On a carefully chosen site in Greene County, with the Blue Ridge Mountains as backdrop, Locust Grove was built ca. 1798 for Isaac Davis, Jr. (1754-1835), a successful planter and land speculator, who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and held various appointive county offices. Although Locust Grove lacks academic architectural character, its two stories and four-room plan made it a vivid contrast to the humble abodes common to the rustic dwellers of the Blue Ridge foothills. The exterior preserves early beaded weatherboarding and porches, and the interior, with its original paneled wainscoting and paneled mantels, retains its original, well-appointed character. Davis, being a public figure, used the exterior to signal his rank, with the principal rooms serving as social spaces for entertaining the public as well as friends and family. Locust Grove was restored in the mid-1980s, prior to its listing in the Virginia and national registers.
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