Located within Cumberland State Forest, Oak Hill is a two-story, three-bay, frame dwelling constructed around 1810 by plantation owner William Mynn Thornton (1781–1856). Illustrating the tastes of the planter class during the early to mid-19th century, Oak Hill exhibits Federal-style influence in its center-passage, single-pile floor plan, and in such details as a seven-pane fanlight above the entrance door and its interior trim. The grave of infant Charles Irving Thornton is located in a family cemetery on the property. The Thornton tombstone carries an epitaph attributed to Charles Dickens and is individually listed in the state and national registers. In 1936, the Resettlement Administration of the U.S. government acquired Oak Hill as part of a program to conserve land depleted by erosion and agricultural practices, and in 1954 it was conveyed to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Since that time, Oak Hill has been used as housing for state employees.
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