Named for a high rock bluff nearby, Rock Castle in Goochland County was patented in 1718 by Charles Fleming. This small but sophisticated manor house on the James River was erected in the third decade of the 18th century for the patentee’s son Tarleton Fleming. Rock Castle was raided in 1781 by the Fleming family’s distant British cousin, Col. Banastre Tarleton, who was attempting to capture Governor Thomas Jefferson and members of the Virginia General Assembly, then meeting in Albemarle County. Later encased in Victorian additions, the house was restored to its original appearance in 1935 when it was moved a few hundred feet to make way for a new house on its site. Even in its new location, Rock Castle is one of the purest examples of traditional 18th-century Virginia architecture in the Piedmont. The first floor of Rock Castle is fully paneled and has a fine Georgian stair.
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