voices of green spring video, friends of green spring

Getting to Know Colonial Virginia and the Ludwells: The Friends of Green Spring

Since founding the Associates of Colonel Philip Ludwell III in 2015, we have been heartened to hear from our readers regarding our research on the life and times of Philip Ludwell III, the first known American convert to Eastern Orthodoxy. As an all-volunteer effort, these positive responses provide fuel to continue our efforts.

For those who would like more information about Philip Ludwell and the world he inhabited, we would like to point out the excellent resources of the Williamsburg-based Friends of Green Spring who have been gracious colleagues and guides to us in the Associates.

The Friends of Green Spring

The Friends of Green Spring is “a non-profit organization dedicated to researching, preserving, and presenting Historic Green Spring.” The Friends website is full of interesting historical information about the colonial plantation (Green Spring) that was developed in the 1600s by Governor William Berkeley, who played a “vital role in the political, social and economic history of Virginia for nearly four decades.”

While our own historical research into Green Spring centers on the Ludwell family, the Ludwells inherited the property from Governor Berkeley. The Berkeley and Ludwell stories thus flow out and trace back to that same Green Spring and actually for generations before that as their familial ties go back to their common ancestral home in Bruton, England. The more one understands Green Spring, the more one understands Philip Ludwell and his world.

Thus, we would like to call out some of the information on the Friends’ website, including:

The Friends of Green Spring developed an informative video, below, that is worth our attention. It is a concise summary of the history of Green Spring, its importance in the development of what became the United States, and some of the personalities who built and inhabited the plantation.