Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 12/13/2012
NRHP Listing Date 02/05/2013
NRHP Reference Number 12001270
Lansdowne was built around 1755 and acquired in 1772 by James Mercer, a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779. Abutting the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Battlefields National Military Park and consisting of 12 acres, Lansdowne was witness to the Civil War battles of Fredericksburg I and II, and used by Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood in 1863 to host a court martial proceeding. The house underwent expansions in the early 19th century and in the 1950s but retains its original functional and ornamental building materials. The property also contains a circa 1920 board-and-batten barn, a road trace, and many historic landscape elements such as boxwoods and a terraced hillside.
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: October 1, 2021
