008-0029

Fort Lewis

VLR Listing Date

12/13/2018

NRHP Listing Date

04/04/2019

NRHP Reference Number

SG100003602

Fort Lewis is a scenic Bath County property with a history reaching back to colonial times. Established on the Cowpasture River by the Lewis family in the 1740s, the property was the site of a frontier fort during the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War). The fort is gone, but the antebellum Fort Lewis house survives, a two-story brick residence detailed in the Greek Revival style. Near the house stand a large timber-frame corncrib and other farm buildings, and near the river is a timber-frame gristmill that doubled as a polling place in the late 19th century. The mill has been repurposed as a restaurant serving the modern resort, Fort Lewis Lodge, which added a lodge and guest cabins to the property. A remnant of a log crib dam in the river, the ruins of a stone lime kiln or kilns in a mountain hollow, and a tenant house are other historic resources on the 1,800-acre property. Collectively, the quality and diversity of Fort Lewis’s architectural assemblage ranges from high-style antebellum domestic architecture to 19th– and 20th-century agricultural and industrial construction. The earliest likely date of construction for the surviving Fort Lewis historic resources is around 1840.

Last Updated: November 16, 2023

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

For additional information Read

Nomination Form

008-5036

Reveille

Bath (County)

008-5076

T.C. Walker School

Bath (County)

008-0011

The Wilderness

Bath (County)