Virginia Designates 7 Historic Sites as State Landmarks
Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For Immediate Release
September 2026
Contact:
Ivy Tan Ager
Marketing & Communications Manager
ivy.tan@dhr.virginia.gov
804-482-6445
Virginia Designates 7 Historic Sites as State Landmarks
—The newly designated landmarks are in the counties of Albemarle, Louisa, Bath, Loudoun, Page, and Amherst; and in the city of Lynchburg—
RICHMOND – Among the seven places recently listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register are a church established by formerly enslaved individuals that became the cultural and social hub of a rural African American community for over a century; a historic district known for its luxury resort, which has attracted visitors from across the Commonwealth and beyond since the 18th century; and one of the most architecturally unique log houses to be built in Virginia’s Western Region.
The Commonwealth’s Board of Historic Resources approved these properties for designation on the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) during its quarterly public meeting on September 17, 2026, in Orange County. The VLR is Virginia’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,
- Church historians contend that the congregation of Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Albemarle County was founded in 1879 by individuals who were formerly enslaved at nearby plantations of the Brown family, the namesake of the county’s rural Brown’s Cove region. The current church, built in 1908 and expanded in the latter half of the 20th century to include a chancel and fellowship hall, is locally distinguished for its historic role as a cultural and social center for a rural African American community in Brown’s Cove starting in the early 1900s. The church is listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register under the African American Churches in Virginia Multiple Property Document.
- Built in bucolic Louisa County in ca. 1852, Goldmine Baptist Church remains distinct from churches in the area that were built during the same period. While its design incorporates the Greek Revival and Gothic Revival styles popular at the time of its construction, the church is notable for its stepped gable, original moldings, curved brick cornice, and hand-hewn interior Doric columns. Reflective of the values and aesthetic of the Baptist community in rural Louisa County, the church features the adaptation of neoclassical architecture with local construction techniques.
In the state’s Northern Region,
- The commercial and residential development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries of the Hot Springs Historic District in Bath County was propelled by the 1891 establishment of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway from Covington to Hot Springs, the Virginia Hot Springs Company’s purchase of The Homestead property, and the subsequent infrastructure built by the company. The historic district comprises many residential, commercial, and religious buildings constructed in popular architectural trends of the era including Georgian Revival, Colonial Revival, Gothic Revival, and Queen Anne, as well as regional vernacular styles.
- Built in ca. 1745, the Gregg-Nichols House in Loudoun County reflects the broad patterns of Quaker settlement into the frontier of Virginia in the 18th century, when Quakers from Pennsylvania and Delaware bought land grants in Virginia’s northern region to build houses and farm the land. Owned by the Gregg and Nichols families for over a century, the dwelling serves as an excellent example of a Quaker vernacular patent house that adheres to an 18th-century Virginia law requiring land grantees to construct a house with the dimensions of 16’ x 20’ and to plant and farm an acre of land within three years of purchase.
- Anchored by a well-preserved, brick Federal-style house built in 1820, Kauffman’s Mill Homestead in Page County lies within the historic Massanutten Settlement and is associated with milling, farming, and community life in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley from the early 19th to mid-20th centuries. The property—which encompasses the remains of Kauffman’s Mill, one of the earliest water-powered gristmills in the Valley that operated continuously from ca. 1775 to 1936, a collection of early-20th-century agricultural outbuildings, and a ca.-1927 pavilion/dance hall—boasts a cohesive cultural landscape that tells the story of a rural community’s development from a milling center to an integrated agricultural enterprise and recreational complex.
In Virginia’s Western Region,
- The Mountcastle House in rural Amherst County was built circa 1871 to serve multiple families of tenants who rented the farmland around the building. The house was built relatively late compared to other log dwellings in the county, most of them constructed before the Civil War. Mountcastle also stands out from other dwellings of log construction due to its distinctive two-story saddlebag plan, which consists of two independent pens built simultaneously, flanking a central chimney that serves both pens.
- White Rock Elementary School represents an early-20th-century public school built for White students during the first wave of consolidation in the City of Lynchburg during the era of racial segregation. Built in 1911 in the Colonial Revival style, the original school building also features elements of the Craftsman style and was expanded in 1928 to include a second story for additional classrooms. A separate multipurpose building was constructed adjacent to the school in 1964 to house a cafeteria, library, and assembly space. The 1911 and 1928 sections of the school were designed by Stanhope S. Johnson, one of the most prolific architects in central Virginia in the 20th century. The 1964 building was designed by local architect Willard C. Rhodes.
The Board also approved the following in its September meeting:
- The Loudoun County Rural Road Networks Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPD), which will catalogue, interpret, and help preserve the rural roads of western Loudoun County. Established from the 18th through the early 20th centuries, these interlaced transportation corridors include cultural routes developed from Native American migratory paths and from European explorers and settlers, as well as engineered routes designed for the movement of goods and armies. Loudoun’s rural roads can be divided into five thematic periods: Settlement and Growth (1735-1801); the Turnpike Era and Associated Feeder Roads (1802-1860); the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Growth (1861-1905); the Automobile Era and the Re-organization of Road Management (1906-1962); and Development Pressure and Coalition for Preservation (1963-1974).
- The updated National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) Registration Form for the City of Virginia Beach’s Upper Wolfsnare, which expands on the history and significance of the property.
Additionally, the Board has confirmed in its September meeting the delisting of the Jefferson Manor Motel Apartments in the City of Virginia Beach and the Keysville Railroad Station in the Charlotte County town of Keysville from the VLR due to the demolition of both properties.
DHR will forward the documentation for the newly listed VLR sites to the National Park Service for nomination to the 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.
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