Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
See link(s) below to view additional documentation.
VLR Listing Date 02/15/1977
NRHP Listing Date 05/31/1979
DHR's Virginia Board of Historic Resources easement
This outwardly unassertive house in the hilly countryside of eastern Campbell County is noted for its wealth of elaborate, provincially conceived but deftly executed woodwork. Such decoration is characteristic of the best early houses in the region. Some of the trim, particularly the stair, shows a general debt to designs in contemporary pattern books, but it is interpreted in the very free manner of the more skilled regional craftsmen. The construction date of Blenheim is uncertain, although a sharp increase in tax assessment in 1828 suggests that it was improved in that year for William Jones. The place acquired its present name after its purchase in 1869 by John Devereaux in a fit of admiration for the defeat of Louis XIV of France. The house survives with few changes and remains a monument to the rural craftsman’s art. Behind the house is the remnant of an early formal garden.
In 1994 the original 3-acre register boundary was expended to incorporate the 334 acres that currently make up
Blenheim Farm, and that generally coincide with the boundaries that have defined the plantation since before the Civil War. The entire tract is now under a preservation easement with the DHR’s Board of Historic Resources.
[VLR Listed: 3/10/1994; NRHP Listed: 5/26/1994]
1994 Boundary Increase Nomination
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: August 6, 2021
