🐄 Otterdale

Otterdale was a farm located east of Otterdale Road close to the Swift Creek Reservoir in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The main house was originally built by Col. Woodson W. Hancock in 1834 and was a 1½-story central-passage house. Around 1855 the house was enlarged by an addition that consisted of a 2-story, side passage plan style house. Woodson Wingfield Hancock was a renowned county leader in politics, the militia, and agriculture. Using the neighboring Otter Creek, Hancock engineered a system of irrigation in which he built a dike at the creek's furthest point downstream that was on his property. Every winter the dike would be closed and water would overflow into the low lying surrounding land. This would deposit a rich cover of silt on top of the farmland. In the spring the dike would be opened so the water could flow out just before plowing. This system of farming gave Col. Hancock exceptionally bountiful harvests.