Monterosa was originally the Warrenton home of William (“Extra Billy”) Smith, two-term governor of Virginia (1846-1849 and 1864-1865). Smith also served in the Virginia Senate, the U. S. House of Representatives, the Confederate House of Representatives, and as a major general in the Confederate Army. Early in his career, Smith ran the longest mail route in the nation and was dubbed “Extra Billy” by a U. S. senator during a congressional investigation. Sharing the site with Smith’s house are three outbuildings: an architecturally stylish Italianate stable built in 1847, a brick smokehouse, and a late-19th-century dwelling known as the Office. James K. Maddux, a later owner and a leader in the Warrenton Hunt, remodeled Smith’s Italianate dwelling in the Colonial Revival taste, adding the portico. Maddux also changed the name of the property to Neptune Lodge. Monterosa is a contributing property within the Warrenton Historic District Boundary Increase 2024.
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