La Vista is an architecturally significant antebellum rural farmhouse, located on a rise over the Ni River in southern Spotsylvania County, near its boundary line with Caroline County. Built in 1856, this Virginia Greek Revival house was constructed for physician/planter Alfred J. Boulware to serve as the centerpiece of a 1,000-acre property. The body of the house is a Federal-style architectural form, while the gabled portico gives the house its overall Greek Revival flavor. The rear sections of the house, early to mid 20th century additions, are sympathetic to the original portion and feature symmetrical double stairs that lead up to a temple portico porch that echoes the front portico. Adjacent to the house is the historic smokehouse, and the 10-acre tract includes the Boulware family cemetery and century-old tulip poplars, cedars, pecan, holly, and Kentucky coffee trees.
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