By clicking on one of these links, you
may go directly to a particular section:
Introduction
Counties of the Piedmont
List of Sites
Begin the Tour
Essay on Piedmont History
Essay on the Civil War
Essay on Preserving the Piedmont
Learn More
Credits
The National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places,
Scenic
America, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and
the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers
proudly invite you to explore Journey Through Hallowed Ground,
featuring historic places on and near Route 15 in Virginia's Piedmont.
The Northern Virginia Piedmont region (part of an upland plateau
extending from Virginia to Alabama) is a scenic and historically
rich landscape that has "soaked up more of the blood, sweat, and
tears of American history than any other part of the country,"
according to the late historian C. Vann Woodward. "It has bred
more founding fathers, inspired more soaring hopes and ideals
and witnessed more triumphs, failures, victories, and lost causes
than any other place in the country." Meandering through more
than 75 miles and nine counties of Virginia hillside, U.S. Route
15 and State Route 20 form the spine of the Piedmont. This Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary explores 65 historic
places that evoke in vivid detail the soldiers, statesmen, farmers,
and slaves who fought, toiled, and governed in the Virginia Piedmont.
Most of this area is now part of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area. The National Heritage Area encompasses four states spanning 180 miles from Gettysburg to Monticello. It includes 9 presidential homes, 13 National Parks, and a handful of battlefields commemorating the French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. The Heritage Area provides visitors with the opportunity to “celebrate and preserve the vital fabric of America which stands today in the historic, scenic, and natural beauty of this region.” Discover the places where “America happened“and experience one of the most historic regions in the country. To learn more about Heritage Area and all of the sites as well as view maps, educational resources, and up-to-date information visit the Journey Through Hallowed Ground website.
This itinerary focuses on the variety of buildings and landscapes
that comprise the Virginia Piedmont. The Piedmont witnessed some of the
bloodiest battles in the Civil War, now reflected in historic
landscapes such as Manassas and Ball's
Bluff National Cemetery, one of the nation's smallest military burial
grounds and the site of a disastrous Union defeat in the first
year of the Civil War. Madden's Tavern,
built in 1840, is a rare surviving example of pre-Civil War black
entrepreneurship in rural Virginia, first owned and operated by
Willis Madden and now owned by his descendants. Numerous small
towns, such as Culpeper or Warrenton,
contribute to the character of the region, as do the green expanses
of rural historic districts such as Madison-Barbour
and Green Springs. This verdant region has
been called the "cradle of democracy": Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison, and James
Monroe each made their home here--estates that visitors can
visit today. The great Supreme Court Chief Justice John
Marshall used his Fauquier County home as a retreat. Jefferson's
significant imprint on this region is evident not only at his
home Monticello, and the "academical village" of the University
of Virginia, but also at lesser known sites such as the unusual
ruins of Barboursville, remains of a Jefferson
designed house that burned in 1884.
Journey Through Hallowed Ground offers numerous ways
to discover the historic properties that played important roles
in Virginia's past. Each property features a brief description
of the place's significance, color and historic photographs, and
public accessibility information. At the bottom of each page the
visitor will also find a navigation bar containing links to three
essays that explain more about Piedmont
History, the Civil War, and Preserving
the Piedmont. These essays provide historical background,
or "contexts," for many of the places included in the itinerary.
The itinerary can be viewed online, or printed out if you plan
to visit the Piedmont region in person.
Created through a partnership between the National Park Service's
National Register of Historic Places, Scenic America, the Virginia
Department of Historic Resources, the National Conference of State
Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), and the National Alliance
of Preservation Commissions (NAPC), Journey Through Hallowed
Ground is an example of a new and exciting cooperative project.
As part of the Department of the Interior's strategy to revitalize
communities by promoting public awareness of history and encouraging
tourists to visit historic places throughout the nation, the National
Register of Historic Places is cooperating with communities, regions
and Heritage Areas throughout the United States to create online
travel itineraries. Using places listed in the National Register
of Historic Places, the itineraries help potential visitors plan
their next trip by highlighting the amazing diversity of this
country's historic places and supplying accessibility information
for each featured site. In the Learn More
section, the itineraries link to regional and local web sites
that provide visitors with further information regarding cultural
events, special activities, and lodging and dining possibilities.
Visitors may be interested in Historic
Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, located in Clifton.
Scenic America is the fifth of more than 30 organizations working
directly with the National Register of Historic Places to create
travel itineraries. Additional itineraries will debut online in
the future. The National Register of Historic Places and Scenic
America hope you enjoy this virtual travel itinerary of the Piedmont's
historic resources. If you have any comments or questions, please
just click on the provided e-mail address, "comments or questions"
located at the bottom of each page.
LOUDOUN COUNTY
This Northern Virginia county, formed from Fairfax
County 1757, was named for John Campbell, fourth Earl of Loudoun,
who was commander of British forces in North America during the
early part of the French and Indian War and Governor of Virginia
in 1756-59. The county seat is Leesburg.
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY
Named for William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and
third son of King George II, this Northern Virginia county was
formed from Stafford and King George counties in 1730. Its county
seat is Manassas.
FAUQUIER COUNTY
Named for Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
from 1758 to 1768, this Northern Virginia county, known for
its numerous estates, was formed in 1759 from Prince William
County. Its county seat is Warrenton.
CULPEPER COUNTY
Formed from Orange County in 1749, Culpeper County probably
was named for Thomas Culpeper, second Baron Culpeper of Thoresway,
Governor of Virginia from 1677 to 1683, whose family long held
proprietary rights in the Northern Neck. The county seat is
Culpeper.
MADISON COUNTY
In the hills of the Piedmont, against the Blue Ridge Mountains,
Madison County was formed from Culpeper County in 1792 and was
named for James Madison, who then represented the area in Congress.
The county seat is Madison.
ORANGE COUNTY
Formed from Spotsylvania County in 1734, this pastoral Piedmont
county probably was named for William IV, Prince of Orange-Nassau,
who married Princess Anne, eldest daughter of King George II,
that same year. Its county seat is Orange.
LOUISA COUNTY
Located in the heart of the Virginia Piedmont, this rural
county was named in honor of Princess Louisa, a daughter of
King George II. It was formed from Hanover County in 1742. Its
county seat is Louisa.
ALBEMARLE COUNTY
This Piedmont county was named for William Anne Keppel,
second Earl of Albemarle and Governor of the Virginia colony from
1737 to 1754. It was formed from Goochland County in 1744, with
part of Louisa County added later. The county seat is Charlottesville.
Fluvanna County
Fluvanna County takes its name from the 18th-century
term for the upper James River, meaning "river of Anne," in honor
of Queen Anne. It was formed from Albermarle County in 1777. The
county seat is Palmyra.
Waterford Historic
District
Waterford is a remarkably intact example of an early
19th-century rural village surrounded by historic farmland. Its
significance rests on the almost pristine appearance of the village
and landscape. Nestled in the countryside of Loudoun County's
northern tip, Waterford developed as a 19th-century Quaker milling
community. The village traces its origins to c.1733 when Amos
Janney and other Friends arrived from Pennsylvania and established
a mill complex here. By the 1830s Waterford was a flourishing
community of some 70 houses with a tannery, chairmaker, and boot
manufacturer, along with shops and a tavern.
Commerce declined by the early 20th century, leaving
Waterford a remarkably preserved hamlet free of modern intrusions.
Its quiet shady streets remain lined with examples of regional
vernacular styles, both freestanding and attached, in a variety
of materials including brick, stone, and log. A mid-19th-century
mill stands at the north edge of town. Aggressive preservation
efforts by the Waterford Foundation since the 1940s have maintained
the town's unique character. Some 60 properties are protected
by preservation easements.
Unfortunately, suburban growth still threatens the
historic agricultural land surrounding the village. As of 1997,
there were no state or local controls to prevent destruction of
the historic values of this open space. Efforts are underway to
correct this, but they may not occur in time to prevent incompatible
development.
The Waterford Historic District is located northwest
of Leesburg on Rte. 665, in Waterford. The district is a National
Historic Landmark. Walking tour books can be obtained from the
Waterford Foundation, open 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday-Friday, located
at 40183 Main St., at the intersection of Second St. Contact the
Foundation at 540-882-3018 or visit the website.
Tour buses must call ahead.
The Waterford Historic
District is the subject of an online-lesson
plan produced by Teaching with Historic Places, a National
Register program that offers classroom-ready lesson plans on properties
listed in the National Register. To learn more, visit the Teaching
with Historic Places home page.
Lucketts
School
A relic of simpler times, this little-altered elementary school
is the principal landmark of Lucketts, a farming community steadily
witnessing suburban encroachment. The Lucketts School educated
three generations of children until it closed in 1972. The Leesburg
School District bought five acres of land on June 20, 1912, for
the sum of $625 on which to build the first Lucketts School. Built
in 1913, the weatherboarded structure originally had four classrooms
with no electricity or indoor plumbing. Although lacking modern
utilities, the building was not without architectural dignity.
With its regular facade and belfry, its design conformed to those
published in architectural plan books of the early 1900s.
The building was expanded in 1919, and again in 1929, with the
addition of two classrooms, an auditorium with dressing rooms,
central heating and plumbing. Teachers earned about $400 a year
during this period of time. The interior retains many early fittings
including wooden wainscoting, embossed metal ceilings, slate blackboards,
and a flexible wooden room divider. The school closed in 1972.
A focus of local preservation interests, the building was converted
to a community center. In 1981 the Loudoun County Department of
Parks, Recreation, and Community Services reopened the school
as a community center featuring year-round programs and activities,
including the Lucketts Bluegrass Music series on Saturday evenings
from October to April and the Lucketts Fair, held the last weekend
of each August.
Lucketts School is located at 42361 Lucketts Rd., in Leesburg.
It is open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm; Tuesday,
Thursday 9:00am to 9:00pm, and Saturday 9:00am to 12:30pm. Call
703-771-5281 for further information.
Rockland
Rockland takes its name from the limestone outcroppings
permeating the 600-acre farm. General George Rust, a prominent
Loudoun County gentleman, replaced deteriorating wooden structures
with this imposing brick mansion in 1822. Of large scale and with
boldly detailed woodwork, the house is one the finest of several
important Federal plantation dwellings in the area. Gen. Rust's
son Col. Armistead T. M. Rust, an 1842 West Point graduate who
served with the 19th Virginia infantry during the Civil War, later
inherited the property. His death in 1887 left his second wife,
Ida Lee, with 14 children and an encumbered estate. Exuding tremendous
energy and business acumen, she repaid the debt and educated her
youngest children. She sent her sons west at age 15 to escape
the hardships of Reconstruction. Her son Edwin enlarged Rockland
around 1908. Rockland remains owned by Rust family descendants.
Rockland is located on the east side of Rte.
15 north of Leesburg. It is a private residence and is not open
to the public.
Morven
Park
The 1,200-acre estate of Morven Park was home to
two governors: Thomas Swann, a governor of Maryland in the 19th
century, and Virginia's reform governor Westmoreland Davis. Morven
Park was the last home of Governor Davis, who served his gubernatorial
term from 1918 to 1922, and his wife, the former Marguerite Inman
of Atlanta, daughter of a wealthy New York cotton broker.
The mansion, a focal point of the estate, evolved
from a fieldstone farmhouse in 1781 to its present turn-of-the-century
appearance. The first owner of the 1780s farmhouse was Wilson
Cary Selden. Judge Thomas Swann acquired the place in 1808 and
added the Doric portico and dependencies in the 1830s. In 1858
Swann's son, Thomas Swann, Jr., later governor of Maryland, engaged
Baltimore architect Edmund G. Lind to remodel the house into a
grandiose composition calling for four Italianate towers. The
main tower was omitted, and the tops of the other four towers
were later removed.
From the time he acquired the property in 1903,
Davis set a standard for grand-scale living and made Morven Park
a model dairy farm and an agricultural showplace. Today the grounds
at Morven Park offer not only spectacular views from manicured
lawns, but trails shaded by evergreens, magnolias and dogwoods.
In 1955 Governor Davis's widow established the Westmoreland Davis
Foundation, and Morven Park was opened to the public as a museum,
cultural center, and equestrian institute.
Morven Park is located 1 mile northwest of Leesburg
off business Rte. 7. It is open 11:00am to 5:00pm, April-October, and 12:00pm to 5:00pm, November-March. The last tour starts at 4:00pm. The park is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day.
There is a fee for admission. Call 703-777-2414 or visit the Virginia
Tourism website
for further information.
Ball's
Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery
Ball's Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery are
poignant reminders of a disastrous Union defeat in the first year
of the Civil War when Confederate Brig. Gen. Nathan "Shanks" Evans
stopped a badly coordinated attempt by Union forces under Brig.
Gen. Charles P. Stone to cross the Potomac at Harrison's Island
and capture Leesburg. On October 21, 1861, a Union force commanded
by Col. Edward D. Baker, a senator from Oregon and a friend of
President Lincoln, crossed the Potomac River and scaled Ball's
Bluff on the Virginia shore, determined to capture Leesburg. Quickly
surrounded by confederates, Baker was killed and his men stampeded
over the bluff. Many drowned, and their bodies washed ashore downstream
in Washington. More than 700 Union troops were captured. This
Union rout had severe political ramifications in Washington and
led to the establishment of the Congressional Joint Committee
on the Conduct of the War, which investigated the defeat. Ball's Bluff National
Cemetery, one of the nation's smallest military cemeteries, was established in
December 1865 as the burial place of 54 Union casualties of the battle.
Ball's Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery
is located off of Rte. 15 just south of Rte. 7 on Battlefield
Parkway. It is a National Historic Landmark. The Park is open
sunrise to sunset and free to visitors. Brochures at the kiosk
provide a self-guided tour. Call 703-779-9372 for further information,
or visit the website
of the Veterans Administration - National Cemetery Administration.
Leesburg
Historic District
Established in 1758, the original 60-acre portion
of Leesburg, laid off around Nicholas Minor's tavern, is a gently
evolved Piedmont county seat with a varied assemblage of domestic,
commercial, and governmental buildings built during three centuries.
Leesburg was first known as Georgetown, after George II, but its
name was changed to honor Francis Lightfoot Lee, signer of the
Declaration of Independence, who owned property nearby. The district's
36 blocks are in a irregular grid of largely tree-lined streets.
