The historic Southside homestead of Black Walnut is noted for its unusually complete collection of plantation structures. Placed about the rambling frame residence are a brick kitchen, a wash house, a dairy, two smokehouses, two sheds, a cool-storage building, a privy, a stable, a barn, and a slave cabin. A late 18th-century schoolhouse and a family cemetery complete the group. Together these buildings remind us of the complexity and self-sufficiency of Southern plantations. Using slaves before the Civil War and hired labor afterwards, these agricultural complexes required organization and manpower. Black Walnut’s dwelling was begun between 1774 and 1790 for Matthew Sims. It was expanded in the early 1800s and again in 1848. Halifax County’s only Civil War engagement—the battle of Staunton River Bridge—was fought on Black Walnut property. The Black Walnut farm, originally one of the county’s largest, remained owned by John Sims’s descendants at the time of listing in the 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