History all Around Us

In this section of the exhibit, visitors use an interactive computer program to locate significant historic resources in counties and cities around the state--from houses, commercial buildings, and churches to train stations, bridges, battlefields, and archaeological sites. Taken together, the resources help define communities and regions and cover a wide range of types, time periods, and social, economic, industrial, and cultural themes.

Three sites are featured for each county and city in the state. How many sites would you recognize? Do you know the three listed below?

Tidewater Virginia: The Cape Henry Lighthouse, commanding the entrance to Hampton Roads, stands near the site of the first landing of English settlers in 1607. It witnessed the movement of military forces in every major conflict since that time.

Central Virginia: The Old Dinwiddie County Courthouse was built in the 1850s. The present portico was added in the 20th century. On March 31, 1865, Southern forces at the courthouse temporarily checked Major General Philip H. Sheridan's drive on Petersburg. Court facilities moved to a new building in 1998.

Western Virginia: Chimney Rock Farm, also known as the Willows, is a strikingly sophisticated example of the three-part Palladian-type house in southwest Virginia. On the west fork of Plum Creek, in the the shadow of a wooded mountain range in Tazewell County, the house was built about 1843 for Major Henry George, a lawyer and farmer who served as a delegate to the General Assembly during the Civil War.

 

History in Our House        History All Around Us

History Under Water      History Under Ground

History in the Lab               Education Main Page
 

Cape Henry Lighthouse, Hampton Roads





Dinwiddie County Courthouse, Dinwiddie County







Chimney Rock Farm, Tazewell County