Rose Cliff is closely associated with the Tree Streets Historic District in the city of Waynesboro. The house once stood at the center of a profitable apple orchard known as Rose Cliff Fruit Farm that was sold in 1927 and the land subdivided into the Rosecliff subdivision in a section of the early Tree Streets neighborhood, eventually annexed to the city of Waynesboro. A combination of historical and architectural evidence suggests that the house was built circa 1850, and it is now a rare urban representative of the rural Greek Revival style in the Shenandoah Valley. The Rose Cliff property was operated originally as a farm by the Brooks family, but after some contentious land transfers after William Brooks’s death in 1858, it was eventually bought by Benjamin James Craig in 1893. Craig and his wife, Lillian Loth, established one of the earliest commercial fruit farms in the Shenandoah Valley, growing several varieties of apples, including the Albemarle Pippin.
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