Department of Historic ResourcesAn official website of the Commonwealth of Virginia Here's how you knowAn official websiteHere's how you know
Patrick Henry, the Revolutionary orator, made his home at this Hanover County plantation from 1771 to 1778, when he was active in shaping the course of events leading to American independence. Henry also was living at Scotchtown when he was elected Virginia’s first non-royal governor in 1776. The barn-like house was built ca. 1719 as the country residence of Charles Chiswell of Williamsburg. Dolley Payne, later the wife of James Madison, lived here as a child. Scotchtown is probably the largest one-story colonial house in Virginia, with eight rooms and a center passage all on one floor. The otherwise plain exterior is given visual interest by the use of a jerkinhead roof. Scotchtown was rescued from deterioration in 1958 when it was acquired by the Hanover Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (now Preservation Virginia). The carefully restored Scotchtown property is now a museum.
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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Programs
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
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
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