History of Morven

Morven consists of  2,913 acres of rolling hills, wooded ridges, and verdant pastures located east of Charlottesville within a rural historic district along the Southwest Mountains that includes Monticello and Highland. Since 2022, it has been the site of the University of Virginia’s Morven Sustainability Lab (MSL). Given MSL’s setting within this significant historic cultural landscape, our vision for Morven is predicated on an awareness of the site’s history as well as contemporary concerns for biodiversity, climate adaptation and sustainable food systems.

MSL seeks to understand the history of not only the people who owned, lived, or worked on the property, but of the land itself and the intricate relationships between species across time. MSL has reimagined its historical research framework through four management eras. This work in ongoing and these pages will be updated as research unfolds.