Preserving a nostalgic, small-town character, the district is
centered around a park-like court square containing the 1895 classical
courthouse and a porticoed Greek Revival academy building, now
used for county offices. Lending distinction is a collection of
regional vernacular architecture, including shops, compact town
houses, and three early taverns. A scattering of Victorian structures
contrasts with these plainer buildings.
Many buildings in the historic district date from
Leesburg's 18th-century development. One type, a one-story, side-gable
cottage constructed in either brick or stone or occasionally wood
can be found on Loudoun, Wirt and Liberty Streets. There are also
log structures such as the Stephen Donaldson Silversmithy, which
is now part of the Loudoun Museum. Federal buildings, often two-story
brick structures, reflect more delicate detailing and proportions
characteristic of the Adam style. General George Marshall retired
to Leesburg, to one of the town's Federal brick country houses.
Interspersed among the Georgian and Federal structures in the
historic district are many buildings from the second half of the
19th century, including the Italian Villa residence built in 1857
at 306 West Market Street and the three-story Italianate style
home at 205 North King Street, built in 1848. Also noteworthy
are the late19th-century commercial structures along King and
Market Streets.
The Leesburg Historic District is located in the original area of
town, at the intersection of Rte. 7 and Rte. 15. Leesburg. The Visitor Center is located in the Jewell Building at 222 Catoctin Circle, SE Suite 100, Leesburg. The Visitor Center is open Monday-Sunday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, and can be reached at 703-771-2170 and 800-752-6118.
General
George C. Marshall House
Before General of the Army George Catlett Marshall,
Jr. (1880-1959) could retreat to the home he purchased in 1941
for his retirement, he served as Army chief of staff during World
War II, secretary of state, secretary of defense and president
of the American Red Cross. Marshall is perhaps best known as the
architect of the post-World War II 1947 European Recovery Program,
known as the Marshall Plan, which launched the restoration of
Europe's economy.
Marshall made his home at this gracious Federal
house from 1941 until his death in 1959. During these years, Marshall
rose from a respected army officer to one of the 20th century's
most influential figures. The achievement of the Marshall Plan
made him the first career soldier awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Located in the Leesburg Historic District, the brick country house
was built in the 1820s, and additions were made several times
over the years. It served as a school in the 1850s before passing
through various private hands. Marshall bought it for $16,000--it
was the first home he and his wife ever owned--and named it for
the Greek oracle, Dodona, who spoke from the top of the kind of
oak trees that proliferate on the 3.92-acre estate.
General Marshall's favorite pastime was being an
in-town gentleman farmer, tending to a large vegetable plot and
flower garden. Other than establishing this extensive garden,
Marshall made few changes here. All the furnishings belonged to
the Marshalls, but "it's nothing to write home about," according
to William Seale, the architectural historian and historic-interiors
specialist in charge of the early phases of an ongoing 10-year
renovation project. The George C. Marshall International Center
is restoring the house and its surrounding acreage to their late
1940s-1950s appearance. Indeed, one of the best reasons for visiting
Dodona Manor currently is to inspect the architectural restoration
work underway.
The General George C. Marshall House is located
at 217 Edwards Ferry Rd., in Leesburg. A National Historic Landmark,
the property is open to the public for tours on Saturdays from 10:00am to 5:00pm and Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00pm and during the months of June, July, and August also on Mondays from 1:00 to 5:00pm. Our last tour begins at 4:00pm. There is a fee for admission..
For further information call 703-777-1301 or visit the website.
Waverly
Built c.1890 as the retirement home of Robert T.
Hempstone, a Baltimore businessman, Waverly displays the personal
prosperity of its original owner. At a time when the economy of
Loudoun County still suffered from the devastating effects of
the Civil War, large dwellings such as Waverly were built primarily
by individuals who had acquired their wealth elsewhere. A finely
appointed example of a late Victorian residence incorporating
features of both the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles, the
house was built by the Leesburg firm of John Norris and Sons,
probably using a scheme published in one of the many architectural
design catalogues of the period. Waverly stood in shabby condition
for many years but was restored in the 1980s and again in 1995,
after a major fire, as the centerpiece of an office development
known as Waverly Park Corporate Center.
Waverly is located at 212 South King St., in
Leesburg. Now private business offices, the building is not open
to the public.
Douglass High
School
Douglass High School symbolizes the quiet tenacity
and sense of purpose evinced by Loudoun County's black citizens
in their determination to secure a high standard of secondary
education for their children. The school stands on land purchased
by African Americans and presented to the county school board
in 1940. Though the building was paid for with public funds, the
black community raised money for furnishings, laboratory equipment,
and band instruments. Named for Frederick Douglass, a former slave
and prominent abolitionist, the school operated as the county's
first and only black high school from its opening in 1941 until
the termination of segregated education in 1968. The building
today houses an alternative school, serving students with special
needs.
Douglass High School is a public school located
at 407 East Market St., in Leesburg. It is not open for public
tours.
Goose Creek Historic
District
The Quaker influence in this region began in the
1730s with the English Friends who came into the area from Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and New Jersey. The community's distinctive cast is
still reflected in the region's small farms, many of which are
yet defined by their 18th-century land patents. The Goose Creek
Historic District is a scenically cohesive rural area of some
10,000 acres in central Loudoun County that sustained Virginia's
largest concentration of Quaker settlers. Worked without slave
labor, Quaker farms were limited in size to what could be run
by a family unit. The district, which centers on the village of
Lincoln, preserves a rich collection of 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century
rural vernacular architecture, much of it incorporating the superb
stone masonry peculiar to Quaker settlers. Though threatened with
creeping suburbanization, few other areas of the region retain
such a high degree of unspoiled pastoral beauty.
The Goose Creek Historic District's location
is roughly bounded by Purcellville, Rtes. 611, 728, 797, 622,
704 and 709, and Lincoln. The Goose Creek Friends Meeting House,
within the district, is located in Lincoln, on Lincoln Rd; call
703-777-5979 for further information.
Oatlands Historic
District
This rural district incorporates the Oatlands estate
and several associated historic properties. The site of Oatlands
Mills, a milling complex established by George Carter of Oatlands
in the early 19th century, is at the southern end, along Goose
Creek. The large mill was destroyed in 1905, leaving today only
a small ruin and extensive archaeological remains. Surviving from
the village of Oatlands nearby are several houses and the Episcopal
Church of Our Savior, a simple brick structure erected in 1878.
A later parish hall stands next to it. At the northern end of
the district, on Route 15, is the Mountain Gap School, the county's
last operating one-room school when it closed in 1953. Most of
the property in the historic district is protected by preservation
easements or is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Oatlands Historic District is located south
of Leesburg off Rte. 15. There are no organized tours of the district
available at this time.
Oatlands
Begun in 1804 and embellished over the next two
decades, this monumental mansion, along with its numerous outbuildings
and extensive gardens, forms one of the nation's most elaborate
Federal estates. The complex was developed by George Carter, one
of the scions of prominent Tidewater families who migrated to
Northern Virginia after the Revolution. Carter developed the mansion's
design from illustrations in William Chambers's A Treatise on
Civil Architecture (1786). With its stuccoed walls, demi-octagonal
wings, parapeted roof, and a portico of slender Corinthian columns
added by Carter in 1827, the house has a special lightness and
elegance. The airy rooms with their intricate Federal ornamentation
complement the exterior.
Prosperous and newly married during the 1840s,
Carter made interior changes that echoed the popular Greek Revival
style of the time. A miller's residence, brick manufactory, blacksmith
shop, store, school and church soon followed as Oatlands quickly
grew into a 3,000-acre working plantation. Other structures built
by Carter include the stone and brick staircases and walls, a
smoke house, a brick greenhouse with a hot-water heating system,
and a granary. Oatlands's gardens were also designed by George
Carter, who constructed ingenious connecting terraces which, by
sheltering the area from wind, extended the growing season to
supply food for the plantation.
Oatlands fared well during the Civil War compared
to many other plantations, but after the war George II and Kate
Carter, beset by mounting debts and numerous dependents, began
operating Oatlands as a summer boarding house, a country retreat
for affluent Washingtonians. This didn't produce the income needed
to sustain a great home like Oatlands, and in 1897 they were forced
to sell. Oatlands was briefly owned by founder of the Washington
Post Stilson Hutchins, who never lived on the property. In 1903
Oatlands was sold to William Corcoran Eustis, grandson of banker
and philanthropist William Wilson Corcoran and his wife Edith,
who restored Oatlands to its former splendor.
Although Mr. Eustis died in 1921, Mrs. Eustis remained
at Oatlands until her death in 1964. The Eustis daughters presented
the estate (which had been reduced to 261 acres), house, and furnishings
to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1965. Oatlands
was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972.
Oatlands is located south of the junction of
Rtes. 15 and 651 in Leesburg. The property is a National Historic
Landmark. It is open Monday-Saturday 10:00am to 5:00pm, Sunday
1:00pm to 5:00pm April-December. There is a fee for admission.
Call 703-777-3174 or visit their website
for further information.
Oak Hill
James Monroe (1758-1831), the fifth President of
the United States, began the construction of Oak Hill, his Loudoun
County mansion, between 1820 and 1823 and lived here following
his presidency until 1830, the year before he died. For the design
of Oak Hill, Monroe sought ideas from both Thomas Jefferson and
James Hoban, architect of the White House. The house was constructed
by local builder William Benton. Its dominant architectural feature
is the unusual pentastyle portico. Oak Hill was visited by Lafayette
in 1825 during his tour of America, and it was here that Monroe
worked on the drafting of the Monroe Doctrine, a policy aimed
to limit European expansion into the Western Hemisphere and assign
the United States the role of protector of independent Western
nations.
Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland
County, Virginia. After two years at the College of William and
Mary, Monroe left in March 1776 to fight in the American Revolution.
In 1779, Monroe formed the most important association of his life
when he began the study of law under Thomas Jefferson, who was
then governor of Virginia. Jefferson came to value Monroe for
his persistence, patriotism, and devotion to republican principles.
The two men, together with James Madison, formed political and
personal bonds that lasted for half a century.
Monroe soon began a steady accumulation of offices,
including acting as a delegate to the Continental Congress (1783-86);
a member of the Virginia ratifying convention (1788), where he
opposed adoption of the new federal Constitution; U.S. Senator
from Virginia (1790-94); minister to France (1794-96); and Governor
of Virginia (1799-1802). President Jefferson sent him on a diplomatic
mission in 1803 to help Robert R. Livingston negotiate the purchase
of New Orleans from the French. The two Americans were astonished
when Napoleon I offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory,
which they quickly negotiated to purchase for the United States.
After a term serving as President Madison's Secretary of State,
Monroe was elected President by an overwhelming majority in 1816,
distinguishing his term in office most notably in foreign affairs.
The estate passed out of the family after Monroe's
death. The house was increased in size in 1922 by the enlargment
of its wings and the addition of terminal porticoes during the
ownership of Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Littleton. Still a private
residence, this historic seat is a fitting monument to the last
of the "Virginia Dynasty" of presidents.
Oak Hill is located 8 Miles south of Leesburg
on Rte. 15, near Aldie. The property is a National Historic Landmark.
It is a private residence and is not open to the public.
Aldie Mill Historic
District
Charles Fenton Mercer, military officer, legislator,
and advocate of the colonization of African Americans, settled
here in 1804. He named his property for Aldie Castle, his Scottish
ancestral home. The large merchant mill, constructed in 1807 by
Mercer's partner William Cooke, survives as one of the best outfitted
early mills in the state. The three-part complex includes what
was a plaster mill at one end and a store at the other. The mill's
twin overshot Fitz wheels, installed in 1900, are a unique surviving
pair in Virginia. Overlooking the mill is the large Federal house,
built by Mercer in 1810 as his residence. Behind the mill is the
miller's house. Completing the grouping is an early stone bridge
across Little River. The mill operated into the 1970s. Mr. and
Mrs. James Edward Douglas, whose family had owned and operated
the mill continuously for six generations since 1834, donated
it to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation in 1981. The Virginia Outdoors
Foundation has been restoring the mill to serve as an operating
example of an early 19th-century wheat and corn mill.
The Aldie Mill Historic District is located along
Rte. 50, west of Rte. 15, in Aldie. Historic Aldie Mill is located
at 39401 John Mosby Highway, and is open 12:00pm to 5:00 on Saturdays and 1:00pm to 5:00 pm on Sundays from April 30 to the
last week of October. Call 703-327-9777
for further information.
Middleburg Historic
District
The physical and psychological heart of Northern
Virginia's hunt country, Middleburg is a compact and fastidious
village retaining the qualities of its early years. There are
approximately 600 people currently residing in the town established
in 1787 by Leven Powell, a Revolutionary War officer and regional
Federalist leader. He purchased the land for Middleburg at $2.50
an acre from Joseph Chinn, first cousin to George Washington.
The town developed as a coach stop and relay station on Ashby's
Gap Turnpike, becoming by mid-century a commercial center for
lower Loudoun and upper Fauquier counties. Thus being in the "middle,"
the village provided the overnight resting stop for travelers
making the 70-mile overland journey. The town saw frequent Civil
War cavalry action and won a reputation for fierce Confederate
loyalty but afterwards it declined in fortune and population.
By the second decade of the 20th century, it assumed
a new identity as a social and equestrian center. Middleburg prospered
and grew in reputation as the nation's foremost area for fox hunting,
Thoroughbred breeding, and horse racing. With its tree-lined streets,
brick sidewalks, and harmonious scale, the town has a diverse
collection of late 18th- to early 20th-century architectural styles
highlighted by early stone and brick structures.
The Middleburg Historic District is located at
Rte. 50, and State Rtes. 626 and 776, in Middleburg. A self guided
book tour, "Walk with History," is provided at the Pink Box, Middleburg's
Visitor Center, located at 12 North Madison St., which is open
from 11:00am to 3:00pm daily. Call 540-687-8888 for further information.
Red Fox Inn
One of the Virginia hunt country's best-known landmarks,
the Red Fox Inn, occupies a site used for a tavern since the 18th
century. The Red Fox Inn was a meeting spot for Confederate Colonel
John Mosby and his Rangers. A century later, President Kennedy's
press secretary, Pierre Salinger, held press conferences at the
Red Fox in the Jeb Stuart room. Rawleigh Chinn, who originally
owned the land on which Middleburg developed, reputedly built
a tavern near this intersection in 1728. Chinn's Ordinary served
travelers on the wagon trail, and later stagecoach route, that
ran east-west generally along the present U.S. Route 50.
