Virginia Tech Blacksburg VA Visiting Blacksburg for a funeral, we had some extra time so we took a ride through the Virginia Tech campus. Lane Stadium. Statue of former football coach Frank Beamer. April 16 Memorial. 32 Virginia Tech students and faculty members were murdered on campus on April 16, 2007. This memorial honors those who were killed. Miller’s Cabin at Historic Springfield, built around 1850. Private residence not open for tours. “The Merry Oak”. This tree was already present when the Preston family built Smithfield Plantation in 1774. It is probably more than 500 years old. The Smithfield Plantation house was built 1772-1773 for Colonel William Preston, and was the home of three governors of Virginia, James Patton Preston, John Floyd Jr. and John Buchanan Ford. Blacksmith shop. Slave cabin, circa 1820. Cross section of the trunk of a walnut tree that was planted here in 1852. The rings track to the history of Virginia Tech.