Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
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VLR Listing Date 11/30/1970
NRHP Listing Date 09/22/1971
NHL Listing Date 12/22/1977
NRHP Reference Number 71000987
Richard Joshua Reynolds (1850-1918), who founded the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1875, was born one of sixteen children at this Patrick County homestead. The plain Greek Revival house was begun in 1843 for Reynolds’s father, Hardin William Reynolds, and was later enlarged. The house is typical of the dwellings erected for the area’s mid-level antebellum gentry. R. J. Reynolds is regarded as the father of the modern tobacco industry. The industry helped bring about the economic rehabilitation of the South after the Civil War. Originally called Rock Spring, the 700-acre plantation is now maintained as a continuing education and research center by Virginia Tech. The house and the outbuildings at the Reynolds Homestead have been restored for exhibition.
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 3, 2021