The present stone building may incorporate earlier
fabric but was mostly constructed in 1830 for Nobel Beveridge,
who stated in a newspaper advertisement that year: "A new House
of Entertainment has been built . . . with all the rooms comfortable
and well-furnished. The subscriber's bar is well-appointed with
choice liquors." Beveridge's tavern since has been remodeled and
enlarged several times. During the Civil War, the Beveridge House
was often used by the Confederates. Most notably, General Jeb
Stuart is said to have met with Colonel John Mosby and his famous
Rangers here. The Inn's present appearance, largely dating from
a 1940s renovation by local architect William B. Dew, is designed
to attract its clientele with an old-fashioned ambience. The tavern
has since become an area institution and remains a fashionable
venue for lodging and repast.
Red Fox Inn is located at 2 East Washington St.,
Middleburg and is still used as a hotel and restaurant. Call 1-800-223-1728
for further information, or visit the website at http://www.redfox.com
St. Paul's Episcopal
Church
Haymarket's Episcopal church was built in 1801 as
a district courthouse for the counties of Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun,
and Prince William. Like other early 19th-century Virginia courthouses
it originally had an arcaded entrance. The district court was
accommodated here until 1807 when changes in the court system
resulted in the eventual sale of the building and its conversion
to an academy. It was first used as an Episcopal church in 1822
and was consecrated by Bishop William Meade in 1834. Near both
the first and second battles of Manassas, both sides at different
times used it as a hospital. In November 1862 Union troops converted
the building to a stable and then burned it. The congregation
rebuilt within the original walls in 1867, at which time the arcade
was closed up for the narthex and the belfry and bracketed cornice
were added.
The St. Paul's Episcopal Church is located off
State Rte. 55, in Haymarket. It is generally not open for tours,
but large tour groups can call 703-754-7536 for information and
possible interior viewing. Sunday Church services at 8:00am, 9:30am (children's event) and 10:30 (changed to 10:00am during the summer) are open to everyone.
Buckland Historic
District
This tiny village bravely holds its own against
the roar of constant traffic on U.S. Highway 29, which bisects
the historic community. Buckland nonetheless is an especially
picturesque example of the many mill-oriented settlements that
characterized much of the Virginia Piedmont from the late 18th
through the 19th centuries. Chartered by the Virginia legislature
in 1798, Buckland was the first inland town established in Prince
William County. It was an important wagon stop on the main east-west
road between Alexandria and the territory beyond the Blue Ridge.
The present turn-of-the-century grist mill is believed to be the
third mill on this site. The water for the mill race was fed by
Broad Run, which flows by immediately to the north. Also included
in the district is an early 19th-century tavern and a small mid-19th-century
church. These buildings, in addition to several residential dwellings,
sustain the village's historic character.
The Buckland Historic District is centered at
the intersectin of Buckland Mill Rd. and Rte. 29, in Buckland.
Greenwich Presbyterian
Church
Built in 1858, this picturesque country Gothic church
is distinguished by its rustic Gothic porches and lych (roofed)
gate. Charles Green, an English cotton merchant from Savannah
who built a dwelling at The Lawn nearby, donated the land on which
the church stands. During the Civil War, Green objected when Union
troops attempted to seize the church for a hospital, claiming
that a clause in the deed provided that the land would revert
to him if its religious use ceased, thereby making it English
property. The church was thus the only one in the county not damaged
by Union forces. Several Civil War soldiers are buried in the
church cemetery, including one of Col. John S. Mosby's Confederate
rangers, Captain Bradford Smith Hoskins. Wounded nearby in 1863,
Hoskins was brought by Green to The Lawn, where he died.
The Greenwich Presbyterian Church is located
at 9510 Burwell Rd., Greenwich.
For more information on the church and its accessibility
visit the church's website
(http://greenwichpres.org).
The Lawn
Named for its immaculately maintained greensward,
the English-born Savannah cotton merchant Charles Green established
The Lawn in 1855 as a country home following his marriage to Greenwich
native Lucy Ireland Hunton. He built here a fanciful complex of
Carpenter's Gothic structures. Green's Savannah residence, the
famous Green-Meldrim house, is also Gothic Revival. The Greenwich
buildings appeared quite foreign to the area. One Civil War visitor
described the house as "the strangest in Virginia." The property
served as a Union camp in 1864. Green was imprisoned, accused
of being a Confederate spy. The noted French author Julian Green,
grandson of Charles Green, visited The Lawn in his youth and used
it as the setting for his novel Maud. Architecturally, The Lawn
is unique and the only surviving example of a mid-19th-century
Gothic Revival farm complex in Prince William County. The main
house burned in 1924 and was replaced with a Tudor Revival work,
completed in 1926, designed by A. B. Mullett and Co. of Washington.
The Lawn is located at 15207 Vint Hill Rd. off
State Rte. 215, in Greenwich. It is a private residence, and is
not open to the public.
Manassas National
Battlefield Park
The 300-acre tract bordered by Bull Run was the
scene of two Confederate victories. The First Battle of Manassas,
fought July 21, 1861, was the opening engagement of the Civil
War and pitted Union brigadier general Irvin McDowell's unseasoned
troops against ill-trained but spirited Confederates under Brigadier
General P. G. T. Beauregard. The naive, unprepared troops would
soon have their hopes of a short war dashed as they came face
to face with the horrors and carnage of war. The Union attack
was repulsed by Confederates inspired by Gen. Thomas J. Jackson
and his Virginians, who stood against the enemy like a "stone
wall," earning Jackson his famous epithet. By the day's end, nearly
900 men lay dead and dying on what the day before had been the
peaceful farms of Northern Virginia.
Thirteen months later the same armies, now much
larger and battle hardened, would again clash over the same ground.
Second Manassas, fought on August 28-30, 1862, cleared the way
for Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North. This time,
the destruction would be far greater, more than 23,000 killed,
missing or wounded. The outcome of the second battle would lead
to the Southern army's first full-scale invasion across the Potomac
River into Maryland. Surviving landmarks include the Dogan house,
a Union snipers' nest in 1862; the Stone House, a Union field
hospital during both battles; and the stone bridge, blown up in
1861 but reconstructed in the 1880s.
The Manassas National Battlefield Park, administered
by the National Park Service, is located along U.S. Rte. 29 in
Manassas, the entrance to the visitors center is just south of
Rte. 29 on State Rte. 234.. It is open in the summer 9:00am to
6:00pm daily and in the winter 9:00am to 5:00pm daily. Call 703-754-1861
for further information or visit the website.
The Manassas National
Battlefield Park is the subject of an online-lesson
plan produced by Teaching with Historic Places, a National
Register program that offers classroom-ready lesson plans on properties
listed in the National Register. To learn more, visit the Teaching
with Historic Places home page.
Warrenton Historic
District
From its beginnings as a colonial village, this
prosperous community has been home to lawyers and politicians
such as Supreme Court Chief John Marshall, who practiced here;
William Smith, governor of Virginia in 1846-49 and 1864-65; and
Eppa Hunton, Confederate general and U.S. Congressman. Known as
Fauquier Court House until its incorporation in 1810, Warrenton
takes its present name from Warren Academy. The community has
long been noted for its beautiful setting, healthful climate,
and cultivated society. As a result it boasts an exceptional collection
of houses, churches, and commercial buildings in a wide range
of styles. The district also preserves a number of structures
associated with the Civil War, when Warrenton was variously occupied
by both sides. The architectural focal point is the county courthouse,
a Classical Revival building erected in 1890 on the site of an
earlier courthouse. The most prestigious residences line Culpeper
and Falmouth streets.
The Warrenton Historic District is roughly bounded
by Main, Waterloo, Alexandria, Winchester, Culpeper, High, Falmouth,
Lee, and Horner Sts. in Warrenton. The Visitor Center, located
at 183 Keith, is open 7 days a week 9:00am to 5:00pm and provides
a walking tour brochure for the historic district. Call 540-347-4444
for further information.
Old Fauquier County
Jail
Warrenton's former jail is a singular example of
the state's early county penal architecture. The complex includes
the 1808 brick jail, converted to the jailer's residence and completed
in 1823, and the parallel 1823 stone jail with its high-walled
jail-yard. Located next to the courthouse, the jail provides a
telling picture of conditions endured by inmates of such county
facilities. A jail was built for the county in 1779, but it proved
to be inadequate within a number of years. The more substantial
brick structure was finished in 1808, and County Jail c.1972 Photograph
from National Register Collection, courtesy of Virginia Historic
Landmarks Commission on October 24 the keys to the new jail were
turned over to the sheriff. With the completion of the stone jail
and its plank-lined cells, the resulting two-part building served
the county until 1966. The complex is now maintained by the Fauquier
County Historical Society as a county history museum.
The Old Fauquier County Jail is located at the
Fauquier County Courthouse Square in Warrenton. It is open Sunday-Monday (closed Tuesday) Wednesday-Saturday
10:00am to 4:00pm year round, but closed Christmas, Thanksgiving
and New Year's Day. Call 540-347-5525 for further information.
Brentmoor
A classic Italian Villa-style dwelling, Brentmoor
was built in 1859-61 for Judge Edward M. Spilman. In his book
The Architecture of Country Houses (1850), Andrew Jackson Downing
illustrated a design resembling Brentmoor described as "a simple,
rational, convenient, and economic dwelling for the southern part
of the Union." The Spilman family sold the property in the 1870s
to James Keith, president of the Virginia Court of Appeals. In
1875 John Singleton Mosby, the Confederate ranger, purchased the
house. Mosby, with his Partisans outwitted the Union army during
the Civil War to the extent that much of northern Virginia was
known as "Mosby's Confederacy." Mosby sold the house in 1877 to
former Confederate general Eppa Hunton, who was then serving in
Congress. Brentmoor was the childhood home of Eppa Hunton III,
a founder of the prominent Richmond law firm Hunton and Williams.
Brentmoor is located at 173 Main St., in Warrenton.
Although Brentmoor is currently not open to the public, the town
of Warrenton has purchased it, and intends to open it as a museum
in the future.
Monterosa
Located in Warrenton, Monterosa-Neptune Lodge was
the main residence of William ("Extra Billy") Smith, two-term
governor of Virginia (1846-49 and 1864-65). Smith also served
in the Senate of Virginia, the U.S. House of Representatives,
the Confederate House of Representatives, and as a Major General
in the Confederate Army. Early in his career, Smith ran the longest
mail route in the nation and was dubbed "Extra Billy" by a U.S.
Senator during a Congressional investigation of waste in Federal
spending, which focused, in part, on the U.S. Postal Service.
Sharing the site with Smith's two-and-a-half story brick house
are three outbuildings: an extraordinary Italianate brick stable
built in 1847, a brick smokehouse and a two-story dwelling that
dates from the late 19th century 19th-century stagecoach stables
Photograph courtesy of Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Archives known as the Office. James K. Maddux, a later owner and
a leader in the Warrenton Hunt, remodeled Smith's Italianate dwelling
in the Colonial Revival taste, adding the portico. He also changed
the name to Neptune Lodge.
Monterosa is located at 343 Culpeper St., in
Warrenton. It is a private residence and is not open to the public.
Oak Hill
Oak Hill was an early home of John Marshall, noted
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The wood-frame dwelling, completed
by 1773 when Marshall was 17, is a classic example of Virginia's
colonial vernacular. John Marshall became the owner of Oak Hill
in 1785 when his father, Thomas Marshall, moved to Kentucky. Although
John Marshall lived mostly in Richmond and Washington, he kept
his Fauquier County property, making improvements and using it
as a retreat. In 1819 he built an attached Classical Revival house
as a residence for his son Thomas. In 1835 Oak Hill was inherited
by Thomas Marshall's son John Marshall II, whose overindulgence
in hospitality forced him to sell the place to his brother Thomas.
The property left the family after Thomas Marshall, Jr.'s mortal
wounding in the Civil War.
Oak Hill can be seen from Interstate 66, and
is located north of the highway just east of the exit for Rte.
17 near Delaplane. It is a private residence, and is not open
to the public.
Oak Hill
is the subject of an online-lesson
plan produced by Teaching with Historic Places, a National
Register program that offers classroom-ready lesson plans on properties
listed in the National Register. To learn more, visit the Teaching
with Historic Places home page.
Weston
An instructive amalgamation of farm buildings, Weston
was originally the residence of the Fitzhugh family. The rambling
house began as a log cottage probably built for Thomas Fitzhugh
around 1810. The property was purchased from the Fitzhughs by
Charles Joseph Nourse in l859. Nourse, who was reared in Georgetown,
D.C., named the farm Weston in commemoration of his ancestral
home Weston Hall in England. Under Nourse the house grew by steady
accretion. Changes and additions made in 1860, 1870, and 1893
resulted in an L-shaped structure with Carpenter's Gothic detailing.
Following Nourse's death in 1906, his widow, Annie, operated a
school and summer camp here. During World War II the Nourse daughters
maintained Weston as a hospitality center for servicemen, serving
some 11,000 meals by the end of the war. Weston and its important
collection of outbuildings is now a farm museum owned by the Warrenton
Antiquarian Society.
Weston is located at 4447 Weston Rd., in the
vicinity of Casanova. Owned by the Warrenton Antiquarian Society,
Weston is now a museum. It is only open for tours occasionally.
There is a suggested donation. Call 540-788-9220 for further tour
information.
Culpeper Historic
District
The county-seat town of Culpeper is significant
for its architectural cohesiveness and associations with commercial,
military, political, and transportation history. Originally known
as Fairfax, Culpeper was founded in 1759. Most of the commercial
buildings are vernacular, Italianate, and neoclassical-style brick
structures. The quiet, tree-shaded residential streets hold a
rich variety of domestic architecture. The district's focal point
is the Culpeper County Courthouse, completed in 1874 by Samuel
Proctor who crowned it with a fanciful cupola. Commercial history
is linked with its early roads, stagecoach routes, and the railroad.
Military history is represented by the homes of Revolutionary
War general Edward Stevens and Confederate Lieutenant General
Ambrose Powell Hill. The town served as a staging area and hospital
center for armies of both sides in the Civil War. Though a growing
community, Culpeper preserves a genial, typically American small-town
ambiance.
The Culpeper Historic District is bounded by
Edmonson, Stevens and West Sts. and the railroad tracks, in Culpeper.
