Cliffside, sited on a steep hill overlooking the southern Albemarle County town of Scottsville, is a boldly detailed expression of Piedmont Virginia Federal-style architecture. Profiting from Scottsville’s rise to prosperity in the antebellum period as a canal and turnpike town, Gilly M. Lewis, a local doctor and mill owner, built Cliffside as his residence in 1835. The unusually well-preserved house is distinguished by its large scale, ambitious but somewhat provincial exterior detailing, and robust interior woodwork. As with many of the region’s early-19th-century houses, the crisply white classical trim is set off by red brick walls. Cliffside served as Gen. Philip Sheridan’s headquarters during a Union raid of Scottsville in March 1865, and also as the quarters of Gen. George A. Custer.
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