The Reynolds Property represents the early industrial history of Botetourt County, when construction of the James River and Kanawha Canal provided the impetus for a hydraulic cement industry. The 1840s appear to have been years of growth for the region’s lime industry, which continues to be an important part of the county’s economy. Named for its one-time owner and mid-19th-century lime-maker, Greenville Reynolds, the roughly 150-acre property features a whitewashed stone house dating to around 1800 (pictured above), a long-abandoned limestone quarry complex including a mound that may be a limekiln ruin, a barn, and miscellaneous domestic and agricultural outbuildings. The house’s interior, originally a hall-parlor plan, has mud-plastered and whitewashed stone walls, exposed ceiling beams, a wooden floor, and two fireplaces. The Reynolds Property also includes the remains of a stone springhouse foundation and a cemetery of uninscribed fieldstone grave markers that oral tradition suggests was a slave burial ground. Quarrying ceased on the Reynolds Property in 1936.
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
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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