The Culpeper Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center can provide
you with "In and Around Culpeper," a brochure that includes 5
self-guided walking tours, and information on guided walking tours
that start in June. Located at 109 South Commerce St., the Chamber
is open 8:30am to 5:00pm weekdays, 10:00am to 4:00pm Saturdays,
and 1:00pm to 4:00pm Sundays, or call 540-825-8628. The Museum
of Culpeper History can provide you with more information on the
history of Culpeper, and visit the website
for details on the opening of their new museum.
Slaughter-Hill
House
Maintaining connections to various phases of Culpeper's
history, the Slaughter-Hill house began in the late 18th century
as a one-room-plan structure built of planked log construction.
A frame addition in the early 19th century doubled its size. The
house was further remodeled between 1835 and 1840 when the older
sections were renovated and enlarged. The core of the Slaughter-Hill
house remains one of the region's rare examples of a one-room
urban vernacular structure using planked log construction. It
probably was built for John Jameson, who served as the country
clerk from 1771 to 1810. The present name derives from Dr. Philip
Slaughter, a prominent local physician who made the mid-19th-century
modifications. The Hill name is from Sarah Hill, of the locally
prominent Hill family, who purchased the house in 1888 and whose
daughter owned it until 1944.
The Slaughter-Hill House is located at 306 Northwest
St., in Culpeper. It can be viewed externally on one of the Culpeper
Historic District's walking tours.
Hill Mansion
The Hill Mansion is a sophisticated example of the
Italianate style, one of the several picturesque modes popular
in the 1850s. The house was completed in 1857 for Edward Baptist
Hill, member of a prominent Culpeper family. The front is sheltered
by an arcaded veranda, a device advocated for southern houses
in this period. Other noteworthy features are the scored stucco,
the elaborate porches, both cast-iron and wood, as well as interior
appointments, including a broad curving stair. The house served
as a Confederate hospital and was visited both by Lieutenant General
A. P. Hill, a brother of the builder, and Gen. Robert E. Lee,
whose wounded son, Brig. Gen. W. H. F. ("Rooney") Lee, was nursed
there. Later in the war it was used as headquarters for Union
officers who permitted the Hill family to occupy two rooms.
Hill Mansion is located at 501 East St., in Culpeper.
It is a private residence and is not open to the public. It can
be viewed externally on one of the Culpeper Historic
District's walking tours.
A.P. Hill Boyhood
Home
Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose Powell Hill
(1825-1865) lived in the original portion of this house from age
seven until 1842, when he entered the U.S. Military Academy. Hill's
parents enlarged the plain Federal town house into the present
Italian Villa-style building just before the Civil War, expanding
its depth and adding the third story, heavy bracketed cornice,
and cupola. Later altered for commercial use, the building, situated
on one of the town's main intersections, remains a dominant architectural
element in downtown Culpeper. A. P. Hill was one of General Robert
E. Lee's most valued lieutenants; he assisted him in nearly every
major engagement of the Army of Northern Virginia until felled
on April 2, 1865, just after the siege of Petersburg, and was
brought to Richmond for burial.
The A.P. Hill Boyhood Home is located at 102
North Main St., in Culpeper and is occupied by commericial businesses.
It can be viewed externally on one of the Culpeper
Historic District's walking tours.
Culpeper National
Cemetery
The Culpeper National Cemetery was established in
April 1867, in a county that may have seen more Civil War combat
than any other in Virginia. Several monuments commemorate the
Union casualties of the battle of Cedar Mountain fought on August
9, 1862. Occupied by each army for months at a time, Culpeper
County was the scene of the battle of Brandy Station on June 9,
1863, the largest cavalry battle of the war. Here also was the
Union Army's winter encampment of 1863-64, when Lt. Gen. Ulysses
S. Grant arrived to take command. Union dead from those actions
are interred in the cemetery. The cemetery was established in
1867 for the burial of more than 2,000 Civil War soldiers. The
Second Empire-style superintendent's lodge was built in 1872 from
a design by Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs. In 1978
the Veterans of Foreign Wars donated adjacent land that doubled
the size of the cemetery and relieved pressure on Arlington National
Cemetery. The cemetery is in active use for the burial of veterans
of all wars and their dependents.
The Culpeper National Cemetery is located at
305 U.S. Ave., in Culpeper. It is open between dusk and dawn.
The office is open 8:00am to 4:00pm, Monday-Friday except holidays.
Call 540-825-0027 for further information, or visit the website
of the Veterans Administration - National Cemetery Administration.
Burgandine House
The Burgandine House has long been considered to
be Culpeper's oldest dwelling. Architectural evidence suggests
that as originally built, it was a story-and-half structure put
up in the late 18th century or the first part of the 19th century,
and was probably a laborer's residence. The original core employs
plank log construction, a building material not unusual for area
vernacular houses. It later received a porch and was covered with
weatherboards. A wing (since removed) was added in the mid-19th
century. At one time the Burgandine House was used as a tavern.
Despite other modifications the original simple lines of the house
betray its early origins. The house was donated to the town of
Culpeper in 1966 and has since served as the headquarters of the
Culpeper Historical Society. This small, historic dwelling was
restored in 1997.
The Burgandine House is located at 107 South
Main St., in Culpeper. Call 540-829-6434 for seasonal visiting
hours and days as well as additional information.
Greenwood
During the early 19th century many rich, influential
men of the western Piedmont contented themselves with small yet
commodious plantation houses. Greenwood, built c.1823-24, possibly
around an earlier section, for John Williams Green, judge of the
Virginia Supreme Court, illustrates this dwelling type. With its
dormered center section and one-story wings, the house shows how
a standard vernacular type could be expanded and given a pleasing
but unpretentious formality. The interior preserves most of its
Federal woodwork. In 1825 Judge Green received at Greenwood the
Marquis de Lafayette and former President James Monroe during
Lafayette's celebrated tour as "guest of the nation." The Civil
War touched Greenwood when Federal troops occupied the house and
established a gun emplacement on the grounds.
Greenwood is located at 1931 Orange St., in Culpeper.
It is a private residence, and is not open to the public.
Madden's Tavern
This simple log structure is a rare relic of pre-Civil
War black entrepreneurship in rural Virginia. Completed about
1840, the tavern was built by, owned, and operated by Willis Madden
(1800-1879) a free black, and was likely the only tavern in the
region with a proprietor of Madden's race. Virginia free blacks
were able to earn and keep wages and to own and operate a business,
but were forbidden to vote, bear arms, testify against a white
person, or be educated. Madden built the tavern on property purchased
in 1835 on the Old Fredericksburg Road. The western half of the
structure was Madden's family quarters; the eastern portion consisted
of a public room and a loft for overnight guests. A general store
and blacksmith-wheelwright shop were also on the property. Union
troops sacked the place in 1863-64. The property is still owned
by Madden's descendants.
Madden's Tavern is located east of Culpeper near
Lignum on Rte. 610, north of Rte. 3 and west of Rte. 647. It is
not open to the public, but a Virginia State Historic Marker can
be read at the roadside.
Mitchells Presbyterian
Church
This simple Carpenter's Gothic church contains the
most elaborate example of late 19th-century, folk-style trompe
l'oeil frescoes in the state. Executed in the 1890s, or possibly
earlier, by the Italian immigrant painter Joseph Dominick Phillip
Oddenino, born in 1831 in Chieri, Torino, the artwork is a curious
transplant in rural Virginia of the ancient art of fresco, a common
form of interior embellishment throughout Europe. The scheme is
architectonic, consisting of a Gothic arcade on the side walls
and an apse flanked by pairs of twisted baroque columns. The ceiling
is painted to resemble beams framing rosettes. Mitchells Church
was built in 1879 under the leadership of the Rev. John P. Strider.
The frescoes, along with the church, underwent complete restoration
beginning in 1979. Several other examples of Oddenino's work remain
in the region; Mitchell's Church is the finest and most complete.
Mitchells Presbyterian Church is located off
Rte. 652 in the small settlement of Mitchells. It is not regularly
open to the public, call 540-825-1079 for further information.
Rapidan Historic
District
A tiny village bisected by the Rapidan River, though
with its principal section on the Culpeper side, Rapidan began
in the late 18th century as a small milling community known as
Waugh's Ford. Reflecting optimism for future progress, the settlement
was renamed Rapid Ann Station with the coming of the Orange and
Alexandria Railroad in 1854. It was renamed Rapidan in 1886. As
a strategic railroad stop and river crossing, the village suffered
several Civil War raids during which most of its buildings were
destroyed. The village emerged from the war as a shipping point
for wood products. Its current buildings, mostly dating from the
late 1800s and early 1900s, range from simple vernacular structures
to large Italianate and late Victorian farmhouses. Especially
significant are the two 1874 Carpenter's Gothic churches: Waddell
Memorial Presbyterian Church on the Orange County side and Emmanuel
Episcopal Church in Culpeper County.
The Rapidan Historic District is located at the
junction of VA 614, VA 615, VA 673, in Rapidan.
The Residence
This compact plantation house was built c.1793 for
William Madison, member of the Virginia House of Delegates for
seven consecutive terms and brother of President James Madison.
In 1793 James Madison asked Thomas Jefferson to supply plans for
a house for his brother. Jefferson, a close friend of the president,
suggested a floor plan for a seven-room house in a geometric configuration
that is a hallmark of Jefferson's residential design. James Madison
later wrote to Jefferson saying that William had adopted the plans.
No Jefferson drawings have been positively identified as the Madison
design, but the correspondence authenticates the Jefferson connection.
The original, unacademic two-column portico suggests, however,
that Jefferson was not involved in the execution.
In 1870 the property was purchased by Robert Stringfellow
Walker, who remodeled the house in 1884. It was here that Walker
founded Woodberry Forest School in 1889, naming it after the Madison
plantation. The house was renamed the Residence and became the
headmaster's house. Walker hired a tutor to educate his six sons
and neighboring children. The first classes were taught in a room
of The Residence. Additions made in 1884 changed the effect from
Palladian to Victorian. Other renovations in 1948 created a large
drawing room by eliminating partitions between three rooms, one
of which was used as a back porch by the Madison family.
The Residence is located within the Woodberry
Forest School, in Woodberry Forest and is the private residence
of the headmaster. For more information visit the school's
website.
Greenway
Built c.1780 for Francis Madison, a younger brother
of President James Madison, Greenway is a traditional vernacular
building type commonly used in the Virginia Piedmont from the
mid-18th to the mid-19th century. The original core, a single-pile,
hall-parlor dwelling, is interesting confirmation that acceptance
of such indigenous forms extended even to members of influential
families such as the Madisons. The facade formerly had side-by-side
entrances, one for each room. These were replaced in the early
20th century by a single entrance sheltered by the gable-roofed
porch. A rear wing, added c.1790, preserves a fine original mantel
with pilasters and paneled frieze. Greenway has been a working
farm since the 18th century and includes several farm buildings.
The property remains in the ownership of descendants of a stepson
of Francis Madison's daughter Catherine.
Greenway is located just south of the intersection
of State Rte. 230 and Rte. 15 in Madison Mills, just north of
the Rapidan River and the Orange county line. It is a private
residence and is not open to the public.
Wadell Memorial
Presbyterian Church
Built in 1874, Wadell Memorial Presbyterian Church
is Virginia's finest specimen of Carpenter's Gothic architecture.
A forest of spires sprouts from the nave, transepts, and vestry
of the board-and-batten structure. All of the details are formed
from milled boards reduced by sawing to the desired shapes and
nailed together. The country church was named in honor of James
Waddell, a local blind preacher and key player in the battle for
religious tolerance during Colonial times. J. B. Danforth, an
amateur architect who also was chief clerk at Richmond's Mutual
Assurance Society, designed the church. A tracing of Danforth's
drawings by the Richmond carpenter-architect John Gibson, who
presumably worked on the building, is in the possession of the
church. The design called for a steeple that was deleted from
the finished work. The church is romantically sited on a hill
overlooking the Rapidan River and broad stretches of countryside.
In 1998, the small 40-member congregation began
a preservation effort to restore the church, replacing louvers,
rebuilding numerous spires, removing old layers of paint and repainting
the exterior. They are now in the process of a second round of
fundraising to restore the church sanctuary.
Waddell Memorial Presbyterian Church is located
southeast of Rapidan on State Rte. 615. The Sanctuary is open
to the public during daylight hours; the back of the church, where
the offices are located, is not. Call 540-672-0672 for further
information.
Willow Grove
Built in the late 18th century for Joseph Clark,
the original frame residence at Willow Grove was substantially
enlarged in 1848 by the addition of a brick wing and a unifying
Tuscan portico. It is believed some of the woodwork in this Federal
portion was executed by the same artisans who crafted Montpelier,
President James Madison's lifelong Orange County home. The remodeling
was done for Clark's son William, who inherited Willow Grove in
1839. The resulting building stands as an example of the influence
of Thomas Jefferson's Classical Revival style on the country homes
of Piedmont Virginia. The portico is accented by the distinctly
Jeffersonian touch of Chinese lattice railings.
The mansion has withstood the ravages of two wars.
Generals Wayne and Muhlenberg camped here during the Revolutionary
War, and the mansion was under siege during the Civil War. Trenches
and breastworks are visible near the manor house, and a cannonball
was recently removed from the eaves. The house is enhanced by
its pastoral setting and collection of outbuildings. Later the
homestead of the Shackelford family, the house and outbuildings
are now used as a country inn.
Willow Grove is located 2 miles northwest of
Orange on the west side of Rte. 15. It is now the Inn at Willow Grove. For more information about the Inn and making reservations, please visit the Inn's website at http://www.innatwillowgrove.com or email info@innatwillowgrove.com.
Orange County
Courthouse
The Orange County Courthouse marks a radical departure from the
traditional classical-style Virginia courthouse, illustrating
public acceptance of exotic taste in late antebellum times. Designed
by Charles Haskins of the Washington firm of Haskins and Alexander
and erected in 1858-59, the building has all of the major characteristics
of the Italian Villa style: deep bracketed cornices, shallow-hipped
roofs, and square tower. The work is Orange County's fourth court
building constructed specifically as such in the town of Orange.
It replaced an existing courthouse that was taken down as the
result of railroad construction. The arcaded openings on the first
floor were filled in c. 1948, but were opened in 2003 during a
recent restoration. The courthouse is complemented by its clerk's
office, jail and Confederate monument. An architecturally sympathetic
addition is currently under construction on the courthouse's north
end, and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2004.
The Orange County Courthouse is located at the junction of
North Main St. and Madison Rd., in Orange. The courthouse is currently
closed until construction of the addition is completed in the
fall of 2004. Call 540-672-3313 for further information.
