is governor, says the investment properties are for sale because farming was his father's main focus, while his is coal mining.
Flowerdew Hundred along the James River in Hopewell, Virginia, was originally granted in 1618 to colonial Virginia Gov. George Yeardley, an early English settlement.
It now has 1,300 acres [2 sq. miles)] and a 12-bedroom house.
Premiere Estates Auction Co. says 880-acre [1 sq. mile] Horseshoe Farm in Rapidan and 1,700-acre [3 sq. miles] Rapidan Farm in Culpeper are each for sale in up to five parcels.
The governor's family hasn't lived in any of them.