Consisting of six acres, located near the village of Manakin in eastern Goochland County, Oak Grove is a well-maintained example of an antebellum planter’s dwelling that once included a 240-acre plantation. Constructed in three phases—circa 1820 and 1850, and completed in 1866—Oak Grove is a simple I-house form with Greek and Gothic Revival elements. The property also includes a well-preserved complex of historic buildings featuring a circa-1820 meat house, a circular well, the stone foundations of at least two other antebellum dependencies, and a circa-1935 barn. Oak Grove is notable for its association with Edwin DuVal, a successful farmer and developer of commerce and industry in the Manakin-Sabot area during the second half of the 19th century. A prosperous businessman, DuVal had a hand in various enterprises including the Dover Coal Mining Company, the Dover Pits, the Norwood mines, the Dover Mills, the Manakin Ferry, and the Manakin Nail Works. Oak Grove and its surroundings have changed little since the period of DuVal’s ownership.
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