St.Thomas Church
This expression of Classical Revivalism is the successor
to the original church of St. Thomas's Parish, demolished after
the disestablishment. Erected 1833-34, the church originally lacked
its Tuscan portico in antis. This feature was probably added in
1853 when the church was remodeled and enlarged. The alteration
of the windows into pointed Gothic windows was made between 1890
and 1895. The builders of the church have not been documented,
but they may have been William B. Phillips and Malcolm B. Crawford
who worked for Jefferson at the University of Virginia and later
built finely crafted Classical Revival works in the central Piedmont.
During the Civil War, Robert E. Lee and other Confederates worshipped
here in the winter of 1863-64. St. Thomas's also served as a Confederate
hospital after the battles of Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville,
the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. St. Thomas's is
noted for its stained glass windows, including one by Tiffany.
The St.Thomas Church is located at 119 Caroline
St., in Orange. Open by appointment. Call 540-672-3761 for further
information.
Ballard-Marshall
House
Lending a sense of continuity and place to the town
of Orange, the Ballard-Marshall house demonstrates the pervasiveness
of the Classical Revival tradition in the Virginia Piedmont. Distinguished
by its pedimented roof, Classical trim, and systematic proportions,
the house was built in 1832 for Garland Ballard, a local merchant.
The builders are not known, but the use of finely crafted Flemish
bond and informed detailing suggests a connection with local projects
constructed by craftsmen formerly employed by Thomas Jefferson.
During the mid-19th century the house was owned by the locally
prominent Taylor family. In 1882 it became the home of Fielding
Lewis Marshall, the local superintendent of public education and
grandson of Chief Justice John Marshall. The property remained
in Marshall family ownership until 1962. Rescued from a state
of neglect in 1986, the house has been rehabilitated for apartments.
The Ballard-Marshall House is located at 158
East Main St., in Orange. It contains several private residences
and is not open to the public.
Mayhurst
The vibrancy that American architects gave to the
Italian Villa style is no better shown than in Mayhurst, described
by architectural historian William B. O'Neal as "a delicious Victorian
fantasy." The architect has not been recorded; however, its stylistic
similarity to Camden in Caroline County has led to its attribution
to Norris G. Starkweather of Baltimore. The designer might also
have been Charles Haskins of Haskins and Anderson of Washington,
D.C., who designed the Villa-style Orange County Courthouse. The
tall structure, decked out with a bracketed cornice, rusticated
wood siding, and a cupola terminating in a scroll-ornamented finial,
illustrates the mid-19th-century taste for the exotic. The house
was commissioned by Col. John Willis, a great-nephew of James
Madison and was begun in 1859. Restored in recent years as an
inn, Mayhurst retains its park-like setting.
Mayhurst is located .4 mi. southwest of the junction
of State Rte. 647 and Rte. 15, in Orange. It is now a bed and
breakfast. Call 888-672-5597 for further information or visit
the website at http://www.mayhurstinn.com/
Montpelier
Montpelier, the lifelong home of James Madison,
the "Father of the Constitution" and fourth President of the United
States, was also home to three generations of the Madison family
from 1723 to 1844. The mansion core was built by Madison's father
c.1760. Madison, born in 1751, married Dolley Payne Todd in 1794.
After a second presidential term, the Madisons returned to Montpelier
in 1817 where their legendary hospitality kept them in touch with
world affairs.
With advice of his friend, Thomas Jefferson, Madison
enlarged the house, adding the Tuscan portico c.1797. Additional
changes were made c.1809 by James Dinsmore and John Neilson, master
builders working for Jefferson. A domed garden temple was also
built on the property. The house was further enlarged c.1900 by
William duPont. Today, it remains the nucleus of a 2,700-acre
estate containing farmlands, forests, formal gardens, 135 buildings,
and a steeplechase course. Upon his death in 1836, Madison was
buried on the estate. Dolley Madison later returned to Washington
where she died in 1849. Her grave is also in the Madison family
cemetery at Montpelier.
Following Madison's death, the contents of the house
were auctioned off and Montpelier changed hands six times until
it was purchased in 1900 by William and Annie Rogers duPont. Mr.
duPont enlarged the house dramatically and added barns, greenhouses,
staff houses, and even a train station. Mrs. duPont created a
2.5-acre formal garden which has been restored by the Garden Club
of Virginia. The duPont's daughter, Marion, took over the 2,700-acre
property in 1928. Today, the Montpelier property is owned and
exhibited by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The
mansion is undergoing a $30 million restoration to return the
plantation house in size, structure, form and furnishings to the
home that James and Dolley Madison knew in their post-presidential
years of the 1820s.
Montpelier, a National
Historic Landmark, is located four miles west of Orange on
State Rte. 20. The house is open daily for tours from April-October
from 9:30am to 5:30pm, and November-March from 9:30am to 4:30pm,
while the grounds and museum store are open one-half hour later
than the house; closed Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's
Day. There is a fee for admission. Call 540-672-2728 or visit
the website
for further information. Montpelier has also been documented
by the Historic American Buildings Survey
Montpelier is the subject of an online-lesson
plan produced by Teaching with Historic Places, a National
Register program that offers classroom-ready lesson plans on properties
listed in the National Register. To learn more, visit the Teaching
with Historic Places home page.
Somerset Christian
Church
An unaltered example of a mid-19th-century country
church, this diminutive building was erected c.1857 to serve a
small but active community of the Christian denomination in the
rural neighborhood of Somerset. With its bracketed cornice and
porch echoing the Italian villa influence, the prominently sited
church is a stylistic departure from the Greek Revival and Gothic
modes that characterized most Virginia country churches of the
period. The interior retains its original furnishings, including
its pews, still decorated with painted wood graining. Maintained
by a dedicated congregation, the church now holds regular Sunday
services following a period of sporadic use.
The Somerset Christian Church is located on State
Rte. 231, north of its intersection with State Rte. 20, 1500 ft.
south of the Rapidan River. It is not open to the public.
Madison--Barbour
Rural Historic District
Encompassing roughly 40 square miles of Piedmont
countryside, the Madison-Barbour historic distirct (Viriginia's
largest rural district) is one of the state's best-preserved cultural
landscapes. The rolling, semi-mountainous terrain is broken periodically
by broad stretches of fields and pastureland that attest to the
area's rich tradition of agriculture and land preservation. A
web of 18th- and 19th-century roadways offers expansive views
of unspoiled pastoral scenery and early landscape features such
as fence rows and old road beds. For more than two and a half
centuries the area's gentry have exhibited their wealth by erecting
some of the state's most impressive country houses. Sprinkled
through the district are several 19th-century hamlets including
Tibbstown, Barboursville, and Somerset.
The district's name refers to the area's two most
prominent landowning families, the Madisons and the Barbours,
who were responsible for its two nationally significant plantation
complexes--Montpelier and Barboursville. The district also contains
more than 200 contributing dwellings in various national styles
and vernacular forms reflecting a broad socioeconomic spectrum,
including Frascati, built c.1823 in the style of Thomas Jefferson;
Rocklands, a significant architectural creation of early 20th
century; and the Somerset Christian Church, c.1850.
The Madison--Barbour Rural Historic District
is roughly bounded by Rte. 15, the Rapidan River and the Albemarle
and Greene county lines. The district is several miles large and
a driving tour is recommended.
Barboursville
Preserved as a ruin after its destruction by fire
on Christmas Day, 1884, Barboursville was one of the largest and
finest residences in the region. The only building in Orange County
known to have been designed by Thomas Jefferson, Barboursville
was constructed between 1814 and 1822 for Jefferson's friend James
Barbour, Governor of Virginia (1812-1814), U.S. Senator, Secretary
of War, and Ambassador to the Court of St. James.
Jefferson's drawings called for a dwelling with
a recessed portico on the north front and a three-part bay sheltered
by a portico on the south front, with dome above--a scheme resembling
Jefferson's own home Monticello. The dome, however, was not built.
Even in its ruinous state, the house presents a romantic image
of the Jeffersonian ideal, a compact but architecturally sophisticated
classical villa in a carefully contrived landscape setting. The
great oval in front of the house was originally a racetrack. The
stabilized ruins are now the centerpiece of one of Virginia's
first large-scale wineries. They also serve as an exceptional
background for the Four County Players' presentations of "Shakespeare
at the Ruins" on August weekends.
Barboursville is located south of the junction
of Rtes. 777 and 678. Self-guided tours of the ruins are allowed
during the winery's hours of operation, 10:00am to 5:00pm. Monday-Saturday,
and Sunday 11:00am to 5:00pm. Call 540-832-3824 or visit the website
at http://www.barboursvillewine.com for further information.
Gordonsville Historic
District
The assemblage of 19th- and early 20th-century residential,
commercial, and church buildings forming this Piedmont community
reflects the vicissitudes of a Virginia railroad town. It was
named for Nathaniel Gordon, a late 18th-century innkeeper here,
whose tavern was frequented by such prominent statesmen as Thomas
Jefferson and Major General the Marquis de Lafayette. The hamlet
exploded into a thriving transportation hub with the arrival in
the 1840s and early 1850s of two railroads and two major turnpikes.
Dr. Charles Beale, Gordons' son-in-law, foresaw the arrival of
the railroad and essentially planned the Gordonsville of today.
During the Civil War, Gordonsville was of vital
importance to Robert E. Lee and his Confederate Army of Northern
Virginia in the transportation of troops and supplies. In 1862,
Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson had his headquarters
at the old Gordon Tavern for several days. Wounded soldiers were
brought to Gordonsville to be cared for at the Gordonsville Receiving
Hospital (centered around the Exchange Hotel) and in churches
and private homes.
Gordonsville's growth, which reached its peak after
the Civil War, ended suddenly with completion in the early 1880s
of a north-south railroad bypassing the town to the west. The
district centers on a 3/4-mile stretch of Main Street leading
south past tree-shaded 19th-century residences and churches to
the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway overpass. The solid row of brick
commercial structures forming the town's business district were
built up following fires in 1916 and 1920.
The Gordonsville Historic District is bisected
by Rte. 15 in Gordonsville. Call 540-672-1653 or visit the website
at http://www.gemlink.com/~gordonsville/history.htm for further
information.
Exchange Hotel
This Gordonsville landmark is a forerunner of the
large railroad hotels that played an important role in the transportation
history of late 19th- and early 20th-century America. The galleried
structure was built in 1860 for Richard F. Omohundro next to an
important railroad junction, when the Exchange Hotel offered a
welcome stopping place for weary passengers on the Virginia Central
Railway. Waist-coated gentlemen and hoop-skirted ladies were treated
to the sight of the hotel's handsome architecture of wide verandas
and stately columns.
In March 1862, because of its strategic location,
the Exchange Hotel became part of the Gordonsville Receiving Hospital,
admitting more than 23,000 sick and wounded in less than a year.
The wounded and dying from nearby battlefields such as Cedar Mountain,
Chancellorsville, Trevilian Station, Mine Run, Brandy Station,
and the Wilderness were brought by the trainloads. Although this
was primarily a Confederate facility, the hospital treated the
wounded from both sides. Twenty-six Union soldiers died here.
By war's end more than 70,000 men had been treated at the Gordonsville
Receiving Hospital and just over 700 would be buried on its surrounding
grounds. The scene of untold agony and death, the building survived
the conflict. It again became a hotel after the war and enjoyed
a fine reputation until the 1940s when it went into decline. Historic
Gordonsville, Inc., acquired and restored the hotel in the 1970s.
It now serves as the Exchange Hotel Civil War Museum.
The Exchange Hotel is located at 400 South Main
St., in Gordonsville. The Exchange Hotel and Civil War Museum
is open Tuesday-Saturday 10:00am to 4:00pm, plus Sundays 1:00pm
to 4:00pm June-August. Closed January through March 15 and on
major holidays. There is a fee. For further information visit
the museum's website
or call 540-832-2944.
Boswell's Tavern
A landmark for travelers since Nicholas Johnson
built its earliest section c.1735, this weatherboarded structure
on the edge of the Green Springs Historic District is one of the
state's time-honored rural taverns. It was purchased in 1761 by
Johnson's brother-in-law, John Boswell, who served as proprietor
until his death in 1788. A number of political figures, including
Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and James Madison frequented
the tavern. It served as a headquarters for the Marquis de Lafayette
in 1781. British colonel Banastre Tarleton captured colonial troops
here during his attempt to sieze Jefferson. The Marquis de Chastellux
made reference to Boswell's hospitality in his Travels in North
America in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782. The tavern is divided
into two sections: a public area containing two large public rooms,
a warming room, stair hall, and bar area, and the innkeeper's
wing with a winding corner stair leading to sleeping quarters.
The building is now a private residence.
Boswell's Tavern is located on the north side
of State Rte. 22, 1 mile southeast of the intersection of Rtes.
22 and 15 in the Gordonsville vicinity. It is a private residence
and is not open to the public.
Green Springs
Historic District
From the earliest days of settlement in the Piedmont,
the Green Springs area has been known for its exceptional fertility,
prosperity, and beauty. The Green Springs Historic District is
six and one-half miles long, four and one-half miles wide, bounded
by Route 15 and Route 22 in the western end of Louisa County.
Its farms, buildings, and families represent many generations
of agricultural, architectural, and social history.
Contrasted with the surrounding hilly land with
its thin soil and scrub woodlands, this 14,000-acre bowl, a geological
formation that defines Green Springs, is composed of lush, rolling
pastures. In the 1720s a group of Quakers settled near Camp Creek,
followed soon after by several Hanover County, Virginia families,
who established major farms and, over succeeding generations,
intermarried, adding farmhouses and manors through the mid-1860s.
Altogether, more than 250 original 18th- and 19th- century homes,
barns and other outbuildings survive. The area has been farmed
continuously for more than 200 years and the fertility of the
land has made possible its remaining unspoiled today. In the 19th
century Green Springs was famous for its abundant wheat crops.
In 1841 Cyrus McCormick chose to test his reapers on the wheat
fields of Green Springs.
Two families in particular, the Morrises and the
Watsons, built a number of plantation houses in the area. One
of the earliest settlers, Richard Morris, built Green Springs
in 1772 (visible from Route 617). The house is a fine example
of Virginia formal vernacular style, with four exterior chimneys.
