Nomination Form
On a wooded hilltop overlooking the city of Staunton’s downtown, this board-and-batten cottage was once the home of the educator Barnas Sears, chosen in 1867 by philanthropist George Peabody to administer the Peabody Educational Fund for the war-devastated South. Sears selected Staunton as his base of operation because of its convenience to transportation lines. He purchased the house erected a year earlier for Dr. Robert Madison, physician for the VMI cadets in the battle of New Market. He subsequently enlarged it with a polygonal tower to contain his library. The Sears House conforms to the “bracketed cottage,” promoted by Andrew Jackson Downing as the most pleasant, economical, and practical dwelling for middle-class Americans. The Sears House was long owned by the city but was acquired and restored in the 1970s by the Historic Staunton Foundation and resold as a private residence.
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
