Nomination Form
This site includes the remains of a simple house built between 1870 and 1877 for Aaron Hilton (1832-1916), a respected former slave of the Lewis-Douthat and Selden families. An anonymous writer in 1915 described Hilton as “one of the landmarks of Charles City County,” saying that he was an authority on the care of sheep and that neighboring farmers relied on him for advice on all occasions. In 1877 Hilton was able to realize a primary ambition of freedmen by purchasing a five-acre parcel, the tract where he had built his house. Because written records of freedmen’s domestic lifestyles are uncommon, the archaeological remains of Hilton’s house, accompanied by unusually substantive documentation, give the site particular significance for providing information on a neglected facet of Virginia social history. Tests by Virginia Department of Historic Resources archaeologists in 1993 confirmed the site’s location.
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
Nomination Form
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