Here Morris entertained his good friend, Patrick Henry. In the
1790s Morris developed the springs for which the district is named
into a popular spa. Other notable Morris family homes includ Sylvania,
Grassdale (visible from Route 15), and Hawkwood–designed by well-known
architect Alexander Jackson Davis for Richard Overton Morris in
the 1850s. Ionia Farm on Route 640 was built by Major James Watson
in 1770. It is one of the best preserved story-and-a-half plantation
houses of its type in Virginia. Other Watson-family properties
include Bracketts (Route 640) and Westend (Route 638).
These and numerous other buildings form an assemblage
of rural architecture of outstanding variety and quality embellishing
this gently civilized countryside. After the Civil War, when coaches
and carriages, as well as money were less abundant, a neighborhood
place of worship became necessary. At the intersection of Route
640 and Route 613 is St. John's Chapel, built in Carpenter's Gothic
style in 1888 by the Overton, Morris and Watson families. Prospect
Hill, the plantation home of the Overton family, is now a secluded
country inn on Route 613. Also within the Green Springs Historic
District is Boswell's Tavern, one of Virginia's time-honored rural
taverns.
The Green Springs National Historic Landmark
District, part of the Shenandoah National Park, is located on
Rte. 15, 1.5 miles north of I-64, from exit 136, in Zion Crossroads.
The district is a National Historic Landmark. Call 804-985-7293
(ext. 301) or visit the website
for further information.
Hawkwood
Until it was gutted by fire in 1982, Hawkwood was
the best-remaining example of the Italian Villa-style houses designed
by New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis. Completed in 1855,
the house was built for Richard Overton Morris, a wealthy planter
who promoted scientific agricultural methods to restore Virginia's
depressed economy. While much of Davis's architecture was inspired
by Greek and Gothic forms, he also was a popularizer of the Italian
Villa style fostered in America by his collaborator Andrew Jackson
Downing. Downing wrote that with its shading eaves, verandas,
and picturesque massing, the villa style was most appropriate
for country houses in the South. A hallmark of the style, demonstrated
in Hawkwood, is the square tower. Hawkwood's walls and tower were
spared in the fire and have since been stabilized and re-roofed.
Complete restoration of the house is contemplated.
Hawkwood is located on the west side of Rte.
15 south of Gordonsville. It is not generally open to the public,
but check with the Green Springs Historic District
office for special arrangements.
Southwest Mountains
Rural Historic District
Extending from the Orange County line to the outskirts
of Charlottesville, with the Southwest Mountains forming its spine,
this 31,000-acre district includes some of the Piedmont's most
pristine and scenic countryside. Characterized by undulating pastures,
winding roadways, forested hills, and small hamlets, the district
contains a broad range of 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century
rural architecture, reflecting the evolving cultural patterns
of 260 years of settlement. Althoughknown primarily for historic
estates with fine dwellings such as Castle Hill, Cobham Park,
and Cloverfields, many of the district's structures are the products
of a continuous vernacular building tradition. Several African-American
settlements also lie in the area. Scattered throughout the district
is a remarkable range of farm buildings including early barns,
granaries, corncribs, stables, and sheds. A strong sense of community
pride has enabled preservation of the district's pastoral character.
The Southwest Mountains Rural Historic District
is over 31,000 acres bordered by 1-64 just before Charlottesville
on the south, Rte. 20 on the west, the Orange county line on the
north, and the C & O Railroad tracks on the east.
Castle Hill
The earliest portion of this two-part house is a
traditional colonial Virginia frame dwelling built in 1764 by
Dr. Thomas Walker, a colonial leader and explorer of the west.
Here in 1781 Walker's wife delayed the British colonel Banastre
Tarleton to give the patriot Jack Jouett time to warn Thomas Jefferson
and the Virginia legislators of Tarleton's plan to capture them.
The stately brick portion, an example of Jeffersonian classicism
by master builder John M. Perry, was erected in 1823-24 for William
Cabell Rives, minister to France, U.S. Senator, and Confederate
congressman. Columned conservatories were added in 1844 by William
B. Phillips. Rives's granddaughter Amelie, wife of the Russian
painter Prince Pierre Troubetzkoy, was a novelist and playwright.
She and her husband made Castle Hill their home in the early decades
of the 20th century.
Castle Hill is noted for its extensive gardens
and landscaped grounds. Castle Hill is located .8 mile northwest
of Rte. 231, 2 miles NE of its intersection with Rte. 600 in the
Cismont vicinity. It is a private residence and is not open to
the public.
Grace Church
This much-admired specimen of the earlier, more
picturesque interpretation of the Gothic Revival is the only known
Virginia work of William Strickland, a leading American architect
of the first half of the 19th century. Strickland is better known
for his monumental Greek Revival works. He designed commercial
and administrative buildings, theaters, and churches. He also
designed engineering projects, including several railroads, canals
and dams. Strickland played a major role in the transformation
of the city of Philadelphia due to the size and number of his
commissions there. He also contributed to the gradual professionalization
of the architectural field. Grace Church, built c.1847, is a rare
example of his Gothic style. The church was commissioned by Judith
Walker Rives of nearby Castle Hill. Strickland's original drawings
are preserved at the University of Virginia. The original interior
woodwork, executed by E.S. McSparren, an English master carpenter,
was destroyed by fire in 1895. The church was soon rehabilitated
with a new roof, new interior, and chancel addition. Its walls
and tower remain essentially as designed and continue to serve
an active congregation.
Grace Church is located on the southeast side
of Rte. 231, .5 mile northeast of its intersection with Rte. 600,
east of Cismont. The church is open Monday-Friday, 9:00am to 3:00pm.
Call 804-293-3549 for further information.
Edgehill
In view of Monticello, Edgehill was the home of
Thomas Jefferson Randolph, favorite grandson of Thomas Jefferson.
The stately brick house was built for Randolph in 1828, his family
having outgrown the 1799 frame house built for his father, Thomas
Mann Randolph, Jr., husband of Jefferson's daughter Martha. The
house was designed and constructed by the University of Virginia
builders William B. Phillips and Malcolm F. Crawford, who continued
the Jeffersonian style into the antebellum period. Specific Jeffersonian
features are the Tuscan porch with Chinese lattice railing and
the Tuscan entablatures. In 1829 Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Randolph
opened a small school in the 1799 dwelling, which had been moved
a short distance to make way for the present house. The school
was continued by her daughters until 1896. The main house was
gutted by fire in 1916, but was sympathetically rebuilt within
the original walls.
Edgehill is located north of Shadwell on State
Rte. 22 and just north of its intersection with I-64, over one
mile west of Charlottesville. It is a private residence, and is
not open to the public.
Clifton
Clifton was the home of Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr.
(1768-1828), son-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, who served as Governor
of Virginia and in the U.S. Congress. The original portion of
the rambling, much-evolved structure was built by Randolph in
the first quarter of the 19th century to be the hub of the never-to-be
port of North Milton. Randolph and several partners planned the
town adjacent to the Milton Canal to support the agricultural
and commercial development occurring in the area and to compete
with the then-prosperous but now extinct community of Milton across
the Rivanna River. Originally Randolph's warehouse, the house
later became his residence. His office outbuilding remains on
the grounds. The house was considerably expanded by later owners
and now serves as a country inn. The present portico replaces
a 19th-century one-story veranda.
Clifton is located on State Rte. 729 in Shadwell
south of I-64, and over 1 mile east of Charlottesville. Now an
inn, it is not open for tours, but to contact the inn you may
call 888-971-1800.
Monticello
Thomas Jefferson called Monticello his "essay in
architecture." Reflecting the genius and versatility of its creator,
Jefferson's Monticello is a monument to a scrupulous interest
in architecture, landscaping, agriculture, and domestic comforts.
The remarkable house, one of America's most famous, is filled
with ingenious devices and mementos of this revered founding father.
The author of the Declaration of Independence and third President
of the United States, Jefferson studied buildings in ancient Rome
and began his dwelling atop the "Little Mountain" where he had
played as a boy, after leveling the top in 1768.
Jefferson worked on Monticello for more than 40
years, altering and enlarging it as his taste developed, reflecting
the pleasure he found in "putting up and pulling down." Before
1795 the house had a Palladian-influenced tripartite form with
two-level porticoes. After seeing the work of Boullée and Ledoux
in France, he returned to Monticello with his head full of new
ideas, above all, about its dome, and an aversion to grand staircases,
which he believed took up too much room. When an extensive revision
was finished in 1809, it had become a 21-room amalgam of Roman,
Palladian, and French architectural ideals, a unique statement
by one of history's great individuals. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Foundation has maintained Monticello as a place of pilgrimage
for millions since 1923.
Jefferson's attention to garden design paralleled
his interest in architecture. Both ornamental and vegetable gardens,
as well as two orchards, a vineyard, and an 18-acre "grove," or
ornamental forest, were included in his landscape plans. Jefferson's
detailed records and recent archeological discoveries have made
possible an accurate recreation of his gardening scheme. Since
1987, Monticello has included the Thomas Jefferson Center for
Historic Plants.
Monticello, a National Historic Landmark, is located in the Virginia Piedmont about two miles southeast of Charlottesville, Virginia, off of State Rte. 53. Open daily 8:00am to 5:00pm March-October, 9:00am to 4:30pm November-February, closed Christmas Day. Tours of the house and gardens available March-October. House tours offered daily; seasonal outdoor tours offered March-October. There is a fee for admission. Call 434-984-9822 or visit the website for further information. Monticello is also a designated World Heritage Site. You can also download (in pdf) the Monticello National Historic Landmark nomination.
Highland
James Monroe, U.S. Senator; Governor of Virginia;
Minister to France, England, and Spain, and fifth President of
the United States, purchased this farm, originally named Highland,
in 1793. Monroe's friend and mentor Thomas Jefferson selected
the house site within view of Jefferson's Monticello. Monroe had
hoped to move immediately from his farm at the present site of
the University of Virginia so that he could be closer to Jefferson.
But when Monroe's appointment in 1794 as minister to France indicated
a long stay abroad and a delay in house construction, he sent
instructions from Paris giving Jefferson full authority to locate
the house at Highland and to plant its orchards. Monroe completed
the simple farmhouse, the western portion of the present building,
in 1799. Calling the house his "castle cabin" he added to it over
the next 20 years.
The Monroe family considered Highland its home
for a quarter century. Monroe intended Highland to be a working
farm. To increase its productivity, he experimented with diverse
crops and planting methods, becoming, like Jefferson, an early
advocate of scientific agriculture. In addition to his principal
crops of timber, tobacco, and grain, he, also like Jefferson,
tried to cultivate Bordeaux grapes for wine, a frustrating endeavor
for all farmers until modern agricultural methods were developed.
Throughout his two terms as President, 1817-1825,
Monroe often spoke of retiring to Highland Unfortunately, pressing
debts, largely as the result of government service, combined with
Mrs. Monroe's poor health, forced Monroe to sell the estate in
1826, and retire to Oak Hill. He described Highland at that time
as 3,500 acres with a "commodious dwelling house, buildings for
servants and other domestic purposes, good stables, two barns
with threshing machine, a grist and sawmill with houses for managers
and laborers . . . all in good repair."
About 1840, by which time subsequent owners had
changed the name of the house to Ash Lawn, one wing of the Monroe
house was damaged by fire and partially removed. In the 1880s,
Parson John Massey, a retired Baptist minister and later Lieutenant
Governor of Virginia, built the two-story Victorian section of
the house partially over the foundation of the damaged Monroe
wing, expanding the house to its present size. Jay Winston Johns
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, purchased the plantation in 1930
for his residence and formally opened it to the public, and after
his death willed the property to the College of William and Mary,
which Monroe had attended prior to his service in the American
Revolution. The College began systematic research and restoration
of Ash Lawn and reopened the property for public visitation in
1975.
Highland is located southeast of Charlottesville
off Rte. 53. It is open from March-October daily 9:00am to 6:00pm
and from November-February daily 10:00am to 5:00pm, there is a
fee for admission. Call 804-293-9539 for further information or
visit the website.
Charlottesville
& Albemarle County Courthouse Historic District
Charlottesville has served as an important regional
political center since its selection as the site of the Albemarle
County Courthouse 1762. In addition to its strong associations
with Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia, the town
is significant for its diversity of 19th-century governmental,
commercial, residential, and industrial architecture. Typical
of many 19th-century American towns is its courthouse square,
containing the courthouse and several 19th-century brick offices
set about a small public green. This compact quarter in the heart
of downtown Charlottesville preserves the atmosphere of a mid-19th-century
Piedmont county seat. The Albemarle County Courthouse of 1803
also served originally as a community church, and here, in what
he called the "Common temple," Thomas Jefferson sometimes attended
Sunday services. The square has been a focus of county activity
from the time it was laid out in 1762, and it was not unusual
in the early 19th century to see Jefferson conversing here with
James Madison and James Monroe. The town hall was built across
from the northeast corner of the square in 1851. In 1887 this
tall Classical Revival building was purchased by Jefferson M.
Levy, then the owner of Monticello, Albemarle County Courthouse
located on Charlottesville's courthouse square Photograph courtesy
of Shannon Bell and converted into the Levy Opera House. Around
the rest of the square sprang up numerous taverns, law offices,
and residences. Among the early tavern buildings remaining are
the former Swan Tavern and the former Eagle Tavern, both dating
from the second quarter of the 19th century. The most notable
law office is No. 0 ("No. Nothing") Court Square, a plain but
handsome Federal building of c.1823. The courthouse was enlarged
in the 1870s with the addition of the south wing with its Ionic
portico. Except for the multistoried Monticello Hotel building,
the district maintains a consistent scale and architectural harmony,
being composed primarily of brick two- and three-story buildings
in a Federal or Federal Revival idiom. Also in the district is
a centrally located late 19th-century main street, with numerous
20th-century modifications including a 1970s pedestrian mall.
A turn-of-the-century railroad passenger station with adjacent
industrial buildings and several adjoining residential neighborhoods
complete the district. While not devoid of intrusions, the district
gives Charlottesville's downtown a strong sense of historical
continuity and architectural cohesiveness.
The Charlottesville & Albemarle County Courthouse
Historic District is roughly bounded by Park, Water, Saxton, and
Main Sts., in Charlottesville. The Visitors Center, located on
Rte. 20 in front of Piedmont Community College, offers a map suitable
for walking tours. The Albemarle County Historical Society, located
at 200 Second St., NE, Charlottesville (phone 804-296-1492) offers
a walking tour every Saturday morning at 10:00am through the district,
and can be contacted for special tours. Call 804-977-1783 for
further information or viist the city's website.
