Built in 1749 under the supervision of its pastor John Craig, Augusta Stone Church is the oldest standing Virginia church west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the oldest Presbyterian church in continuous use in the Commonwealth. Craig was Virginia’s first settled Presbyterian pastor and organized the Presbyterian church in Augusta County to serve its Scotch-Irish settlers. In addition to being pastor of Augusta Stone Church, Craig helped found many other churches in the area. His building at Fort Defiance was a very simple rectangular meetinghouse with limestone rubble walls and a clipped-gable roof. The building was enlarged in 1921-22, receiving transepts, a lengthened sanctuary, and an entrance porch, all in compatible character. The original walls and roof form of the Augusta Stone Church remain discernible amid the later additions.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia