Morgantown, W.Va. • Three plantations owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice's family are going on the auction block shortly — historic properties near Richmond Virginia, each with a manor house and hundreds of acres of working farmland.
Jay Justice, leading the Justice Companies while his father is governor, says the investment properties are for sale because farming was his father's main focus, while his is coal mining.
Flowerdew Hundred along the James River in Hopewell, Virginia, was originally granted in 1618 to colonial Virginia Gov. George Yeardley, an early English settlement.
It now has 1,300 acres [2 sq. miles)] and a 12-bedroom house.
Premiere Estates Auction Co. says 880-acre [1 sq. mile] Horseshoe Farm in Rapidan and 1,700-acre [3 sq. miles] Rapidan Farm in Culpeper are each for sale in up to five parcels.
The governor's family hasn't lived in any of them.
A replica Civil War canon decorates the front lawn of the Flowered Hundred plantation in front of a replica of the original farm home Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Hopewell, Va. The plantation is one of three Virginia plantations owned buy the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice that will be put on the auction block later this month. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
A replica Civil War canon decorates the front lawn of the Flowered Hundred plantation home Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Hopewell, Va. The plantation is one of three Virginia plantations owned buy the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice that will be put on the auction block later this month. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
This April 8, 2017 photo provided by John Hancock Productions shows an aerial view of Rapidan Farm in Rapdian, Va. The plantation is on of there being sold by the family of West Virginia gov. Jim Justice. (Jim Handcock Productions via AP)
The dining room of the Flowered Hundred plantation home Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Hopewell, Va. The plantation is one of three Virginia plantations owned buy the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice that will be put on the auction block later this month. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
This April 4, 2017 photo provided by John Handcock Productions is an aerial view of Flowered Hundred plantation in Hopewell, Va. The plantation is on of three being sold by the family of West Virginia gov. Jim Justice. (Jim Handcock Productions via AP)
Light streams in the center sitting room at the Flowered Hundred plantation home Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Hopewell, Va. The plantation is one of three Virginia plantations owned buy the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice that will be put on the auction block later this month. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
This April 8, 2017 photo provided by John Handcock Productions is an aerial view of Horseshoe Farm in Rapdian, Va. The plantation is on of three being sold by the family of West Virginia gov. Jim Justice. (Jim Handcock Productions via AP)
