The Southwest Mountains of Virginia are a mountain range centered on Charlottesville, parallel to and geologically associated with the Blue Ridge Mountains, which lie about 30 miles (50 km) to the west. The range is breached by the Rivanna River between Monticello and Pantops Mountain. Some of the more prominent peaks include Carters Mountain, Fan Mountain, Brush Mountain, Peters Mountain, Walton's Mountain, and Hightop Mountain.
Oak Hill is a mansion and plantation located in Aldie, Virginia that was for 22 years a home of Founding Father James Monroe, the fifth U.S. President. It is located approximately 9 miles (14 km) south of Leesburg on U.S. Route 15, in an unincorporated area of Loudoun County, Virginia. Its entrance is 10,300 feet (3,100 m) north of Gilberts Corner, the intersection of 15 with U.S. Route 50. It is a National Historic Landmark, but privately owned and not open to the public.
Shadwell is a census-designated place (CDP) in Albemarle County, Virginia. It is located by the Rivanna River near Charlottesville. The site today is marked by a Virginia Historical Marker to mark the birthplace of President Thomas Jefferson. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with Clifton.
Varina Farms, also known as Varina Plantation or Varina Farms Plantation or Varina on the James, is a plantation established in the 17th century on the James River about 10 miles (16 km) south of Richmond, Virginia. An 820-acre (330 ha) property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as "Varina Plantation". At that time it included two contributing buildings and one other contributing site.
Keswick is a census-designated place in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States, about six miles east of Charlottesville.
Highland, formerly Ash Lawn–Highland, located near Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, and adjacent to Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, was the estate of James Monroe, a Founding Father and fifth president of the United States. Purchased in 1793, Monroe and his family permanently settled on the property in 1799 and lived at Highland for twenty-five years. Personal debt forced Monroe to sell the plantation in 1825. Before and after selling Highland, Monroe spent much of his time living at the plantation house at his large Oak Hill estate near Leesburg, Virginia.
Frascati is an early 19th-century Federal-style plantation house near Somerset in Orange County, Virginia. Frascati was the residence of Philip P. Barbour, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and statesman.
Farmington is a house near Charlottesville, in Albemarle County, Virginia, that was greatly expanded by a design by Thomas Jefferson that Jefferson executed while he was President of the United States. The original house was built in the mid-18th century for Francis Jerdone on a 1,753-acre (709 ha) property. Jerdone sold the land and house to George Divers, a friend of Jefferson, in 1785. In 1802, Divers asked Jefferson to design an expansion of the house. The house, since greatly enlarged, is now a clubhouse.
Blenheim is a historic home and farm complex located at Blenheim, Albemarle County, Virginia. The once very large surrounding plantation was established by John Carter. Late in the 18th century, his son Edward Carter became the county's largest landowner, and in addition to public duties including service in the Virginia General Assembly built a mansion on this plantation where he and his family resided mostly in summers, but which was destroyed by fire and sold by auction circa 1840.
Red Hills is a historic home and farm complex located near Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia. It consists of a two-story, five bay brick main section built about 1797 in the Georgian style, and two brick rear wings. It has a modern, one-story frame wing. The front facade features one-story, gabled portico of Colonial Revival design added about 1939. Also on the property are a contributing barn, corncrib and shed, shed, well, and slave cemetery.
Southwest Mountains Rural Historic District is a national historic district located near Keswick, Albemarle County, Virginia. The district encompasses 854 contributing buildings, 73 contributing sites, 30 contributing structures, and 1 contributing object. It includes a variety of large farms, historic villages, and crossroads communities. The area is known primarily for its large and imposing Federal, Greek Revival, and Georgian Revival plantation houses and country estates. It features a broad range of architecture—mainly domestic and farm-related—from the late 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
East Belmont is a historic farm and national historic district located near Keswick, Albemarle County, Virginia. The district encompasses 3 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, and 1 contributing structure. The original house, now the rear ell, was built about 1811–1814, and is a two-story, three-bay, gable roofed frame structure. In 1834, a two-story, five-bay Federal style brick structure was added as the main house. A one-story, glass sunroom was added in the 1960s. The front facade features a two-story, pedimented portico. Also on the property are a contributing 19th-century corncrib, early 20th-century stone and frame barn, and an early 20th-century henhouse.
