Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/19/1996
NRHP Listing Date 11/04/1996
NRHP Reference Number 96001173
Incorporating some sixteen square miles of farmland in north-central Clarke County, between the West Virginia line and Route 7, the Long Marsh Run Rural Historic District is one of the best-preserved and most scenic agricultural landscapes in the Lower Shenandoah Valley. The district contains several large estates, both 18th-century and antebellum, associated with the county’s early settlers, the Washington family being most prominent among them. In addition to sustaining much of the 19th-century fabric of the county’s gentry agrarian economy, the district also includes three small African American communities as well as many small late 19th-century farms, country churches, and schools, along with several mills and mill sites. While diversification of the local economy in the 20th century meant a shift away from wheat to apple orchards, cattle, and horses, large landholdings have remained the district’s predominant land pattern use.
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: May 11, 2021
