The Bristersburg Historic District contains an unusually well-preserved enclave of institutional buildings with a handful of dwellings, most dating from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. The village’s site at an intersection of two primary roadways dictated its location and earned its selection for a post office. The north-south road at the intersection, now State Route 616, was known as the Carolina Road, an important travel route linking Pennsylvania and North Carolina running through Virginia’s Piedmont in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Carolina Road was the most important transportation route through Fauquier County prior to the construction of the Virginia and Midland Railroad (later the Southern Railway) that crossed the southern half of the county. Bristersburg continued to offer retail services until the middle years of the 20th century. Its association with the Civil War includes the use of Zoar Baptist Church as both a stable and hospital during hostilities. A school built in 1910 on the site of an earlier school continued operations until the late 1960s.