Historic Malvern Hill Farm in Henrico County is up for sale

Historic Malvern Hill Farm in Henrico County, the scene of three wartime battles, is for sale.

Commonwealth Commercial Partners LLC said Monday that it has been retained to find a buyer for the farm in the Varina District. The farm includes about 900 acres. About one third is in cropland cultivation, including numerous barns and outbuildings used in farming operations, with the remainder is in timber.

According to Commonwealth Commercial, the farm, acquired by William Ferguson in the 1930s, is owned today by several generations of the same family.

Malvern Hill Hunt Club has been hunting and caring for the farm for decades. The property is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places with the primary dwelling constructed as early as 1662. Originally constructed by Thomas Cocke, the house burned down in 1905 but the remains are architecturally significant as one of the few examples of cruciform-plan houses in Virginia.  Zoned for agricultural use,   a small portion of the property lies in Charles City County.

Malvern Hill has been the scene of at least three battles, including a Lafayette encampment in 1781 during the Revolutionary War and a Virginia militia camp in the War of 1812. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Malvern Hill, also known as the Battle of Poindexter's Farm, was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the Union Army of the Potomac under Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan. It was the final battle of the Seven Days Battles, taking place on a 130-foot elevation of land known as Malvern Hill, near Richmond and just one mile from the James River.

Including inactive reserves, more than 50,000 soldiers from each side took part, using more than 200  pieces of artillery and three warships.

Ryan Fanelli and Bill Barnett of Commonwealth Commercial are marketing the property at a list price $10.6 million. They also have been retained to market another historic site in Stafford County named Blaisdell Farm, site of Hunter’s Ironworks (also known as Rappahannock Forge), which supplied muskets. swords and other armaments during the American Revolutionary War.

Commonwealth Commercial is based out of Henrico and also has offices in Nashville, and in Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., and Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla., as well as Reading, Pa.