One of the early landmarks of the town of Front Royal in Warren County, Rose Hill was built as a center-passage single-pile frame farmhouse in 1830 for George C. Blakemore and his wife Elizabeth. A brick ell was added in 1845, after the property was conveyed to Elizabeth Blakemore’s cousin, William Richardson. The house was modernized in a 1937 remodeling, which included the stuccoing of the exterior. The property was caught in the crossfire of the considerable Civil War activity in the area. It served as a Confederate headquarters during the 1862 battle of Front Royal. In 1864 it became a Confederate hospital and was later pillaged by Union troops who destroyed the farm buildings and stole the livestock. Although now in a residential neighborhood, Rose Hill still retains an eight-acre yard, along with its many historical associations.
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