The Bryan McDonald, Jr., House, in Botetourt County, constructed in 1766, is associated with one of the early families to establish a home in Botetourt County, where many settlers were of Scottish descent. At the time of its listing the McDonald House was one of only two 18th-century stone houses recorded in Botetourt County (the other one, Mulberry Bottom, was built circa 1786). The house is also the oldest known extant building in a 27-county western region of the Commonwealth that extends from Rockbridge County in the Shenandoah Valley to Lee County, on Virginia’s western tip. The Bryan McDonald, Jr., House is unique as well for incorporating coursed sandstone blocks into its front façade instead of limestone, which is used in other portions of the house, and commonly used for stone construction throughout the region. The house also features an 1840 brick addition.
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