Pembroke is a fine example of formal Georgian architecture built in Princess Anne County (now the city of Virginia Beach) in 1764 for Capt. Jonathan Saunders and his wife, Elizabeth Thoroughgood Saunders. During the Revolutionary War, the state confiscated the Pembroke property from Saunders’s son, John, because he remained an avowed loyalist. Pembroke is related architecturally to such formal mid-18th-century mansions as Carter’s Grove, Wilton, Elsing Green, and especially the George Wythe House, which Pembroke closely resembles. It was long overlooked by architectural scholars because the exterior for years was hidden by surrounding two-story galleries. Despite some later interior alterations, colonial-era wainscoting, window cases, and door frames remain. The house was given to the Princess Anne Historical Society when the farmland was developed in the 1960s. Since sold, Pembroke was restored and went on to serve as a private elementary school.
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