List of the oldest buildings in Virginia

See also: List of the oldest buildings in the United States

This article attempts to list the oldest extant buildings in the state of Virginia.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

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Building  | Image  | Location  | First built  | Notes

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Jamestown Church |  | Jamestown, Virginia | finished by 1647  | church tower and foundations are all that remain from the earliest period 1639–1647.[1]
Belleville  |  | Ware Neck, Virginia | 1658 c.  | Located on Belleville Lane. It seems little research has been conducted on this historic plantation. Some traditional sources,[2] as well as the Virginia Department of Historic Resources ascribe a date of 1658.
Broad Bay Manor |  | Virginia Beach | 1640 c. or 1660 c.  | Purportedly the oldest extant European-built house in the southeastern United States. Built by Thomas Allen either c.1640[3] or c. 1660 [4] on land granted to him by Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr. The small center portion of what is now a much larger structure, it was primarily constructed from Flemish bond brick. Corroborative dating efforts have not been performed. It has always been a private residence. It is located in the Broad Bay Colony part of northeastern Virginia Beach.[5]
Bacon's Castle |  | Surry County, Virginia | 1665  | associated with Bacon's Rebellion
Warwick  |  | Accomack County, Virginia | 1673  |
St. Mary's, Whitechapel |  | Lancaster, Virginia | 1675  |
Lowland Cottage |  | Ware Neck, Virginia | 1676  |
Winona |  | Bridgetown, Virginia | 1681  | The only known 17th-century house in the country, other than Bacon's Castle in Surry County, to have diagonally-placed triple-chimney stacks.
St. Luke's Church |  | Smithfield, Virginia | ca. 1682  | a recent dendrochronology study confirms the preponderance of other research pointing to early 1680s construction.
Ravenswood  |  | Accomac, Virginia | 1683  | Also known as the Custis-Valentine house. Very little information regarding this building exists, however it is reportedly very old. Date of construction is derived from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
Foster's Castle |  | Tunstall, Virginia | 1685–1690  |
Building east of main house at Elsing Green |  | Tunstall, Virginia | 1690  |
Pinewoods (Lightfoot, Virginia) |  | Lightfoot, Virginia | ca. 1690s  |
Criss Cross |  | New Kent, Virginia | 1690  | Restored in 1953, similar to Foster's Castle nearby.
Nelson-Galt House  |  | Williamsburg, Virginia | 1695  | Dendrochronology provided a date that preceded tradition. Chances are the structure was moved about ten years after its initial construction to the new city of Williamsburg.
Grace Church |  | Yorktown, Virginia | 1697  |
The Hermitage |  | Virginia Beach, Virginia | 1700  |
Belle Air Plantation |  | Charles City County, Virginia | ca. 1700  |
John Weblin House |  | Virginia Beach | 1700  |
Westerhouse House |  | Northampton County, Virginia | ca. 1700  |
Wren Building |  | Williamsburg, Virginia | 1700  | Oldest school building in America, original College of William and Mary structure[6]
St. Peter's Church |  | New Kent, Virginia | 1703  | Church of Martha Washington, George and Martha Washington may have been married here
Yeocomico Church |  | Tucker Hill, Virginia | 1706  | National Historic Landmark
Bruton Parish Church |  | Williamsburg, Virginia | 1715  | Church established in 1674, current structure completed in 1715
Peyton Randolph House |  | Williamsburg, Virginia | 1715  | Oldest portions dated to 1715, current structure includes later additions and reconstructions. Colonial National Parkway passes below it.
Ware Parish Church |  | Gloucester Courthouse, Virginia | 1718  | Episcopal Church. Previously thought to have been constructed in 1690, mortar samples give a date of 1718 [7]
Brush-Everard House |  | Williamsburg, Virginia | 1718  |
Adam Thoroughgood House |  | Virginia Beach, Virginia | ca. 1719  | despite earlier claims, actually dates to c. 1719[8]
Brafferton (building) |  | Williamsburg, Virginia | 1723  | Opened in 1723 as the Indian school for the College of William & Mary, restored in 1930–31, now serving as the president and provost office
Abingdon Glebe House |  | Gloucester, Virginia | Before 1724[9] |
Lynnhaven House |  | Virginia Beach, Virginia | 1725 [10] |
Rural Plains |  | Hanover County, Virginia | ca. 1725  | Oldest home in America continuously occupied by one family; site of Patrick Henry's wedding
Berkeley Plantation |  | Charles City County, Virginia | 1726  | Plantation established in 1619.
Matthew Jones House |  | Newport News, Virginia | 1727  |
Willowdale |  | Painter, Virginia | 1728[11] | On the Eastern Shore of Virginia
Indian Banks |  | Simonson, Virginia | 1728  |
Margots |  | Tettington | ca. 1700–1729  |
Seven Springs Plantation |  | Enfield, Virginia | ca. 1725–1740  |
Mason House |  | Accomack County, Virginia | ca. 1729-1730  | Date verified with dendrochronology
Wales |  | Dinwiddie, Virginia | ca. 1730  | The original circa 1730 hall/parlor dwelling was expanded in 1752. Built for Howell Briggs (militia captain, magistrate, and vestryman)
President's House |  | Williamsburg, Virginia | 1733  | Part of the Wren Yard architectures, along with Wren and Brafferton Buildings, now the residence of the president of the College of William & Mary
Tuckahoe Plantation |  | Goochland | 1733  | Tuckahoe's original section was built in 1733. Around 1740 it was expanded to the H shape it has today.
Adam Keeling House |  | Virginia Beach, Virginia | 1735  |
Toddsbury |  | Gloucester County, Virginia | 1735  | Tradition has suggested the home was built about 1670, however, recent excavations have yielded a mid-1700s construction date.
New Kent Ordinary  |  | New Kent, Virginia | 1736  |
Blandford Church |  | Petersburg, Virginia | 1736  | Includes original Tiffany windows representing each southern state of the confederacy.
Shirley Plantation |  | Charles City County, Virginia | 1738  | Construction started in 1723. Plantation dates to 1614. Oldest family-owned business in North America
St. George's Church (Pungoteague, Virginia) |  | Pungoteague, Virginia | 1738  | Oldest church on Virginia's eastern shore
Old Stone House (Richmond, Virginia) |  | Richmond, Virginia | 1740  | Home of Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Lansdowne |  | Urbanna, Virginia | c. 1740  |
Bel Air Plantation |  | Prince William County, Virginia | 1740  | Oldest home in Prince William County, Virginia
Old Mansion |  | Caroline County, Virginia | ca. 1741  | Tree ring analysis of some beams yielded a date of 1741
Merchant's Hope Church |  | Prince George County, Virginia | ca. 1743  | Despite earlier claims of 1657, a recent dendrochronological survey affirmed a date of 1743.
St. John's Episcopal Church |  | Richmond, Virginia | 1744  |
Middlesex County Courthouse |  | Urbanna, Virginia | 1745  |
Mayfield  |  | Dinwiddie | 1750  | Moved from its original location a mile or so away, this is the oldest brick home in Dinwiddie county.
Aquia Church |  | Stafford, Virginia | ca. 1750  | Mid-18th-century church
Wormeley Cottage |  | Urbanna, Virginia | ca. 1750  |
Pear Valley |  | Eastville, Virginia | ca. 1750  |
Mansfield  |  | Dinwiddie, Virginia | ca. 1750  | Elizabeth Keckley (Mary Todd Lincoln's seamstress) was enslaved here for four years.
Hewick Plantation  |  | Urbanna, Virginia | Mid-18th Century[12] |
Wilton |  | Richmond, Virginia | 1753  |
Fort Bowman |  | Fredrick County, Virginia | 1753  | Home of George Bowman, american pioneer
Mount Vernon |  | Fairfax County, Virginia | 1758  | Home of George Washington
Sandwich |  | Urbanna, Virginia | 1758  |
Hunting Quarter |  | Sussex, Virginia | 1745–1772  | Home of Captain Henry Harrison, son of Benjamin Harrison IV of Berkeley.
James Mills Storehouse |  | Urbanna, Virginia | 1763–1767  |
Lower Brandon Plantation |  | Prince George, Virginia | 1765  | Possibly the longest running agricultural operation in the United States, having been farmed since the early 1600s.
Sessions-Pope-Sheild House |  | Yorktown, Virginia | ca. 1766  | Recent Research suggests a date of around 1766, previously thought to have been built around 1691.
Eppington |  | Chesterfield, Virginia | ca. 1768  | Built by Thomas Jefferson's wife's brother in law and first cousin, Frances Eppes. Jefferson's daughters came to Eppington to live while he was Minister to France. Lucy Elizabeth died at and is buried here.
Battersea |  | Petersburg, Virginia | 1768  | Built for Colonel Jonn Banister, signer of the Articles of Confederation
The Falls Church |  | Falls Church, Virginia | 1769  | The oldest house of worship in Virginia north of Quantico, completed by undertaker James Wren and received as finished by the vestry on December 20, 1769. Wren's plan was also used (with modifications) for Christ Church in Alexandria and Pohick Church in Lorton.
Morven Park |  | Leesburg, Virginia | ca. 1780  | The home of Virginia Governor Westmoreland Davis. The earliest parts of the structure date from circa 1780 and was substantially expanded in the decades that followed. It is a Virginia Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Marmion |  | Comorn, Virginia | ca. 1790  | Reputedly contains the remains of a much older cottage built by colonel William Fitzhugh in about 1670.[13]

