Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 12/09/2021
NRHP Listing Date 04/01/2022
NRHP Reference Number SG100007572
Northern Fauquier County’s Upperville Colt & Horse Show Grounds is home to the oldest horse show in the country, contributing to a tradition of horse culture and history in Virginia, where the animals were essential from the colonial era forward for transportation and their labor-saving utility in the form of horsepower on large farms and plantations. Recreation and sport are part of Virginia’s equestrian culture, rooted in the popularity of horse shows and racing. In Northern Virginia, in the mid-1700s the-recently arrived Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, introduced colonial Virginia’s elite to the sport of fox hunting. A century later, Richard Henry Dulany, an avid equestrian from a prominent Loudoun County family, established the Upperville Colt & Horse Show Grounds in 1853, where Dulany sought to improve the care and breeding of work and sport horses. The facility is located along U.S. 50, near the village of Upperville. The property features well-preserved historical buildings and structures of the late 19th- to mid-20th-century including ca.-1895 grandstand, roughly 180-feet long, facing onto the main show ring. Also on the grounds are a 1950 concession building, smaller warm-up and show rings, and stands for announcers, judges, and cameras. A wooden fence surrounds the 19.5-acre property, which the Dulany family sold in 1963. Currently Upperville Colt & Horse Show, Inc., maintains the property.
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 5, 2022