Edge Hill, also known as Edgehill and Edgehill Farm, is a historic house located near Shadwell in Albemarle County, Virginia, United States.
Clover Mount, also known as Tate House and Stone House Farm, is a historic home located near Greenville, Augusta County, Virginia. The house dates to the late-18th century and is a two-story, five-bay, cut limestone dwelling built in two stages and completed before 1803. The original section contained a two-room, hall-parlor plan, and measured 30 feet by 20 feet. Added to it was a single-cell, double-pile addition. A two-story stuccoed ell was added to the house around 1900. Also on the property is a contributing frame bank barn with heavy mortise-and-tenon construction.
Greenwood is a historic plantation house located at Culpeper, Culpeper County, Virginia. It consists of a 1+1⁄2-story, three-bay, center block dating to the late-18th or early-19th century, with one-story wings dated to 1823–1824. The original section has a hall-parlor plan dwelling. In 1825, Greenwood received as visitors the Marquis de Lafayette and former President James Monroe during Lafayette's celebrated tour as "guest of the nation." During the American Civil War Federal troops occupied the house and plantation and placed a cannon on the lawn.
Old Forge Farm, also known as Zane's Furnace, Stephens Fort, and Marlboro Iron Works, is a historic home and farm located near Middletown, Frederick County, Virginia. The original section dates to the 18th century. The house is a two-story, asymmetrical, three-bay, limestone dwelling with a two-story addition connecting the main house to a one-story former summer kitchen. Also on the property are the contributing 18th century hexagonal ice house of unusual design, an early 20th-century root cellar, privy, and shed. The property was first known as Stephen's Fort, built by Lewis Stephens, son of Peter Stephens, for protection during the French and Indian War. Sold in 1767 to Isaac Zane, whose Zane's Furnace was a major manufacturer of munitions for the Continental Army. Grist mill operations continued into the 1950s.
Belmont, also known as the Ficklin Mansion, is a historic home located at Charlottesville, Virginia. It was built about 1820 for John Winn by Jefferson brick mason John Jordan. Originally it had a center pavilion with lower symmetrical side wings but a second story was added to the wings by John Winn's son Benjamin Bannister Winn about 1840. It is a brick dwelling showing both Greek Revival and Federal details as it was built during the transition between the two styles. It features pedimented portico supported by four square paneled columns resting on a raised brick base.
The historic home listed as Lewis Farm, also known as The Farm and John A. G. Davis Farm, is located at Charlottesville, Virginia. It was built in 1826, and is a two-story brick dwelling with a low hipped roof and two large chimneys. On the front facade is a Tuscan order portico with a terrace above. The house was built by individuals who worked with Thomas Jefferson on building the University of Virginia. Its builder, John A. G. Davis, was law professor at the University of Virginia and was shot and killed outside Pavilion X by a student in 1840. During the American Civil War, Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer set up temporary headquarters at the house where he remained for three days.
Belmont Plantation, also known as Belmont Estate and Belmont, is a locale in Albemarle County, Virginia, and the site of a 19th-century plantation. It was among the first patents in Albemarle County, patented in the 1730s. Matthew Graves sold a 2,500-acre-tract to John Harvie Sr., a friend of Peter Jefferson and a guardian of Thomas Jefferson. After his death in 1767, the property was inherited by his son John Harvie, Jr. Harvie lived at Belmont for several years, but after he was appointed the Registrar of Land Grants, he moved to Richmond, Virginia and John Rogers oversaw the plantation. Rogers was known for his progressive approaches to agriculture, including methods for improving the quality of the soil after years of tobacco crops.
John Rogers was an overseer of three plantations, including Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. He then owned and operated the East Belmont plantation. Rogers was a co-founder of the Albemarle Agricultural Society, and was known for his revolutionary agricultural reforms. His influence and knowledge-gathering was centered among planters in Albemarle County, as well as across the country and in Europe.
