A Norfolk & Western steam locomotive, a schoolhouse in Carroll County and a family restaurant in Chatham are among nine new additions to the Virginia Landmarks Register.
The Board of Historic Resources recently approved these additions to the register, which is the state’s official list of places of historic, architectural, archaeological and cultural significance.
According to a news release from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, details of these projects will be forwarded to the National Park Service for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.
Here are the new additions to the register, with information provided by the Department of Historic Resources:
- Little Valley School in the Carroll County community of Meadows of Dan served white students from local farming families during the Great Depression and post-World War II period until it closed in 1953. The frame schoolhouse, which was built in 1929 using designs borrowed from Samuel Smith’s “Community School Plans,” was a rare instance of a school built for white children during segregation in Virginia’s public schools.
- The Hunton Branch YMCA in Lynchburg is the only example of a YMCA built specifically for the city’s Black residents and one of the few remaining buildings that provided recreational space for the Black community. The building was designed by local architect Pendleton Clark and has remained an active recreational center since its opening in 1956.
- Built in Roanoke, the coal-burning Norfolk & Western Class “A” No. 1218 locomotive exemplifies the last great advance of steam locomotive technology in the 20th century. From 1943-1959, the 1218 routinely pulled 150 cars loaded with coal and freight trains at an average speed of 70 mph and was used to transport troops and equipment during World War II. The 1218 is displayed at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.
- Gilbert’s Restaurant in Chatham was built circa 1945 by the Rev. Robert Gregory Gilbert as a gas station, store, tourist home and café for Black patrons during Jim Crow segregation. Gilbert’s son Bob and his wife, Sandra, bought the business in 1971 and ran it primarily as a restaurant until 1999. Throughout its years of operation, the building served as a haven for the local Black community and Black travelers.
- The frame house known as Sublett’s Tavern was established in Powhatan County in 1813 as both a home for its owner and founder, William Sublett, and as a commercial enterprise offering food and drink to locals as well as a place to stay for travelers headed to Richmond.
- From the 1930s through the World War II era, Norfolk experienced rapid population growth that contributed to a housing shortage affecting both servicemembers and civilians. Between 1942 and 1949, homes in the form of garden apartment complexes were built to alleviate the housing shortage. Several of the complexes, including the Talbot Park Apartments, were funded with assistance from the Federal Housing Administration.
- Located on the south bank of the Rappahannock River in Middlesex County, the Christchurch School opened in 1921 as one of five schools under the Church Schools in the Diocese of Virginia, an Episcopalian organization founded to provide a system of secondary education during a period of rapid population growth and social change in Virginia.
- The 37th Street Cottages Historic District in Virginia Beach is composed of three beach cottages constructed between 1913 and 1928 and their four secondary dwellings and sheds. The cottages were originally built as vacation homes or rentals. During World War II, they were subdivided into apartments and a secondary dwelling or duplex was added to each of the buildings to help address housing shortages created by increased military presence in the city. After the war, the owners rented out the properties to tenants.
- Fall Hill Avenue Historic District represents Fredericksburg’s growth and vitality during the post-World War II era and highlights a unique focal point of Modern architecture in the city. The district centers around the former Mary Washington Hospital — the city’s only hospital, starting from its construction in 1949-1951 until 1993 — and also encompasses the Medical Arts Building and Dr. Walter H. Johnson’s office, both built circa 1958.