The plantation is an active farm and was tended perhaps from 1607 on, and more clearly from 1614 on, making it one of the longest-running agricultural enterprises in the United States.

It has an unusual brick mansion in the style of Palladio's "Roman Country House" completed in the 1760s, and was perhaps designed by Thomas Jefferson.

Brandon Plantation was part of a 1616 land grant of approximately 7,000 acres (28 km2) on the south bank of the James River to Captain John Martin (1560–1632).

Captain Martin was one of the original colonists and a member of the first Council in the spring of 1607, when Jamestown was established.

During the Indian massacre of 1622 which occurred on Good Friday, March 22, 1622, there were 7 deaths recorded at Martin's Brandon, including one woman and two boys.

[6] In late 2013 the purchase contract with the buyer fell through and the estate was put back on the market with an asking price of $20 million.