New listings are in the cities of Danville, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Roanoke, and Virginia Beach; in the counties of Essex, Frederick, Henrico, Nelson, and Westmoreland; and in the Warren County town of Front Royal
RICHMOND – Among the 12 places newly listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register are an early residential beachfront neighborhood associated with the development and growth of Virginia Beach; a Green Book-listed tourist home in the Commonwealth’s northern region that provided lodging for African American travelers during 20th-century segregation; and a historic district that exemplifies the settlement, agricultural, commercial, and transportation trends of Virginia’s Piedmont region.
The Commonwealth’s Board of Historic Resources approved the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) listings during its quarterly public meeting on June 20, 2024, in Winchester, Virginia. The VLR is the commonwealth’s official list of places of historic, architectural, archaeological, and cultural significance.
At the conclusion of its meeting, the Board approved the following places for listing in the VLR:
In the state’s Eastern Region,
Built in 1938 primarily with contributions from the local African American community and Chesterfield County, the Hickory Hill County Training School, now in the City of Richmond, served generations of Black students as Chesterfield County’s only training school during 20th-century segregation in Virginia’s public school system. As the county’s first brick school for African Americans, its construction and subsequent expansion embodied the Black community’s efforts to provide equal educational opportunities and facilities for their children during Jim Crow.
From 1946 to 1969, Woodbourne served as the Westmoreland County home of Col. Richard Turberville Arnest, a physician who helped establish the Northern Neck Health District, one of the first regional health districts founded under Virginia’s rural health program. A chief surgeon of the U.S. Army during World War II, Arnest became famous after he documented a 1943 incident during which Gen. George S. Patton struck a soldier at a hospital. Arnest’s report was the first of two documented “slapping incidents” that led to public scrutiny of Patton’s military career.
From approximately 1,200 BCE to the early 17th century, Virginia Woodland Indians lived on the Henrico County site currently known as Indian Springs Farm. Research into the site suggests that it may have been a satellite village related to Orapax, the village where the Paramount Chief Powhatan and his people lived after relocating from Werowocomoco in Gloucester County in the early 1600s.
Hundley Hall and Hoskins Country Store in the Essex County crossroads village of Dunnville exemplify a common historical trend of the mid-19th to early-20th centuries where locally prominent families fostered the development of small Virginia communities within the region’s agricultural landscape. Built ca. 1840, Hundley Hall is significant for its Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles, while the Hoskins Country Store, which operated from 1889 to 1913, serves as an example of an influential general store that contributed to the economic recovery of a rural Virginia community after the Civil War.
The Chesapeake Beach Historic District is associated with the growth and suburbanization of the City of Virginia Beach—formerly known as Princess Anne County—during the early 20th century. One of the area’s earliest bayside beachfront neighborhoods, the historic district’s development pattern was influenced by its surrounding natural environment including the Chesapeake Bay and Pleasure House Lake. Chesapeake Beach’s reputation as a residential ‘beach cottage’ community contrasts with the nearby oceanfront resort featuring hotels and other businesses that cater to vacationers.
In the City of Virginia Beach, the Pleasant Ridge School Historic District consists of a one-room schoolhouse, a church built in ca. 1949, and a cemetery with burials dating to approximately 1904. Constructed ca. 1886 as part of a larger school for White students, Pleasant Ridge School was moved to its current location in ca. 1918 to serve Black children in grades 1-7 during the Jim Crow era in Virginia’s public education system. The school closed in 1956 as the result of the city’s efforts to consolidate and desegregate public schools.
In Virginia’s Northern Region,
Built in 1795, Bel Air in the Warren County Town of Front Royal typifies a Shenandoah Valley house constructed in the Federal architectural style. Originally the home of Captain Thomas Buck, one of the founders of Front Royal, Bel Air remained in the ownership of the Buck family for more than 125 years and bore witness to numerous significant historical events, including the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862 during the Civil War. In the early 20th century, the house was remodeled in the Classical Revival style by a local builder.
Green Spring Mill in Frederick County near the city of Winchester is one of the few water-powered gristmills still in existence in the northern Shenandoah Valley region. While the mill was built in 1801, the community it served can be traced to the German, Irish, Scots, and English settlers who migrated to the area in the mid-1700s from the northeastern parts of the U.S. in search of land and religious freedom. During its years of operation in the 19th century, Green Spring Mill provided local farmers year-round access to running water, which made milling possible regardless of weather conditions.
The Ida Mae Francis Tourist Home in the City of Harrisonburg provided lodging services for African American visitors during the Jim Crow era of segregation in Virginia. Constructed ca. 1908 for Ida Mae Francis and her husband, the home was listed in several editions of The Green Book—a 20th-century guide featuring businesses across the nation that welcomed Black travelers during Jim Crow—in the 1950s and 1960s.
In the state’s Western Region,
The 55-acre Norwich Historic District in the City of Roanoke is an intact mill-town neighborhood that developed around large industrial factories starting in the late 19th century. Drawn to the area’s location on the Roanoke River and its proximity to major railroad lines, businesses such as the Norwich Lock Company and Roanoke Cotton Mill opened in Norwich in the 1890s and the turn of the 20th century, leading families looking for employment to settle in the district.
The Warminster Rural Historic District winds along approximately 3.8 miles of the James River in Nelson County. Currently encompassing more than 4,700 acres, Warminster originated in 1742, when Dr. William Cabell acquired prime bottomland along the river—then considered on the frontier of settlement—and established his home in the area. The Cabell family’s subsequent acquisition of land in the district cemented their wealth and status in Virginia history. Warminster represents a microcosm of the historical settlement, agricultural, commercial, and transportation trends in the piedmont of central Virginia from the mid-18th to 20th centuries.
Winslow Hospital in the City of Danville was built in 1940 as the first and only hospital constructed by the city to serve the African American community during segregation and the Civil Rights Movement. Operated by African American physicians and staff, the hospital is notable for treating the victims of Bloody Monday, arguably the most violent event in Virginia associated with the Civil Rights Movement. Bloody Monday refers to a series of incidents on June 10, 1963, during which multiple demonstrators protesting segregation and racial discrimination in Danville were beaten and/or arrested by police.
DHR will forward the documentation for these newly listed VLR sites to the National Park Service for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Listing a property in the state or national registers is honorary and sets no restrictions on what owners may do with their property. The designation is foremost an invitation to learn about and experience authentic and significant places in Virginia’s history. Designating a property to the state or national registers—either individually or as a contributing building in a historic district—provides an owner the opportunity to pursue historic rehabilitation tax credit improvements to the building. Tax credit projects must comply with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.
