Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/20/1989
NRHP Listing Date 02/01/1991
NRHP Reference Number 90002166
The Joseph McDonald farmstead preserves Montgomery County’s finest collection of early vernacular outbuildings. The dwelling, one of the county’s oldest hall-parlor log houses, is a residence type favored by the region’s earliest settlers. It was built ca. 1800 by Joseph McDonald on property purchased by him in 1763. McDonald was an enterprising individual who, in addition to farming, operated a powder mill, gristmills, a tannery, and a blacksmith shop. Joseph McDonald was also a religious man and held camp meetings here. Although expanded and changed by generations of McDonalds, the house’s log core is intact. The complex includes a log kitchen, a log springhouse, a log corncrib, and a frame barn. At the time of listing in the National Register in the early 1990s, the house had been rehabilitated and the farmstead, also known as Green Hill, was still owned by the McDonald family.
The Joseph McDonald Farm was listed in the registers under the Prehistoric and Historic Resources of Montgomery County MPD.
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: March 28, 2021
