Running along Ben Venue Road (Route 729) between the late-18th century villages of Gaines Crossroads and Flint Hill, the Ben Venue Rural Historic District in Rappahannock County features farmsteads and residences of historic buildings and supporting structures dating from the mid-18th century through the mid-20th century, including Ben Venue. The district encompasses a rolling landscape of open pastures, forests, and views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ben Venue Road, originally known as Richmond Road, was incorporated into an early regional turnpike for conveying goods from the mountains to markets in Richmond and beyond. The curving, narrow, paved road transects the district and is lined by historic stone walls and wood fences. The Ben Venue Rural Historic District reflects a broad and evolving range of cultural patterns including early settlement, crossroads communities, transportation corridors, and a multitude of supporting small farms and orchard lands.
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