Southampton County’s Beechwood is characteristic of the spacious but unostentatious houses favored by southeastern Virginia planters in the early 19th century. Like many of the region’s early dwellings, it began as a one-room, one-story house and evolved into its present form through a series of additions. Despite the changes, the Federal-period main portion gives a unified appearance with its early beaded weatherboards, modillion cornice, and handsomely detailed pedimented front porch. The property was owned in the 18th century by the Denson family and has been held by Denson family descendants to the present. Thomas Pretlow, son-in-law of Jordan Denson, the builder of the original late-18th-century portion of Beechwood, made the last significant additions to the house by 1820. A more recent owner of Beechwood (also known as Jericho) was Colgate W. Darden, Jr., governor of Virginia in 1942-46, and later president of the University of Virginia for twelve years.