{"id":2598,"slug":"westover-plantation-charles-city-virginia","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Westover is the '30 — the 'Byrd' that's the built, the 'Georgian' that's the perfection. The 'library' is the 4,000 — the 'largest Virginia' that's the books, the 'secret diary' that's the kept. The 'James' is the front — the 'River' that's the address, the 'enslaved' that's the hundreds.","The 'Evelyn' is the ghost — the 'died' that's the neighbor's wife, the 'Wallingford' that's the not hers. The 'iron gates' is the famous — the 'clay tobacco' that's the marked, the 'Civil War' that's the grazed. Westover is the private — the 'garden' that's the open, the 'house' that's the not.","The file keeps Westover: the 1730 Byrd, the library, the James front, and the Evelyn ghost legend.","Westover Plantation is the archive's Virginia file — the Georgian's diary."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Westover Plantation is the archive's Virginia file — the river's mansion.","A plantation keeps its gates — the file's suggestion being that Westover's hold is the written: the 'diary' that's the secret, the 'enslaved' that's the built, and the 'ghost' that's the Evelyn."]}],"name":"Westover Plantation","aliases":[],"type":"MANSION","type_label":"Mansion","cats":["LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","HISTORIC_ESTATE"],"groups":["hauntings","historic-sites","legends"],"desc":"Byrd’s 1730s James River palace—Evelyn’s ghost in the garden.","full_desc":"Westover Plantation is a mansion in Charles City, Virginia. Byrd’s 1730s James River palace—Evelyn’s ghost in the garden. Its signature presence is Evelyn Byrd — the figure the file’s accounts keep returning to. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend, 1 documented fact and 1 named or described presence — documented record and retelling kept side by side. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Charles City","county":null,"state":"Virginia","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":37.348306,"lon":-77.062955,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Historic site / park","research_notes":"VA battlefields batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":2113,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"Evelyn Byrd is reportedly seen in the garden. The house's rooms are where the accounts concentrate — old houses keep their stories in the walls they were built around. The account has a collector's pedigree — written down as legend, which is the most honest status it can hold. 'Westover' carries the account. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Evelyn Byrd","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Westover","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westover_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":2114,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported a female figure near the river lawn. Westover Plantation wears the claim the way old houses do: visibly, and without comment. Witness accounts, no evidence file: the claim is anecdotal and stays that way. It is the sighting the place is known for, and it hasn't stopped. The claim holds its place in the ledger.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Westover","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westover_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"Built ~1730; Evelyn Byrd’s 1737 death is documented. A house in Charles City, Virginia with this much documented history gives the dossier substance underneath the lore. It's verified history: the dossier's load-bearing detail. The detail is preserved in 'Westover'. Documented ground is what separates this file from pure legend — this is part of it.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Westover","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westover_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"Evelyn Byrd is reportedly seen in the garden. A house with Charles City's history behind it gives the reports a setting that needs no exaggeration. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. The legend does what legends do — it explains the place in a way the records can't.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Westover","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westover_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"Evelyn Byrd","claimed_identity":"Evelyn Byrd","verified":null,"summary":"Evelyn Byrd is reportedly seen in the garden. The house's rooms are where the accounts concentrate — old houses keep their stories in the walls they were built around. 'Westover' carries the account. Named presences persist where anonymous reports fade — the file's name here is Evelyn Byrd. It remains the site's standing claim.","behavior":"Evelyn Byrd is reportedly seen in the garden.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Westover","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westover_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Historic mansion; check the official site for tour times.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Westover","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westover_Plantation","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}