Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/16/1981
NRHP Listing Date 07/08/1972
NRHP Reference Number 82004542
The murals in the 1884 A.J. Miller House (Miller-Hemp House) are the region’s most extensive and best-preserved demonstration of the craft of a 19th-century rural itinerant painter. The wide variety of decoration shows the creativity and broad repertoire of local Augusta County artist Green Berry Jones, who signed and dated his work June 17, 1892. Large, brightly painted landscape and hunting scenes along with vignettes containing popular figures such as Buffalo Bill, line the central hallway. Wood-grained doors and marbleized mantels with stenciled designs highlight the second-floor rooms. An amusing feature is the labeling of each room above its hall doorway. Although several other examples of Jones’s artistry remain in the county, none equals the A.J. Miller House. Like much of the Shenandoah Valley interior painting, Jones’s work is a contrast to a very plain exterior.
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
Updated: September 7, 2022
