Surviving at Locust Grove, a plantation owned by the Walker family since 1665, are the remains of Fort Mattapony, a small military complex built by the Virginia government in 1679. The archaeological site of a wooden storehouse was identified during a 1981 survey by the Department of Historic Resources. It was within this area that a brass cannon fragment was discovered in the 1930s and subsequently established by the National Park Service to date from between 1650 and 1750. The fort was constructed and manned not only for protection against Indian incursion but perhaps as a reaction to Bacon’s Rebellion. It was one of four such forts ordered for the headwaters of the colony’s four major rivers. Fort Mattapony was abandoned in 1682. Nearby is the late 17th-century site of Ryefield, the home of Col. Thomas Walker.
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