Lexington’s Jordan’s Point Historic District is tied to the story of the city’s industrial and transportation history during the 19th and early-20th centuries. The partnership of John Jordan and John Moorhead acquired the land known as “the Point” in the first decade of the 19th century and built a merchant mill, cotton factory, tilt hammer shop, and numerous other industrial buildings. In 1860 the Point became the terminus of the North River Navigation Company Canal, an extension of the James River and Kanawha Canal. During the Civil War, in 1864 the Union Army burned the Point. After the war, it was reborn and rechristened as the community of Beechenbrook. The Great Road crossed the Point in the 18th century, superseded by a turnpike and a rail line in the 19th century, and traces of these transportation routes are visible today. Important surviving historic buildings and structures are an 1811 Miller’s House; an 1874 Gothic Revival Beechenbrook Chapel; a circa-1860 gauge dock and canal wharf; a stone abutment for a 19th-century covered bridge; and 19th-century industrial building foundations. The Jordan’s Point Historic District period of significance spans from around 1800, about when industrial development at the Point began, until 1930, by which time industrial activity in the district largely ceased.
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