BLACKSBURG, Va. (WFXR) – The enslaved population was a big part for the Historic Smithfield in Blacksburg. The 4.5-acre plantation was the home of the Preston Family.
Colonel William Preston led militias in both the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars. His grandson William Ballard Preston was a Virginia politician who founded the institution that would eventually become Virginia Tech.
Smithfield was also the home to hundreds of enslaved people who were forced to work the land…