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Greenway Court, Virginia

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Historic house in Virginia, United States

United States historic place
Greenway Court
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Virginia Landmarks Register
Early-19th-century engraving
of the main house at Greenway Court
Greenway Court, Virginia is located in Northern VirginiaGreenway Court, VirginiaShow map of Northern VirginiaGreenway Court, Virginia is located in VirginiaGreenway Court, VirginiaShow map of VirginiaGreenway Court, Virginia is located in the United StatesGreenway Court, VirginiaShow map of the United States
Location1 mi. S of White Post on VA 658, White Post, Virginia
Coordinates39°2′46″N 78°7′9″W / 39.04611°N 78.11917°W / 39.04611; -78.11917
Area5 acres (2.0 ha)
Built1748
NRHP reference No.66000829
VLR No.021-0028
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966
Designated NHLOctober 9, 1960
Designated VLRSeptember 9, 1969

Greenway Court is a historic country estate near White Post in rural Clarke County, Virginia. The property is the site of the seat of the vast 18th-century land empire of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693–1781), the only ennobled British colonial proprietor to live in one of the North American colonies. The surviving remnants of his complex — a later replacement brick house and Fairfax's stone land office — were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.

Description

Greenway Court is located down a long private drive on the west side of White Post Road, south of the village of White Post. The property now consists of about 5 acres (2.0 ha), although it was in the 18th century at the center of landholdings over 5 million acres (20,000 km). Its principal feature is a brick farmhouse built in 1828, the original plantation house having been demolished c. 1834. The main historic structure surviving from the period of the Fairfax residency is the Land Office, a c. 1762 single-story gable-roofed limestone structure, and a timber smokehouse dating to the 18th century.

History

The Greenway Court Estate Office

Greenway Court was the center of the "Northern Neck Proprietary" or "Fairfax Grant", which passed to Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron from his mother's family, the Culpepers, who had taken proprietorship of the land in 1673. Fairfax laid out the Greenway Court estate in 1747, intending it to be a much larger establishment than it became. The main house was a 1+1⁄2-story timber structure with long sloping roofs and corbelled brick chimneys. It was originally intended to house the land steward, but Fairfax occupied it with his nephew, Thomas Bryan Martin, until he died in 1781. Fairfax employed a young George Washington on his extensive land holdings as a surveyor.

Abandoned, the roof of the main house at Greenway Court collapsed in 1834, after which the structure was pulled down.

A visit to this estate is the subject of "A Night at Greenway Court," an 1896 short story by Willa Cather.

Unincorporated community

Greenway Court is used as a name to describe the unincorporated community in which the former estate is located.

See also

References

  1. "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  3. ^ "Greenway Court". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on December 31, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2008.
  4. ^ Stephen Lissandrello (March 15, 1975), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Greenway Court (pdf), National Park Service
  5. "Greenway Court, Virginia". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.

External links

Municipalities and communities of Clarke County, Virginia, United States
County seat: Berryville
Towns
Map of Virginia highlighting Clarke County
CDPs
Unincorporated
communities
Footnotes‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties
Fairfax family
First generation
Second generation
Third generation
Fourth generation
Fifth generation
Sixth generation
Seventh generation
Ninth generation
Tenth generation
Eleventh generation
Twelfth generation
Fairfax family residences
Ash Grove
Belvoir
Charlecote Park
Denton Hall
Gilling Castle
Greenway Court
Lee-Longsworth House
Leeds Castle
Leesylvania
Mount Eagle
Nunappleton
Oak Hill
Towlston Grange
Vaucluse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
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