Historic Smithfield

Historic Smithfield is an independent 501(c)(3) operated and managed by The Smithfield-Preston Foundation. It became a museum in 1959 when Janie Preston Boulware Lamb, great, great, granddaughter of Colonel William Preston gave Smithfield to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities as a museum. Smithfield began operating independently of the APVA (now Preservation Virginia) in 2018 when the Smithfield-Preston Foundation took full ownership of the property. It partnered with Virginia Tech, which holds an historic preservation easement on the manor house, out buildings, and historic landscape.