Image: Colonel Joseph Martin Greenwood

Description: View of 'Greenwood,' a two-story Flemish-bond brick house built for Colonel Joseph Martin, son of General Joseph Martin. The house was built in 1808–1810 at Axton, Henry County, Virginia, for Col. Martin, who was born in 1785 and served in the War of 1812. Col. Martin served in both the Virginia House of Delegates and for eight years in the Virginia Senate. He also served as a member of the constitutional convention of 1829–1830, and three times as a presidential elector. He was lifelong friends with Archibald Stuart of Patrick County, Virginia, father of Confederate general J.E.B. Stuart, as well as with United States President and Virginia native John Tyler. During the War of 1812, Col. Martin commanded a regiment of militia. His plantation house, Greenwood, is based on a symmetrical three-bay Early Republic style and has a centered single-leaf wood door with a full surround. The house's portico is supported by paired Ionic columns. The windows are 9/9 sash windows with splayed brick lintels. The home features two exterior-end chimneys with disengaged stacks. It has seven fireplaces. In about 1940, basement excavations caused a cave-in, and the house was disassembled and moved from its location at Axton in Henry County to nearby Martinsville, named for Col. Joseph Martin's father. Col. Joseph Martin married Sally (Hughes) Martin, daughter of Col. Archelaus Hughes of Hughesville, Patrick County, Virginia, and a noted Revolutionary War soldier and patriot. Col. Martin and Sally Hughes Martin had eight daughters and four sons. Of the 12 children, two married members of the Hairston family; two married members of the Pannill family; and another two married members of the Dillard family. [1] An oil-on-canvas portrait believed to be Col. Joseph Martin is in the collection of the Bassett Historical Center, Bassett, Virginia. Also surviving is the porcelain dinnerware service from Col. Martin's home 'Greenwood,' manufactured by John Ridgway & Co., Staffordshire.
Title: Colonel Joseph Martin Greenwood
Credit: self (own photograph)
Author: self (own photograph)
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No