Situated on a hill overlooking countryside and the town of Aylett in King William County, Zoar is a 308-acre farmstead with a 1901 single-family dwelling, and five agricultural outbuildings dating to the early 19th century. Zoar was developed as a farmstead first by Robert Pollard and then by his son, a clerk of King William County for 40-plus years. Pollard, who acquired the land in 1782, named it Mount Zoar after the biblical village of Zoar, which was spared destruction by God. Pollard meant to distinguish the property from nearby Aylett, a port town arising during the late 18th century on the Mattaponi River and the stage route from Richmond to Tappahannock. Aylett, which had a racetrack, was well-known for its gambling and drinking until it was burned during the Civil War. Zoar’s Queen Anne–style house, built by Edward Pollard, reflects an upscale and fashionable architecture for the period. In 1987, Zoar was deeded to Virginia’s Department of Forestry as a gift honoring the Pollard family, who had occupied the land for over 200 years. The department has since maintained the property with minimal changes.
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