Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/16/2016
NRHP Listing Date 08/15/2016
NRHP Reference Number 16000530
Lexington’s Jordan’s Point Historic District is tied to the story of the city’s industrial and transportation history during the 19th and early-20th centuries. The partnership of John Jordan and John Moorhead acquired the land known as “the Point” in the first decade of the 19th century and built a merchant mill, cotton factory, tilt hammer shop, and numerous other industrial buildings. In 1860 the Point became the terminus of the North River Navigation Company Canal, an extension of the James River and Kanawha Canal. During the Civil War, in 1864 the Union Army burned the Point. After the war, it was reborn and rechristened as the community of Beechenbrook. The Great Road crossed the Point in the 18th century, superseded by a turnpike and a rail line in the 19th century, and traces of these transportation routes are visible today. Important surviving historic buildings and structures are an 1811 Miller’s House; an 1874 Gothic Revival Beechenbrook Chapel; a circa-1860 gauge dock and canal wharf; a stone abutment for a 19th-century covered bridge; and 19th-century industrial building foundations. The Jordan’s Point Historic District period of significance spans from around 1800, about when industrial development at the Point began, until 1930, by which time industrial activity in the district largely ceased.
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: December 7, 2022
