Portici: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Manassas National Battlefield Park

Ribeiro Jones, Angelina

Adapted from the Boundary Description, Chronology, and National Register Documentation Narrative below: The approximately 307.13-acre Portici cultural landscape is both a historic vernacular landscape and a historic site located within the Manassas National Battlefield Park (MANA) in Prince William County, Virginia (Figure 1). Portici is situated in the southeastern corner of the park, bordered by I-66/Vandor Lane to the south/southeast, by MANA’s boundary to the west/southwest, by the northernmost boundary of Tract 01-174 to the north/northwest, and by the centerline of the Bull Run to the east/northeast. The Portici cultural landscape is significant as an example of Virginia Piedmont agricultural production both prior to and after the Civil War, for the role it played in the Battles of Manassas and during Confederate occupation of the area, and as part of the larger commemorative landscape preserved by MANA. The Portici cultural landscape rests between 150 feet and 248 feet above sea level in elevation. The existing geology, hydrology, topography, and vegetation all serve to make these layers of the site’s history legible. The site displays two prominent topographic ridges, surrounded by low-lying agricultural fields crossed by both the Bull Run to the east/northeast and its tributary Holkums Branch at the northwestern corner of the site. The Rock Road, Ball Family Cemetery, views from the Portici I site, and remnants of the earthen rifle pits constructed by the Confederate 19th Virginia Regiment are notable extant features within the cultural landscape. Part of the Lower Bull Run Tract, a portion of the Northern Neck Proprietary held by the Carter family beginning in 1724, the Portici cultural landscape was settled and cultivated by a tenant farmer beginning in about 1733 CE (Bedell and Hooks 2018: 22; Parker and Hernigle 1990: 42, 47). Elizabeth “Betty” Landon Carter Ball and Spencer Ball established the Pohoke plantation on this acreage by 1802, exploiting the labor of enslaved Black people to cultivate the land. In 1820, the Balls established the Portici plantation, building a new Georgian-style dwelling and absorbing the infrastructure of the earlier plantation into the larger Portici plantation complex (Parker and Hernigle 1990: 15, 16, 58). The Portici plantation main house served as Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s headquarters during the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861, which lasted about 12 hours (Schaible 2013: 14). The main house and its dependencies served as a Confederate field hospital where Confederate troops and captured US wounded were treated following the First Battle of Manassas (Parker and Hernigle 1990: 20, 21). The Portici plantation also hosted a winter encampment occupied by a regiment from Confederate Brigadier General Cadmus Wilcox’s Brigade from December 1861 to March 1862 (Bedell and Griffitts 2001: 1). During the Second Battle of Manassas on the evening of August 30, 1862, the Union cavalry fought off the Confederate cavalry on a ridge of the Portici plantation in order to allow Union troops to evacuate via the Lewis Ford (Bedell and Hooks 2018: 34; Parker and Hernigle 1990: 235). Following the Civil War, Frank Lewis and his heirs continued to farm the property. In 1936, the National Park Service (NPS) purchased a 114.27-acre tract from Lewis heir Fannie Lee Henry for inclusion in the Bull Run Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA) (01-174 Tract File, Land Records, NCR). This land was absorbed into MANA when Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes designated the national battlefield park on May 10, 1940, to commemorate the First and Second Battles of Manassas fought during the Civil War.

Portici: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Manassas National Battlefield Park

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