You'll Want To Go Inside These 10 Virginia Houses For Their Incredible Pasts

There’s no better place to start than the beginning. Bacon’s Castle is the oldest documented brick home in Virginia. Built in 1665, less than 60 years after the first colonists landed, the home originally belonged to Arthur Allen, a wealthy merchant. First called the "Arthur Allen House", the home only later became known as "Bacon’s Castle" when it was taken over by followers of Nathaniel Bacon in 1676 and used as a fortress during Bacon’s Rebellion. What makes this house especially unique is its architecture. It is the only remaining "Jacobean Great House" left in the nation – a distinction recognized by it’s triple stacked chimney, carved compass roses and distinct gables. Preservation Virginia now owns Bacon’s Castle and hosts many special events, including guided weekend tours.

Located on the Northern Neck of Virginia near the Potomac River, historic Stratford Hall was the boyhood home of 2 signers of the Declaration of Independence, a President of Congress, Revolutionary War heroes, diplomats, women’s rights advocates and finally, the leader of the Confederate Army, General Robert E. Lee. Once a thriving plantation, called "a towne in itself" by a Stratford guest, Stratford Hall now offers dining (including some of the best pan-fried chicken and she-crab bisque anywhere) and lodging at the Stratford Hall Inn. Special events are ongoing, as well as daily tours of the great house and self-guided tours of the grounds, gardens and beach that provide a first-hand look at life in early Virginia from Pre-Revolutionary War to Post-Civil War.

What is special about this house is not its size or grandeur, but what it shows about life in the 18th century. It is considered to be the oldest house in Arlington, having been built c. 1742. While many of the homes available for tours in Virginia are stately plantation manors, the Ball-Sellers home give a look into the life of the working class. John Ball, the original owner of the land, built the log structure and attached lean-to for his wife and 5 daughters. Later, the house was owned by George Washington’s tailor, whose later descendants owned and operated a dairy farm at the site. Showing off a rare, original clapboard roof, the Ball-Sellers house is a unique look into "ordinary" life in Virginia at a time when plantations and manor houses were in their heyday. Email info@arlingtonhistoricalsociety.org or call 703-942-9247 to schedule a free tour.

Patrick Henry, most well-known as an American patriot and deliverer of the famous "Give me liberty, or give me death" speech, lived at Scotchtown from 1771-1778 with his wife Sarah and their 6 children. The house was built in 1720, but expanded in 1760 and today, is one of the largest surviving 18th century homes in the nation. Although the Henrys did not live long at Scotchtown, it still holds a fascinating history, particularly with regards to mental illness in the 18th century. Sarah Henry began to show signs of mental illness after the birth of their 6th child. The only mental hospital was in Williamsburg and given the barbaric treatment of mental patients at the time, Henry kept his beloved wife at home, but in the final 2 years of her life, was forced to confine her to the home’s basement, often in a colonial version of today’s straitjacket. After her death in 1775, Sarah was buried in an unmarked grave, because of stigmas surrounding mental illness. Today, visitors to Scotchtown can see the spacious home and beautiful grounds, as well as the rooms where Sarah was kept. Guided tours are available in addition to trails, self-guided cellphone tours, a gift shop and many special events.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing characters of the Civil War, Belle Boyd, also know as the "Siren of the Shenandoah", became a Confederate Spy when she was only 18. After supposedly shooting a soldier who tried to put a Union flag above her home in Martinsburg, West Virginia, she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle at their hotel in Front Royal. She stayed in the small cottage behind the hotel and it was from this vantage point that she reported comings and goings to Stonewall Jackson himself. Said to have been arrested six times, imprisoned three times and reported more than 30 times, she managed to talk her way out of each scrape and went on to have 3 husbands, 5 children and a successful stage career. Her former cottage home behind the Fishback Hotel is one of the oldest buildings in Front Royal and provides an incredible look not only at her life, but at life in Warren County during the Civil War. Visit www.warrenheritagesociety.org for tour information.

Built in 1859 by William T. Sutherlin, Danville’s mayor and a wealthy industrialist, the Sutherlin Mansion was considered to be one of the most elegant and palatial homes of its time. When Richmond fell in 1865, Confederate leaders reassembled in Danville and it was in the Sutherlin Mansion that Jefferson Davis made his final proclamations. The beautifully preserved home now serves as the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History and provides a look into life of the Sutherlin Family, the Civil War and how the home served as the Last Capitol of the Confederacy. Danville also offers a number of other nearby historic homes, including Millionaires Row where visitors can take a self-guided walking tour of some of the grandest examples of Victorian and Edwardian architecture in Virginia.

Ingles Farm, also known as Ingles Ferry, can easily be called one of the most important examples of historic preservation in Virginia. As opposed to grand plantation or urban life depicted by so many well-known historic homes, Ingles Farm shows 18th century pioneer life through the eyes William and Mary Ingles and their descendants. The farm was built in the 1750s after Mary Ingles was captured by Shawnee Indians, escaped and walked 600-miles home. In 1762, The Ingles built a ferry and tavern to carry hundreds of thousands of westward pioneers across the New River. The farm is now run as a working farm with significant efforts made to replicate life as it would have been in the 1700s, including a reconstruction of the Ingle’s original cabin. Tours are limited, so call the Radford Visitor’s Center at (540) 267-3153 or go to www.visitradford.com to schedule a visit to this incredible Virginia historical treasure.

Belle Grove was built in 1797 as the manor home for a grain and livestock plantation run by Major Isaac Hite and his bride, Nelly Madison Hite, sister to would-be President James Madison. At the height of its production, Belle Grove consisted of 7,500 acres and Hite also owned a grist mill, a sawmill, a general store and a distillery. But by 1851, after Hite and his second wife died, the home was sold out of the family and by the start of the Civil War had begun its decline. Thanks to the efforts of 20th century owners who recognized the home’s beauty and historical significance, Belle Grove has been brought back its original glory. Today, Belle Grove is the only remaining "authentic" antebellum plantation in the Shenandoah Valley and serves as an education center and working farm, providing tours, events and innovative interpretive programs.

Built in 1903, The Anne Spencer House is not the oldest on the list, but it carries massive historical significance all the same. Born to former slaves, Anne Spencer was a major player in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and a pivotal civil rights’ activist. She lived in the lovely two story home in Lynchburg’s historical district with her husband, using a small cottage in the back of the house named "Edankraal" as a haven for her writing and political work. With 30 poems published in her lifetime, she was the first Virginian and first African-American to have work submitted into the "Norton Anthology of American Poetry." In addition to her writing, Spencer worked as a librarian at the all-black high school for 20 years, often supplementing the limited book supply with volumes from her own collection. As activists, she and her husband opened their home to other civil rights advocates travelling through, as segregation barred many of them from hotels. Eventually, she helped found the local chapter of the NAACP and hosted such greats as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King, Jr., George Washington Carver and Marian Anderson in her home. The Anne Spencer House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 following her death. Today, her home and gardens are open to the public who can see much of her work, both literary and political, on display.