Tappahannock is the oldest town in Essex County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,375 at the 2010 census, up from 2,068 at the 2000 census. Located on the Rappahannock River, Tappahannock is the county seat of Essex County. Its name comes from an Algonquian language word lappihanne, meaning "Town on the rise and fall of water" or "where the tide ebbs and flows." The Rappahannock is a tidal estuary from above this point and downriver to its mouth on Chesapeake Bay.
The town of Washington, Virginia, is a historic village located in the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park. The entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district, Washington Historic District. It is the county seat of Rappahannock County, Virginia.
The Cape Henry Lighthouses are a pair of lighthouses at Cape Henry, the landform marking the southern entrance to Chesapeake Bay in the U.S. state of Virginia. The location has long been important for the large amount of ocean-going shipping traffic for the harbors, its rivers, and shipping headed to ports on the bay. The original lighthouse was the first authorized by the U.S. government, dating from 1792. It was also the first federal construction project under the Constitution, for an original contract amount of $15,200. A second lighthouse was built and completed in 1881 a short distance away after concern arose about the stability of the first. Both towers of the light station were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
Camden is an Italian Villa-style house on the Rappahannock River just downriver of Port Royal, Virginia. Built 1857–1859, it is one of the nation's finest examples of an Italianate country house. It is located on the southeast bank of the Rappahannock River, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of the intersection of Camden Road and United States Route 17. Camden was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971 for its architecture.
Menokin, also known as Francis Lightfoot Lee House, was the plantation of Francis Lightfoot Lee near Warsaw, Virginia, built for him by his wife's father, John Tayloe II, of nearby Mount Airy. Lee, a Founding Father, was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. Menokin was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
Sabine Hall is a historic house located near Warsaw in Richmond County, Virginia. Built about 1730 by noted planter, burgess and patriot Landon Carter (1710–1778), it is one of Virginia's finest Georgian brick manor houses. Numerous descendants served in the Virginia General Assembly. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970. At the time of its National Register listing, it was still owned by Carter / Wellford descendants.
The Willa Cather Birthplace, also known as the Rachel E. Boak House, is the site near Gore, Virginia, where the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather was born in 1873. The log home was built in the early 19th century by her great-grandfather and has been enlarged twice. The building was previously the home of Rachel E. Boak, Cather's grandmother. Cather and her parents lived in the house only about a year before they moved to another home in Frederick County. The farmhouse was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) in 1976 and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1978.
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.
Brooke's Bank is a historic plantation house located near Loretto, Essex County, Virginia. It was built in 1751, and is a two-story, five bay, brick dwelling with a hipped roof in the Georgian style. It has two 20th century one-story brick wings. The original interior woodwork of Brooke's Bank survives almost completely intact. During the American Civil War, it was shelled by the USS Parmee, a Union gunboat on the Rappahannock River.
Oakland is a historic home located near Montpelier, Hanover County, Virginia. It was built in 1898–1846, and is a 1+1⁄2-story, three bay, frame farmhouse, with a 2+1⁄2-story, three bay by five bay, rambling wing. It was built on the foundations of a house built in 1812 that was destroyed by fire. Also on the property are a contributing smokehouse and office. Oakland was the home and birthplace of the Virginia novelist, Thomas Nelson Page.
Sycamore Tavern, also known as Shelburn's Tavern and Florence L. Page Memorial Library, is a historic inn and tavern located near Montpelier, Hanover County, Virginia. It was built before 1804, and is a 1 1/2-story, three bay by two bay, frame structure, with a rear shed extension. It is sheathed in weatherboard and has two exterior brick chimneys. An ordinary occupied the building through the 19th century. During the first quarter of the 20th century, Thomas Nelson Page, the noted Virginia author, founded a library in the structure in memory of his wife, Florence Lathrop Field Page.
Black Meadow is a historic plantation house and farm complex located near Gordonsville, Orange County, Virginia. The house was built in 1856, and is a 1+1⁄2-story, three-bay, Greek Revival style dwelling with a front gable roof. It was renovated in 1916, with the addition of a two-story wood-frame ell and realignment of interior spaces. Also on the property are the contributing milk house, slave quarters, a dairy barn, a bent barn/stable, a multiuse barn/shed, and a tenant house.
