Edmund Ruffin's Grave

Here at Marlbourne is the grave of Edmund Ruffin (1794-1865), one of the leading American agriculturists of the 19th century. He published and edited the Farmer's Register, an agricultural journal, for several years. In 1843, Ruffin moved to Marlbourne, where he performed many experiments to maintain the fertility of the soil using marl (a natural deposit of calcium carbonate) as fertilizer, resulting in increased crop yields. An ardent secessionist, he fired one of the first shots at Fort Sumter on 13 April 1861, and kept detailed journals documenting events during the Civil War. Despondent over the South's defeat, he committed suicide in June 1865.