Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 12/13/2018
NRHP Listing Date 04/04/2019
NRHP Reference Number SG100003602
Fort Lewis is a scenic Bath County property with a history reaching back to colonial times. Established on the Cowpasture River by the Lewis family in the 1740s, the property was the site of a frontier fort during the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War). The fort is gone, but the antebellum Fort Lewis house survives, a two-story brick residence detailed in the Greek Revival style. Near the house stand a large timber-frame corncrib and other farm buildings, and near the river is a timber-frame gristmill that doubled as a polling place in the late 19th century. The mill has been repurposed as a restaurant serving the modern resort, Fort Lewis Lodge, which added a lodge and guest cabins to the property. A remnant of a log crib dam in the river, the ruins of a stone lime kiln or kilns in a mountain hollow, and a tenant house are other historic resources on the 1,800-acre property. Collectively, the quality and diversity of Fort Lewis’s architectural assemblage ranges from high-style antebellum domestic architecture to 19th– and 20th-century agricultural and industrial construction. The earliest likely date of construction for the surviving Fort Lewis historic resources is around 1840.
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: April 4, 2023