Sperryville Historic District is a national historic district located at Sperryville, Rappahannock County, Virginia, USA. It encompasses 63 contributing buildings in the village of Sperryville. The buildings are predominantly wood-frame, one-and two-story residences, some of which have been converted to commercial establishments. They include a collection of former factory workers' housing built to serve the workers of the Smoot tannery from 1867 to the early 20th century. A number of the buildings were constructed after 1850 with ornamentation and board-and-batten siding that is suggestive of the mid-century Romantic Revivals. Notable buildings include the George William Cooper House, the Dr. Amiss House, the Hopkins Ordinary, and the Totten's Mill House.
Sunnyside, also known as Sunnyside Farms, is a historic farm complex and national historic district located at Washington, Rappahannock County, Virginia. It encompasses 13 contributing buildings, 3 contributing sites, and 2 contributing structures. The main house was constructed in four distinct building phases from about 1785 to 1996. The oldest section is a two-story single-pile log structure with a hall-parlor plan, with a 1 1/2-story stone kitchen added about 1800. In addition to the main house, the remaining contributing resources include five dwellings, two smokehouses, a root cellar, a chicken coop, a spring house, two cemeteries, a silo, a workshop, a stone foundation for a demolished house, stone walls, and a shed. The farm is the location of the first commercial apple orchard in Rappahannock County, Virginia, established in 1873.
Ben Venue is a historic home and farm located near Washington, Rappahannock County, Virginia. The main house was built between 1844 and 1846, and is a three-story, five bay, brick dwelling with a side gable roof and parapets. It features a one-story porch that covers the central three bays; it has four Doric order columns supporting a bracketed entablature. The property also includes three brick slave cabins, the original Fletcher homestead, kitchen, smokehouse, privy, and a formal garden.
John W. Miller House is a historic home located near Boston, in Rappahannock County, Virginia. It was built in 1842–1843, and is a two-story, I-house, with a central-passage plan and interior end chimneys. It was adorned in 1880–1881, with Italianate features, including an elaborate two-story front porch. The property also includes the contributing kitchen / quarters, ice house, barn, and Miller family cemetery.
George L. Carder House, also known as Boxwood Hill, is a historic home located at Castleton, Rappahannock County, Virginia. It was built about 1833, and is a two-story, Federal style brick dwelling on a limestone foundation. It features a pair of front entrances and an original kitchen built into the cellar. The property also includes a contributing one-room log house, log shed, and wood-framed barn.
Caledonia Farm, also known as Fountain Hall, is a historic home located at Flint Hill, Rappahannock County, Virginia. It was built about 1812, and is a two-story, three bay, Federal style stone dwelling. The original stone kitchen was connected to the north end of the house in the 1960s. The property also includes the contributing Dearing family cemetery.
Meadow Grove Farm is a historic farm complex and national historic district located at Amissville, Rappahannock County, Virginia. It encompasses 13 contributing buildings and 5 contributing sites. The main house was constructed in four distinct building phases from about 1820 to 1965. The oldest section is a 1 1/2-story log structure, with a two-story Greek Revival style main block added about 1860. A two-story brick addition, built in 1965, replaced a two-story wing added in 1881. In addition to the main house the remaining contributing resources include a tenant house/slave quarters, a schoolhouse, a summer kitchen, a meat house, a machine shed, a blacksmith shop, a barn, a chicken coop, a chicken house, two granaries, and a corn crib; a cemetery, an icehouse ruin, two former sites of the present schoolhouse, and the original site of the log granary.
Oakwood is a historic farm property west of Warrenton in rural Fauquier County, Virginia. It is bounded on the south by Old Waterloo Road, and on the west by Great Run, a south-flowing tributary of the Rappahannock River. The main house is a rambling two-story masonry building, whose oldest portions date to the 18th century. Its present appearance has significant Greek Revival features, include a gabled temple-front portico added about 1838. The property is also notable in local culture for hosting the very first Virginia Gold Cup race in 1922.