University of
Virginia
Thomas Jefferson's design for the center of today's
sprawling university is internationally regarded as one of the
outstanding accomplishments of American architecture. Jefferson's
ambition of many years was to found a great university that would
serve as "the future bulwark of the human mind in this country."
It was not until he was more than 70, after he retired from a
long life of public service, that Jefferson found the time to
devote to the achievement of his dream. As a skilled architect,
Jefferson was aware that an institution such as he contemplated
must be given appropriate architectural expression. Jefferson's
concept was an "Academical Village," where students lived in close
proximity to the professors and their classrooms. Between 1814
and 1826 he designed and supervised the construction, created
the curriculum, and selected the library and faculty. Flanking
an elongated terrace open to the south, called the Lawn, 10 two-story
pavilions housed the professors, each building embellished with
a different version of an order of Roman architecture to serve
as models for instruction. To connect the pavilions, Jefferson
provided low colonnades fronting student dormitories. Additional
student rooms were located in arcaded "ranges" paralleling the
Lawn buildings. Each range contained three "hotels," or dining
halls. As the focal point of the complex, Jefferson placed at
the head of the Lawn the domed Rotunda, a scaled-down version
of the Pantheon in Rome, to serve as the library.
Construction of the buildings began in 1817, and
the General Assembly officially chartered the school as the University
of Virginia in 1819. While the university represents a major achievement
in the history of American education, its architectural scheme
was revolutionary and provided a prototype for numerous campus
designs. Except for the burning of the Rotunda in 1895 and the
demolition of the Anatomical Theater in 1938, Jefferson's original
buildings have survived without significant alteration. The open
south end of the Lawn was closed in the first decade of the 20th
century with the construction of three architecturally outstanding
academic buildings--Cabell Hall, Cocke Hall, and Rouss Hall--all
designed by Stanford White, who was brought to Charlottesville
to design the rebuilding of the Rotunda. White also designed the
former university commons, now Garrett Hall, which is in the district.
Other buildings of significance in the district are Brooks Hall
of 1877, the Gothic Revival University Chapel of 1889, and the
McIntire Ampitheater of 1921. Acknowledged as one of the most
beautiful collegiate groupings in the world, this assemblage of
buildings and spaces forms a living monument to Jefferson's genius.
The University of Virginia is bounded by University
and Jefferson Park Aves. and Hospital and McCormick Rds., in Charlottesville.
The district is a National Historic Landmark. There is a pamphlet
that can be used for self-guided walking tours of the campus,
while free guided tours of the campus are conducted from the Rotunda
during the school year except during the three-week holiday break
in Dec.-Jan. and during the final exam period during the first
three weeks of May. Call 804-924-7969 or visit the website
for further information. The University of Virginia is also a
designated World
Heritage Site.
The University
of Virginia is the subject of an online-lesson
plan produced by Teaching with Historic Places, a National
Register program that offers classroom-ready lesson plans on properties
listed in the National Register. To learn more, visit the Teaching
with Historic Places home page.
The Rotunda
The Rotunda is the most important individual architectural
work of Thomas Jefferson, who, had he pursued no other activity,
would be considered one of America's leading architects. Designed
when he was more than 70 and completed in 1826, the year of his
death at age 83, the Rotunda was the principal element of the
complex Jefferson provided for the University of Virginia. Jefferson
modeled it after the Pantheon in Rome, which he considered to
be the most perfect example of what he called "spherical" architecture.
He reduced the proportions of the Pantheon by half, making the
Rotunda 77 feet in diameter and in height. For its interior, Jefferson
ingeniously divided the first two floors into suites of oval rooms
to serve as classrooms and lecture halls. The domed top floor,
with its ring of paired columns in the Composite order, was surely
one of the most beautiful rooms ever created in America and served
as the university's library.
The Rotunda was gutted by fire in 1895, leaving
only the finely crafted Flemish bond brick walls intact. New York
architect Stanford White designed a new interior. In his rebuilding
White eliminated the first-floor oval rooms, creating one large
two-story domed space. He also added the north portico and the
north esplanades, connecting them to the original south esplanades
by handsome colonnades. The Stanford White interior was removed
in a mid-1970s remodeling which attempted to recreate, though
with numerous modifications, the appearance of the Jeffersonian
interior.
The Rotunda, a National Historic Landmark, is
located on the University of Virginia campus. Free guided tours
of the Rotunda are given year-round except during the three-week
holiday break in Dec.-Jan. and during the final exam period during
the first three weeks of May. Tours are given from 10:00am to
4:00pm on the hour (except at 12:00pm) starting at the Rotunda
entrance facing the lawn. Call 804-924-7969 or visit the website
for further information.
Fluvanna County
Courthouse Historic District
Termed by architectural historian Talbot Hamlin
the "Acropolis of Palmyra," this tiny cluster of court structures,
dominated by a temple-form Greek Doric courthouse, stands grandly
overlooking the surrounding village. General John Hartwell Cocke,
the owner of nearby Bremo plantation and a friend of Thomas Jefferson,
served as one of the five commissioners who drafted plans for
both the courthouse and jail and took primary responsibility for
their final appearance. The 1829 stone jail, built by John G.
Hughes, is markedly similar to the distinctive brick and stone
outbuildings at Bremo. It is now a museum.
Construction of the courthouse, completed in 1831,
was supervised by Walker Timberlake, a Methodist preacher who
undertook various architectural and engineering works in the county.
Fluvanna's is one of the state's few antebellum courthouses to
remain without additions and retain its original interior arrangement
and many original fittings. The Greek Doric portico of the courthouse
features typical Greek columns without bases. Like most antebellum
courthouses in Virginia, the columns are not fluted, although
that is a hallmark of the Greek Doric order. The Fluvanna courthouse
is also distinguished by the extensive use of stone for the column
and pilaster capitals, steps, water table, window sills, and lintels.
Two levels of windows on the sides as well as the three arched
windows at the rear are separated by pilasters. Conspicuously
inscribed on the stone lintel above the entrance is: "THE MAXIM
HELD SACRED BY EVERY FREE PEOPLE - OBEY THE LAWS."
Fluvanna County Courthouse Historic District
is located along Rte. 15, in Palmyra. The Courthouse, still in
operation, is open during normal business hours. At other times,
access to the courthouse can be provided from the the Stone Jail
Museum, which is open weekends mid-April to mid-September, 10:00am
to 5:00pm, or from the Office of the Clerk across from the courthouse.
Hallowed Ground: Richard M. Ketchum, a noted
authority on the Revolutionary War, has written that "if any land
in America deserves to be called Hallowed Ground, it is the red
clay soil of Virginia on which so much of this nation's past is
preserved."
Nowhere in America does history live more vividly
than in the Old Dominion. Virginians' love of their past is legendary.
And it is no wonder. As Professor C. Vann Woodward noted, an astonishing
portion of the early American story unfolded in Virginia, and
especially in the northern Virginia Piedmont--a rolling landscape
stretching from the falls of the Potomac, Rappahannock, and James
Rivers to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The region is 50 miles wide,
more or less, and 100 miles in length. At its northern corners
stand Washington, D.C., and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia--on the
south, Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia.
Across this lovely landscape are landmarks, celebrated
and obscure, and byways where one can feel a personal intimacy
with the nation's founders and the land they knew. From all across
the continent, families come to visit the Piedmont to see where
an ancestor died in the Civil War that saved the young democracy.
Within a little more than an hour's drive from the
Prince William County community of Haymarket lie 16 Civil War
battlefields, 20 historic towns, 17 historic districts, and about
60 sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places. A
concentric circle extending the drive another hour would include
nearly 200 National Register sites, and the great battlefields
of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania
Courthouse.
Visitors to the region, no matter how well versed
in American history, go away much impressed that Presidents Jefferson,
Madison and Monroe, who led the new nation for 32 of its first
36 years, lived, worked, and died in such close proximity as neighboring
farmers. In the same region lived Chief Justice John Marshall,
Jefferson's relative and political rival, who transformed the
Supreme Court into an equal of the Legislative and Executive branches
in the federal balance of power.
But the Piedmont's charm and historical richness
derives not from the famous battlefields, Presidential estates,
or national landmarks alone, but from the nooks and crannies and
houses, churches, and public buildings where sub-plots of U.S.
history unfolded.
Although many areas are facing urban sprawl, much
of the Piedmont still retains its rural personality. The lush,
gentle landscape, set off by the Blue Ridge Mountains on the west,
is graced by lesser peaks of the Catoctin, Bull Run, Pig Nut,
and South Mountains that Jefferson once called, "the Eden of the
United States." To many visitors and residents alike, the villages,
country lanes, livestock farms, vineyards, and churchyards set
on the hills and tucked into valleys, are reminiscent of rural
England.
The Loudoun County town of Waterford, settled by
Quakers in 1733 and now a National Historic Landmark, passes the
decades without discernible change. So do stone houses in other
communities such as Lincoln, also in Loudoun County. William Brown,
a former parliamentarian of the U.S. House of Representatives,
and his wife, Jean, live in a 1730s house that has been occupied
by his family for eight generations.
Every county in the region has its own timeless
places, its own heroes, its own niche in the American saga. U.S.
Route 15, once a trail used by Iroquois hunting parties and then
known as the Carolina Road, remains a main artery. From it, short
detours lead to quiet spots where history resonates as powerfully
as it does at the battlefield parks or at the homes of Washington,
Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. In a long swath between the Bull
Run and Blue Ridge Mountains are houses, churches, and inns where
John Singleton Mosby, the "Gray Ghost of the Confederacy," hid
out, conspired, and organized guerrilla raids so effective that
several counties came to be known as "Mosby's Confederacy."
Outside Middleburg, Sergeant John Champe, a young
farmer who made a heroic, though unsuccessful, attempt to kidnap
the traitor Benedict Arnold from the British, is honored by a
hauntingly unpretentious monument on his home site. It is largely
unnoticed by passing motorists.
In Thoroughfare Gap beside Interstate 66, stand,
half hidden in the trees, the ruins of a huge mill that was producing
flour when George Washington surveyed in the area. Twice burned
and repaired during the Civil War, it operated until Harry Truman
was President, and only recently burned for a third time.
To the south, visitors in automobiles can approximate
the route taken by Colonial Governor Alexander Spotswood and his
"Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" when they journeyed from Williamsburg
across the Piedmont to enter the Shenandoah Valley in 1716. In
the valley, Spotswood claimed the river and everything to the
west for England.
And along the foot of the scenic Southwest Mountains,
visitors can trace the night time ride of Jack Jouett, a Revolutionary
hero, little known beyond the Virginia Piedmont. In the spring
of 1781, Jouett rode through the night, 40 miles from Cukoo
Tavern
in Louisa County to Monticello, to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson
of Redcoats approaching on a mission to kidnap him. Jefferson
got away, else Virginia's history, and the nation's, might have
been different. While history remembers the midnight ride of
Paul
Revere, Virginians remember the ride of Jack Jouett.
But there are, in the old villages and along the
by-ways of the Piedmont, ghosts of other heroes never known and
deeds never told, lost in Hallowed Ground.
A former Los Angeles Times correspondent, Rudy
Abramson is author of Hallowed Ground, Preserving America's Heritage.
In 1994, he was executive director of Protect Historic America.
He is currently co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Appalachia.
Virginia's northern Piedmont is a rolling, open,
well-watered region of farms and scattered villages and towns.
It occupies the land between two principal Civil War battlegrounds:
the Shenandoah Valley and the Washington-Fredericksburg-Richmond
axis. During the war, the Manassas Gap and the Orange and Alexandria
Railroads traversed the area, augmenting the long-established
road network and furnishing the opposing armies with strategically
vital transportation and supply routes.
Waves of military activity, large and small, swept through the
region periodically. In 1861, the First Battle
of Manassas (Bull Run) took place near the Manassas Junction
of the two railroads in Prince William County, with troops being
rushed into battle by railroad for the first time in American
history. The next year, Gen. Robert E. Lee launched his attack
into Maryland that culminated at Antietam Creek (Sharpsburg),
after first winning important victories at Cedar Mountain in Culpeper
County and at the Second Battle of Manassas. In 1863, following
his brilliant success at Chancellorsville, just west of Fredericksburg,
Lee began his invasion of Pennsylvania after a massive cavalry
battle at Brandy Station in Culpeper County. Maj. Gen. J.E.B.
Stuart, screening the Confederate infantry's march west to the
Shenandoah Valley, fought engagements at Aldie,
Middleburg, and Upperville in Loudoun and
Fauquier Counties. In the fall, after the defeat at Gettysburg,
Lee turned on his pursuers and launched an ill-executed attack
on the Union army at Bristoe Station in Prince William County.
The following spring, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant began his drive
south toward Richmond and Petersburg from the Federal winter encampments
in Culpeper County.
For most civilians in the Piedmont, their daily lives were interrupted
only briefly by the intermittent storms of war. There were two
lengthy exceptions: the 1863–1864 winter encampment of the Union
and Confederate armies in Culpeper and Orange Counties respectively,
and the exploits of Col. John S. Mosby in Fairfax, Fauquier, and
Loudoun Counties--an area known as "Mosby's Confederacy."
After the Confederate defeat at Bristoe Station in October 1863,
Maj. Gen. George G. Meade pressed Lee and the Army of Northern
Virginia south across the Rapidan River into Orange County. The
Union army then settled in for the winter around Culpeper
Courthouse in Culpeper County, while the Confederates encamped
along the south bank of the Rapidan.
For some five months, the two combatants studied each other,
resupplied and reinforced their armies, and tested each other's
lines with occasional thrusts. In March 1864, Grant arrived in
Culpeper County, having been appointed commander of all Union
armies by President Abraham Lincoln and having decided to accompany
Meade rather than remain in Washington. With his presence, the
war in Virginia would enter a new and even bloodier phase when
the Federals crossed the Rapidan on May 4th to begin a campaign
that would inflict some 45 percent casualties on each army within
two-and-a-half months.
In the northernmost part of the Piedmont, meanwhile, Mosby's
Rangers (43d Battalion, Partisan Rangers) harried the Union
army's supply lines. Organized by Mosby late in 1862, the Rangers
operated successfully until the end of the war and Mosby was mentioned
more often by name in Lee's reports than any other Confederate
officer. Although they never numbered more than 800, the Rangers
were effective against their vastly more numerous foes because
Mosby maintained tight discipline and struck quickly when the
odds favored him. Grant became so annoyed by their tactics that
he ordered captured Rangers hanged without trial. When Mosby immediately
retaliated in kind with captured Federals, Grant rescinded the
order. Rather than surrender his men, Mosby disbanded the Rangers
at Salem, in the heart of his Confederacy, on April 21, 1865.
