The land on the east side of Forest Lakes, now occupied by Turnberry Circle, was originally associated with a farmer, surveyor, and veteran of the War of 1812 named Achilles Broadhead. He and his wife Mary purchased a 101 acre tract of land from Mary’s brother, Francis Carr, in 1821.
Broadhead served as a magistrate in Charlottesville and also surveyed the land where UVA was built. His survey is available in the UVA Special Collections Library and can also be viewed here.
The Broadheads likely built the house that still stands on the property (accessible from Proffit Road) and is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The house, known as Woodburn, is described as:
“…a well preserved representative of a group of rural properties that served middle class farmers in Albemarle County.”
The 1830 census shows that seven free white persons and 14 enslaved individuals were living on the property.
In 1835 the couple sold the property and moved to Missouri.
One of the couple’s sons, James Overton Broadhead, went on to feature prominently in Missouri history.
Born in 1819, he was around two years old when the family moved to the Forest Lakes area, and would have grown up on the property. Having spent one year at UVA, he followed his family to Missouri in 1837. Broadhead became a prominent lawyer and was instrumental in keeping Missouri in the Union prior to the Civil War. Despite being an ardent Union supporter, he was also a firm believer in slavery. During the 1861 Missouri Constitutional Convention he gave a speech with the following statement, which references his childhood in the Hollymead area:
“I am wiling to go as far as any living man to protect the institution of slavery in the State of Missouri. I have no prejudice against the institution. I have been raised with the institution, and I know something of it.”
During the war he served as the Provost Marshal General (similar to a military governor) of the Military Department of Missouri. After the war he became the first president of the American Bar Association, a congressman, and a Minister to Switzerland.
This website from UVA gives more information about Broadhead’s life and career.
Broadhead was such a prominent person that after his death an entire book was published to eulogize him.
When the Broadheads left Albemarle they sold their property to the Mundy family. During the Civil War the property was sold to Dr. A.C. Wood, who owned the adjacent Woodburn farm. Wood died before completing the purchase and the property was eventually resold. This episode may explain how the house came to be known as Woodburn, despite being distinct from the neighboring farm of the same name.
By the 1920’s the Birckhead family owned the property. In 1949 the tract was subdivided when Richard Mann purchased the house and surrounding 18 acres. The rest of the property stayed with the Birckhead’s. Eventually, most of it would become either the Springridge neighborhood or Forest Lakes common area.
Today, part of the land previously owned by the Broadhead, Mundy, Etherton, and Birckhead families is wooded with many walking trails that criss-cross the area. This piece of equipment, of unknown age, is visible along one of those trails.
The Virginia Landmarks Register nomination form from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources provides a description of the Woodburn house and a history of the property into the 20th century.