Eleven Spirits on the Lynnhaven: Ferry Plantation House

Reviewed by Josh N · Updated October 15, 2026 · How we verify

A brick house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Virginia Beach does not look like the kind of place that carries eleven ghosts, but Ferry Plantation House has been collecting stories for nearly four centuries. The ground it stands on in Virginia was a ferry landing before it was a courthouse, a courthouse before it was a mansion, and a mansion before it burned. The building visitors walk through today was raised in 1830 from the bricks of the house that preceded it, which is as neat a summary of the site as anyone could ask for.

Quick Facts on the Old Donation Farm House

• Also known as Old Donation Farm, Ferry Farm, and the Walke Manor House
• Ferry service on the site dates to 1642
• Current house built in 1830, with a West Bay addition in 1850
• Listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in 2004 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2005
• Now a museum and educational center with spirit tours
• Reputedly haunted by 11 spirits

Savill Gaskin’s Ferry and the Eleven Landings on the Lynnhaven

The site’s recorded history begins in 1642, when Savill Gaskin started the second ferry service in Hampton Roads. The boat carried passengers on the Lynnhaven River to the nearby county courthouse and out to the plantations strung along the waterway, with eleven stops in all. Passengers waiting on the bank fired a cannon to signal the ferryman. The first such service in the area had been started nearby by Adam Thoroughgood, so this stretch of river was already a working transport corridor when Gaskin opened his route.

The land was in use long before that. Local Indians cleared the area in the 16th century, and artifacts from that occupation have been recovered on the property.

Stocks, Pillory and the Third Princess Anne County Courthouse

In 1735 the third Princess Anne County courthouse was built here, the first brick courthouse in the county, and it came complete with stocks and a pillory. It stood until the Walke Mansion went up on the site. That detail matters to the ghost stories later on, because one set of courthouse bars and shackles is still fixed to a window of the present house.

The Walke Mansion, owned by William Walke, stood from 1751 to 1828. Walke may have run a tavern on the property during the American Revolution. The mansion was destroyed by fire on September 12, 1828.

A House Rebuilt From Its Own Ashes in 1830

The current house was finished in 1830, and every brick in it came from the ruins of the Walke Mansion. The exterior is Federal style, laid in three-course American bond, and it was once covered with oyster shell stucco. A West Bay addition followed in 1850. Inside are ten rooms with heart-of-pine flooring and a number of original features intact. The rear of the house faces the western branch of the Lynnhaven River, the same water the ferry worked.

In the back yard stands a large southern magnolia planted on April 6, 1863, by Sally Rebecca Walke in memory of her fiance. She appears again in the ghost accounts, which is unusual: most of the figures reported here are anonymous, and she is not.

Abandoned From 1986, Saved From the Wrecking Ball in 1996

Virginia Higgins moved out of Ferry Plantation in 1986 and turned the deed over to the City of Virginia Beach. The house then sat abandoned for a decade. Investors bought it in 1994, but their deal to sell it collapsed in 1996 when the Virginia Beach City Council ruled that deed restrictions barred its use as a private residence. A group of citizens saved the house from demolition around that time, the deed passed to the City of Virginia Beach in June 1996, and the Friends of the Ferry Plantation House, Inc. began renovation work the same year in partnership with the city. Author Belinda Nash served on the organization’s board of directors.

Formal recognition followed the rescue. The house was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register in 2004, the Virginia State Register, and the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

The Eleven Spirits Said to Share the Rooms

The house is reported to be haunted by eleven spirits. None of this is documented in the way the brickwork and the deeds are, and it should be read as accounts rather than record. The named and described figures include:

• People said to have perished in an 1810 shipwreck at the ferry landing
• A former slave
• Sally Rebecca Walke, who mourns her fallen soldier fiance
• The Lady in White, who according to the story died of a broken neck after falling down the stairs
• The artist Thomas Williamson, owner of the Manor House and married to a Walke, reported seen at the top of the stairs painting

The most frequently repeated sound here is dragging chains, which local tradition ties to the days of the old courthouse and its stocks. Paranormal groups visit the house to conduct research. It is worth noting the obvious counterweight: this is a brick house approaching two hundred years old, sitting on tidal ground, with a staircase, a known fire, a documented courthouse and a well-rehearsed set of stories waiting for anyone who walks in. The accounts are not dishonest. They are simply reported experiences, and the house itself supplies plenty of ordinary noise.

Grace Sherwood, the Witch of Pungo, and What Actually Happened Where

Grace Sherwood, remembered as the “Witch of Pungo,” is strongly associated with this site, and the association is often overstated. She was tried by ducking near here, not at the house. The ducking itself took place at the end of what is now Witchduck Road, roughly 200 yards out in the river from what is today a private home. The museum keeps her memory on the property with a red maple and a marker in the side yard, and sponsors the annual Grace Sherwood Festival, which includes a reenactment of the ducking.

Visiting Ferry Plantation House

The house operates as a museum and educational center, so a regular daytime visit is the straightforward way in. A Summer History Camp runs on the site, teaching young people about life in the 18th and 19th centuries. Spirit tours are offered as well, including a Halloween program called “The Stroll of Lost Souls,” and the Grace Sherwood Festival is the other fixed point in the calendar.

Keep the footprint in mind when you arrive. The house itself occupies only about 0.1 acres owned by the city, surrounded by roughly two acres of open space belonging to a homeowners association, with small gardens on the property. This is a residential neighborhood, not a sprawling historic park. Check current schedules before traveling, since tour programming at a volunteer-supported site shifts through the year, and arrange any paranormal investigation through the house administration rather than assuming after-hours access.

Sources

• Virginia Landmarks Register (Virginia (official))
• An Historic Revival After Years Of Neglect, The Ferry Plantation House Will Be Renovated, Preserving 300 Years Of Local History
• Ferry Plantation House
• Virginia, Virginia Beach County
• Ferry Plantation House
• Wikipedia: Ferry Plantation House

Ghost Tours Nearby

Buried Beneath the Boardwalk: Neptune Ghouls and Ghost Tours★ 4.4 (110)from $26Virginia Beach True Crime Tour★ 3.7 (6)from $19

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