Abingdon is the best-preserved of the numerous linear communities that developed in the late 18th century along the Great Valley Road. This Washington County town is unusual for its large quantity of brick Federal and antebellum buildings, which served to give the community an air of permanence and prosperity. Abingdon was founded in 1778 and flourished almost immediately. Secretary of the Treasury John Campbell, Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston, and three Virginia governors, Wyndham Robinson, David Campbell, and John Buchanan Floyd, all lived in Abingdon. Gen. Francis Preston built one of the largest houses in Virginia here in the 1830s; it later was converted to Martha Washington College and is now the Martha Washington Inn. Another architectural highlight of the Abingdon Historic District is the imposing 1868 Washington County Courthouse. In recent times Abingdon has been the home of the Barter Theatre, a nationally prominent repertory theater founded in 1933 by Robert Porterfield. A 1986 extension to the Abingdon Historic District possesses few modern intrusions, totaling 29 noncontributing buildings and two noncontributing structures.
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