After the war, the northern Piedmont soon reverted to its peaceful
ways. In the second half of the 20th century, however, the growth
of the Washington metropolitan area in Northern Virginia placed
increasing development pressure on this rural region. The battlefields
of Manassas, Brandy Station, and Bristoe Station became the scenes
of fierce engagements between developers and preservationists.
Although the economic recession of the late 1980s slowed growth
in the region, it may have delayed rather than prevented the steady
destruction of this national treasure. The last battle for this
hallowed ground has yet to be fought.
John S. Salmon, Staff Historian
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Scenic America: Protecting the Piedmont's Special
Scenic Character
The Virginia Piedmont is one of America's most significant landscapes,
encompassing centuries of historic sites located in scenic settings.
The "spine" of this region is historic, scenic Routes
15 and 20, a corridor whose integrity is critical to the region.
Highlighting sites listed in the National Register of Historic
Places, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground travel itinerary
offers a taste of the wealth of historic buildings, landscapes,
and communities along Route 15. The beauty and history of the
Piedmont's landscape, which encourage recreation and tourism,
enrich not only local quality of life but the local economy too.
While much of the Virginia Piedmont included in this itinerary
is relatively pristine - for instance, along Routes 20 and 231
- other areas, most notably in portions of upper Loudoun County,
are facing increasing urban growth. If a consensus is not reached
on standards of development throughout the region, the Piedmont
could be in jeopardy of losing the very qualities for which it
is cherished: scenic beauty, historic towns, magnificent vistas,
and rural character.
Over the past three years, Scenic America, working with the
National Register of Historic Places, the Piedmont Environmental
Council, the Conservation Fund, the Preservation Alliance of Virginia,
the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and other state
and local groups, has sought to draw attention to the incomparable
scenic and historic resources along Route 15. Yet this work has
only just begun.
Preserving a Rural Economy While Encouraging "Smart Growth"
The historic, lush landscape that characterizes the beauty of
the Piedmont also fuels the rural economy along Route 15. Many
Piedmont communities realize that tourism can continue to flourish
only as long as the rural character of the local landscape is
protected and preserved. "Smart growth" refers to well-planned
development that integrates quality of life and sustainability
concerns with transportation and land use planning. In our work
on Route 15, Scenic America and our partner organizations are
helping communities fully document the special scenic, historic,
cultural, and natural features of the corridor and consider how
to protect this unique landscape, including adopting "smart
growth" principles for development. This work is exciting,
as local officials, residents, and others realize their critical
role in the future development of the region.
Hope for the Region's Future
Scenic America's work to protect the scenic and historic landscape
of Route 15, along with the efforts of other groups, is bolstering
several promising trends in the region. It is critical that we
nurture the sense that the Piedmont's spectacular rural heritage
is worth saving for generations to come. While on one level, the
goal of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground travel itinerary
is to create an enjoyable leisure trip for the Internet traveler,
it is also an effort to encourage the protection of the endangered
Piedmont landscape that is host to these historic and scenic treasures.
Our best hope for preserving those qualities which make the Virginia
Piedmont so special lies in raising public awareness of the historic
value of the area, as this National Register itinerary does. Appreciation
of the Virginia Piedmont's historic places supports sustainable
development that ensures quality of life. Scenic America works
to provide citizens with specific strategies and tools to promote
sound development patterns and collaborates with area merchants,
tourism officials, and others to protect the community character
that supports the local economy. We hope you will join us in making
this vision a reality.
This essay was contributed by Scenic America, a national
nonprofit membership organization dedicated to protecting America's
natural beauty and preserving communities' distinctive local character.
The organization provides technical assistance across the nation
on scenic byways, billboard control, context-sensitive road design,
cell tower location, transportation policies, and other scenic
conservation issues. They also promote scenic conservation by
educating Congress and state legislatures and participating in
site-specific projects in various states. In addition, the organization
produces a full range of publications on preserving scenic beauty,
open space, and quality of life that contribute to our environment
and economy. For more information about Scenic America, please
visit their web
site or contact them directly at Scenic America, 801 Pennsylvania
Ave., SE, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20003 202-543-6200
Bibliography
of Virginia Piedmont History
Ayers, Edward L. and John C. Willis (eds.). The Edge of the
South: Life in Nineteenth-Century Virginia. Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1991.
Bearr, David W.C., ed. Historic Fluvanna in the Commonwealth
of Virgina: A Sketchbook of the People, Places and Events of Fluvanna
County, Virginia.
Palmyra, VA: Fluvanna County Historical Society, 1998.
Jordan, Ervin L. Charlottesville and the University of Virginia
in the Civil War. Lynchburg, VA: H.E. Howard, 1988.
Joyner, Ulysses P., Jr. The First Settlers of Orange County,
Virginia: A View of the Life and Times of the European Settlers
of Orange County, Virginia and their Influence upon the Young
James Madison, 1700-1776. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press for
the Orange County Historical Society, 1987.
Koons, Kenneth E., and Warren R. Hofstra. After the Backcountry:
Rural Life in the Great Valley of Virginia, 1800-1900. Knoxville:
University of Tennessee Press, 2000.
Loth, Calder, ed. The Virginia Landmarks Register. Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1999.
McLaughlin, Jack. Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography
of a Builder (reprint edition). New York: Henry Holt, 1990.
Miller, Ann L. Antebellum Orange: The Pre-Civil War Homes,
Public Buildings, and Historic Sites of Orange County, Virginia.
Orange, VA: Moss Publications, 1988.
The Nature Conservancy, et al. Uncommon Wealth: Essays on Virginia's
Wild Places. Helena, MT: Falcon Publishing Company, 1999.
Olson, Ted and William Lynwood Montell (preface). Blue Ridge
Folklife (Folklife in the South Series). Jackson, MS: University
Press of Mississippi, 1998.
Phillips, John T., II. The Historian's Guide to Loudoun County,
Virginia. Leesburg, VA: Goose Creek Productions, 1996.
Robertson, James I. Civil War Sites in Virginia: A Tour Guide.
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991.
Salmon, John S., compiler. A Guidebook to Virginia's Historical
Markers (revised and expanded edition). Charlottesville: University
Press of Virginia, 1994.
Templeman, Eleanor Lee, and Nan Netherton. Northern Virginia
Heritage; A Pictorial Compilation of the Historic Sites and Homes
in the Counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Prince
William and Stafford, and the Cities of Alexandria and Fredericksburg.
Arlington, VA: privately published by E. L. Templeman, 1966.
Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography.
Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publications, 1998.
Wilson, Richard Guy, ed. Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village:
The Creation of an Architectural Masterpiece. Charlottesville:
Bayly Art Museum of the University of Virginia (distributed by
University Press of Virginia), 1993.
Zenzen, Joan M., and Edwin Bearss. Battling for Manassas: The
Fifty-Year Preservation Struggle at Manassas National Battlefield
Park. State College, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press,
1988.
Virginia Piedmont
Children's Literature
Cocke, William. A Historical Album of Virginia. Brookfield,
CT: Millbrook Press, 1995.
Fritz, Jean. The Great Little Madison. New York: Putnam,
1998.
Hakim, Joy. Making Thirteen Colonies. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999
Knight, James E., and George Guzzi (illustrator). Journey to
Monticello: Traveling in Colonial Times. Mahwah, NJ: Troll
Association, 1999.
McGovern, Ann, et al. If You Lived in Colonial Times. New
York: Scholastic Trade, 1992.
Pflueger, Lynda. Dolley Madison: Courageous First Lady.
Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1999.
Young, RobeRte. A Personal Tour of Monticello (How It Looked).
Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Company, 1999.
Links to Piedmont
Tourism and Preservation
Journey Through Hallowed Ground Heritage Area
Learn more about the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area. Find information about plans to visit, maps, educational resources, and news about upcoming events at each site.
Scenic
America
Read about this organization's approach to conservation and how
they can help your community.
Virginia
Department of Historic Resources
Find further information on the Virginia State Historic Preservation
Office.
Rural
Heritage Program
This program of the National Trust is dedicated to the recognition
and protection of rural historic and cultural resources.
Virginia
Tourism Board
Tourist information on events, attractions, travel, and tourism
throughout the state of Virginia. Thier History section includes
information on Morven Park, Manassas National Battlefield, Oatlands
Plantation, Aldie Mill, and others historic sites. University
of Virginia Press
Visit the website of the publisher of the The Virginia Landmarks
Register (upon which place descriptions in this itinerary were based) and many other preservation and
architecture books.
Virginia Historical Markers
An interactive map and list to photos of Virginia's historical highway markers.
Loudoun
County Government
View this site for links to: travel and events (history, culture,
and tourism). Search on Parks to get a listing of the 15 parks
in Loudoun County as well as additional information from the Department
of Parks, Recreation and Community Services.
Fauquier County Chamber of Commerce
Provides visitor information. Go to the Visitor's Guide, then
to Attractions and Parks for more information on historic sites,
including the Fauquier County Jail Museum. Click on Fauquier's
Links for a listing of local organizations and tourist information.
Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority
Information on locations and hours for parks, museums, and trails
in Loudoun County.
Monticello
Avenue
The website for the Albermarle and Charlottesville community,
providing useful information on local events, historic sites,
tourism, and the arts.
Shenandoah National Park
Provides visitor information for this National Park located just
west of the Piedmont.
World Heritage Sites
Monticello and the University of Virginia, highlighted in this itinerary, are also a desingated World Heritage Site.
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Learn about the programs of and membership in the oldest national non-profit preservation organization.
Historic Hotels of America
A feature of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Heritage Traveler program that provides information on historic hotels and package tours in the vicinity of this itinerary, including Clifton.
National Park Service Office of Tourism
National parks have been interwoven with tourism from their earliest days. This website highlights the ways in which the NPS promotes and supports sustainable, responsible, informed, and managed visitor use through cooperation and coordination with the tourism industry.
National Scenic Byways Program
This website, maintained by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, includes information on State and nationally designated byway routes throughout America based on their archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic qualities. Visit the America’s Byways Journey Through Hallowed Ground website for more ideas.
Links to Piedmont
Historic Sites
Waterford Foundation
Visit Waterford online through this website's virtual walking
tour of the Waterford Historic District.
Veterans
Administration - National Cemetery Administration
Visit the website for the Federal agency that maintains our National
Cemeteries, including Ball's Bluff and Culpeper.
George C. Marshall House
Dodona Manor is also the George C. Marshall International Center,
a non-profit organization devoted to preserving and fostering
the legacy of George C. Marshall and the principles of the Marshall
Plan.
Oatlands
A National Trust property, this site includes further information
on this plantation home.
Manassas National Battlefield
Park
Find further visitor information including walking tours, driving
tours, and hiking trails.
Museum
of Culpeper History
This website includes a brief history of Culpeper, a timeline
beginning in 1649, information on famous people, places, and events,
as well as information on the opening of the new Museum (in July
2000).
Woodberry
Forest School
Discover further information on this private boys' school and
The Residence within the General Information/History section.
Montpelier
A National Trust property, Montpelier's website has valuable tourist
information.
Exchange
Hotel
Learn more about the history of the building, now the Exchange
Hotel Civil War Museum
Green Springs National Historic
Landmark District
Find further visitor information for this rural cultural landscape
district.
Monticello
Visitors can plan their visit to Monticello, explore educational
programs, read about Jefferson, his home, and his properties.
World Heritage
Sites
Monticello and the University of Virginia, highlighted in this
itinerary, are also a desingated World Heritage Site.
Highland
Find out further information about James Monroe, his home in Albemarle
County, and special events taking place there throughout the year.
City
of Charlottesville
Visit this site for background on the city's history, links to
the Chamber of Commerce.
University
of Virginia
Find further information on Jefferson's Rotunda and "Academical
village", as well as a virtual tour.
Journey Through Hallowed Ground, was produced by the National
Park Service (NPS), U.S. Department of the Interior, in cooperation
with Scenic America, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources,
the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers
(NCSHPO), and the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions
(NAPC). It was created under the direction of Carol D. Shull,
Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, National Park
Service, Patrick Andrus, Heritage Tourism Director, and Beth L.
Savage, Publications Director. Journey Through Hallowed Ground
is based on information in the files of the National Register
of Historic Places and National Historic Landmark collections.
These materials are kept at 800 North Capitol St., Washington,
D.C., and are open to the public from 9:00am to 4:00pm, Monday
through Friday.
Scenic America, directed by Meg Maguire, conceptualized and compiled
materials for the itinerary, under the guidance of their Program
Director, Deborah L. Myerson. AICP. Site descriptions were primarily
excerpted from The Virginia Landmarks Register (4th edition,
1999), published by the University
Press of Virginia. We are grateful for this significant contribution
provided by Calder Loth, Senior Architectural Historian with the
Virginia Department of Historic Resources and Editor of The
Virginia Landmarks Register. Contextual essays were written
by Rudy Abrahmson, author of Hallowed Ground, Preserving America's
Heritage; John S. Salmon, Staff Historian of the Virginia
Department of Historic Resources; and Deborah Myerson, AICP of
Scenic America. Nathan Poe and Shannon Bell (both of NCSHPO) created
the design for the travel itinerary. Shannon Bell coordinated
project production for the National Register, and was greatly
assisted in the website's compilation by Jeff Joeckel and Rustin
Quaide (both of NCSHPO).
Many other individuals made important contributions to this project.
Marc C. Wagner, National Register Manager, and Suzanne K. Durham,
Archivist, of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, assisted
with color and historic images. Special recognition should be
given to Elizabeth M. Gushee (Library of Virginia); the Museum
of Culpeper History; the Ruth E. Lloyd Information Center for
Genealogy and Local History, Bull Run Regional Library, Prince
William County; Carolyn M. Book (Monticello); Patricia C. Muth
(George C. Marshall International Center); Loudoun County Parks
and Recreation; Barboursville Vineyard; Carolyn Homes (Ash Lawn-Highland);
and W. Michael Gillespie (Fluvanna County Historical Society)
who also supplied color and/or historic photographs. Ben Pugno,
intern from the University of California at Davis, assisted with
preparing the photographs for the web, and Mary Downs, National
Council of Preservation Educators intern, compiled the Learn More
section.
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