Kenmore Farm, located just west of the town of Amherst in Amherst County, was established in 1856 by Samuel Meredith Garland as a farmstead to raise livestock and crops. The property, originally called “Mountain Home,” features a Greek Revival-style main house. After the Civil War, from 1872 until 1889, new owner Henry Aubrey Strode operated the Kenmore University High School, a respected preparatory school that provided a practical secondary education for young men bound for studies specifically at the University of Virginia. The school was briefly re-opened by Strode’s son, Aubrey Ellis Strode, in 1896 but closed permanently in 1899. In addition to its main house, Kenmore Farm includes a collection of historic outbuildings and structures that recall the property’s dual historic uses as an active farm and as a one-time preparatory school.
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