A Pride of Place, the result of a quarter-century’s worth of painstaking research and collection, presents the first comprehensive architectural and historic inventory of the widely diverse and irreplaceable rural residences of Fauquier County, Virginia. Hundreds of photographs and illustrations, each accompanied by informative text, provide a fascinating and helpful overview of the county’s rich architectural heritage.
First explored by colonists in 1607, the territory that was to become Henrico County was the site of the second English settlement in the colony of Virginia. Settled in 1611, Henrico was named for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales. Henrico was the site of the first college and the first iron works in the New World and is one of the original shires, or counties, in Virginia. Extending along the James River from its junction with the Appomattox River to the Blue Ridge Mountains, Henrico was eventually subdivided into nine-and-a-half counties and three independent cities. During 1861 to 1865, 18 major battles and numerous heavy engagements were fought on Henrico soil. From the end of the Civil War until World War II, agriculture was the backbone of the county's economy. After the war, the county experienced a surge in population that resulted in the growth of service industries. Today it is a vibrant urban county.
Headlines declare after each new hint of evidence that the Lost Colony--the English colonists left on Roanoke Island in 1587, including Virginia Dare--has been found. None of these claims pass muster as the historical, archaeological, and literary evidence presented here demonstrate. This book analayzes several hypotheses and demonstrates why none have been shown to be more probable than any of the others. To understand how the 1587 colonists became The Lost Colony, the authors recount the history of the English expeditions in the 1580s and the original searches for the colonists from 1590 until the 1620s. The archaeological evidence gathered from the 19th through the 21st centuries is presented. The book then examines how the disappearance of the colonists has been portrayed in pseudoscience, fiction, and popular culture from the beginnings until the present day. In the end, readers will have all the data they need to judge new claims concerning the fate of The Lost Colony.
Old Dominion's built environment has grown and changed extensively since its beginnings and the Buildings of Virginia reflects those changes. The book chronicles Williamsburg, a restored eighteenth-century town with the Governor's Palace and the Christopher Wren building. And journeys farther west to Richmond, the state capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson. It then captures the many historical sites including the birthplaces of George Washington and Robert E. Lee in Westmoreland County. Along with this, the chapters delve into the agricultural history of the state, the expansion of the railroad, and construction of deepwater facilities. And, finally, to the times during and after World War II when manufacturing, military activities, and the growth of the federal establishment accelerated the trends toward industrialization and urbanization. Virginia's influences are truly far reaching--virtually every American city shares some of its architectural style. Approximately 800 buildings and 450 photographs and maps are included in this volume's discussion, truly exhibiting the range of architecture that make up this region. Written by the voice behind A&E's America's Castles, this book is an ideal source for research in architectural history and sociology. Travelers and general readers can also utilize the book as a companion to the many fascinating sites throughout eastern Virginia.
A critical biography of the best known and least accurately understood Civil War general, including the legends perpetrated by his widow, LaSalle Corbell Pickett.
Literally hundreds of Virginia buildings of architectural or historical interest have vanished. Most were demolished or burned, while others were abandoned as populations and needs shifted. The consequence is that important models of architectural accomplishment and key symbols of human aspiration and achievement have disappeared and are largely forgotten. Lost Virginia is an effort to document and reconstruct the appearance of Virginia architecture in earlier times, when the nation's destiny and history were intimately tied to the Old Dominion's landscape and buildings. It seeks to recover, at least on paper, an impression of our lost architectural heritage. Organized into categories of domestic, civic, religious, and commercial buildings, the more than three hundred vanished structures illustrated within include slave pens in Alexandria, George Washington's singular sixteen-sided barn, a one-room schoolhouse in Greene County, and the 18th-century Valley homes--long mistaken for forts--of German-speaking settlers. Soldiers in both blue and gray tramped by the now-lost Rockingham County courthouse, and a cathedral-like federal post office in Roanoke joins Rockbridge County's fantastic Alleghany Hotel on the list of exceptional but short-lived buildings. Also documented are creations like Frank Lloyd Wright's Larkin Company Pavilion, destroyed just months after it had been erected for the Jamestown Tercentennial Exhibition, and the Thomas Jefferson-designed Barboursville in Orange County. --jacket.
