This outwardly unassertive house in the hilly countryside of eastern Campbell County is noted for its wealth of elaborate, provincially conceived but deftly executed woodwork. Such decoration is characteristic of the best early houses in the region. Some of the trim, particularly the stair, shows a general debt to designs in contemporary pattern books, but it is interpreted in the very free manner of the more skilled regional craftsmen. The construction date of Blenheim is uncertain, although a sharp increase in tax assessment in 1828 suggests that it was improved in that year for William Jones. The place acquired its present name after its purchase in 1869 by John Devereaux in a fit of admiration for the defeat of Louis XIV of France. The house survives with few changes and remains a monument to the rural craftsman’s art. Behind the house is the remnant of an early formal garden.
In 1994 the original 3-acre register boundary was expended to incorporate the 334 acres that currently make up
Blenheim Farm, and that generally coincide with the boundaries that have defined the plantation since before the Civil War. The entire tract is now under a preservation easement with the DHR’s Board of Historic Resources.
[VLR Listed: 3/10/1994; NRHP Listed: 5/26/1994]
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