The compact Classical Revival plantation residence of Folly, set off by its outbuildings, old-fashioned gardens, and rural setting, is the center of an ensemble uniquely Virginian. The house was begun in Augusta County in 1818 for Joseph Smith, a planter who served in the House of Delegates and was a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850-51. Although the one-story, porticoed format echoes Thomas Jefferson’s designs, no documentation suggests that Jefferson was directly involved. Smith, however, likely would have been acquainted with Jefferson’s works and could have been inspired to imitation. The house survives unchanged except for the removal of one of its three porticoes for a west wing. Folly’s serpentine garden wall in Augusta County is the state’s only early 19th-century example of this unusual form. Its prototype, Jefferson’s walls at the University of Virginia, have been rebuilt. Folly remains in the ownership of Smith’s descendants.
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