Nomination Form
Riverlawn, located near Williams Wharf in Mathews County on a scenic lot overlooking the East River, was designed and built by Heron Murray in 1874, and has served alternately as a vacation home and full-time private family residence since. Riverlawn functioned most notably as the home of Mathews County treasurer and commissioner, John J. Burke III, who resided there with his wife from 1917 to 1931. While Burke lived there, he was active in local and regional finance and politics, served as director of the Bank of Mathews and was the publisher of the Mathews Journal. Riverlawn is a noteworthy example of Victorian-era architecture in Mathews County; the late-19th-century exterior and interior design and details of the house remained unchanged until 1929 when J.J. Burke made the only substantial alterations.
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
Nomination Form
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
