The architecturally engaging Abingdon Glebe House belongs to Virginia’s collection of colonial glebe houses, structures built to serve their parishes either as a rental property or as rectories. The house originally served Abingdon Parish, the second church of which is a short distance away. Abingdon Glebe House in Gloucester County was standing as early as 1724, when it was mentioned in a report by the rector, Thomas Hughes, to the bishop of London. Built of Flemish bond with glazed headers, the T-shaped house with its original low wings illustrates the transition from the irregular vernacular structures of the 17th century to the symmetrical houses of the Georgian period. The hipped roofs of the wings are among Virginia’s earliest uses of that roof form. The house and its glebe lands were confiscated from the parish and sold during the disestablishment. The Abingdon Glebe House property has been in private ownership ever since.
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