The first printed reference to the property is in a court record from 1642. The house's land is the site of the trial of Sherwood, Virginia's only convicted witch, who was sentenced in 1706 and imprisoned until her release in 1715. In 1735, Princess Anne County's third courthouse was built somewhere on Ferry Plantation land. The plantation house itself was constructed partly from brick salvaged from its predecessor, the 1780 Walke Manor House. Discoveries at the site include 50,000 artifacts dating from 1730 to 1810.
More archeaological work is planned.
Upstairs the Friends hope to rent rooms to various organizations. The American Institute of Architects' Hampton Roads Chapter is currently preparing to move into a second-story room. From Nov. 6's Pumpkin Fling organizers hope to raise enough funds to complete restoration of one room. Eventually the Friends would like the Ferry Plantation House to host a research center for the history of Princess Anne County. In other developments, the house was placed on the new Bayside History Trail and now has a city-placed marker.