## See also[edit]

* List of the oldest buildings in the United States
* List of National Historic Landmarks in Virginia
* List of Registered Historic Places in Virginia
* List of historic houses in Virginia

## References[edit]

1. ^ Historic Churches of America – Page 8, by Nellie Urner Wallington (1907)
2. ^ "Belleville HABS VA No. 994" (PDF). Historic American Buildings Survey. US National Park Service. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
3. ^ Dr. Stephen Mansfield; et al., eds. (2008). "50 Most Significantly Historic Houses and Structures in Virginia Beach" (PDF). Virginia Beach Historical Preservation Partnership, City of Virginia Beach Historic Resources Office. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
4. ^ "Virginia Beach Public Library's Digital Archives". Retrieved April 14, 2015.
5. ^ "Old Donation Church Old Homes". blog. Retrieved June 25, 2014.
6. ^ Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America – Page 697 by James D. Kornwolf, Georgiana Wallis Kornwolf (2002)
7. ^ "Parish History". www.warechurch.org. Archived from the original on December 29, 2014.
8. ^ "Thoroughgood, Adam, House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2008.
9. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form" (PDF). September 15, 1970. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
10. ^ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory". Retrieved January 10, 2020.
11. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form" (PDF). 2007. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
12. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources – Hewick. July 18, 1978. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
13. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form" (PDF). February 26, 1970. Retrieved April 25, 2019.

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