The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) will host a meeting Thursday to discuss a proposed historic district which encompasses portions of Culpeper, Madison and Orange counties.
First introduced in 2020, the proposed Rapidan River – Clark Mountain Rural Historic District encompasses nearly 40,000 acres of historic landscape that is known for its high concentration of historic resources dating from the prehistoric period through the 1930s. According to the PEC, the proposed district includes a variety of historic sites including Meander, Greenway, Brampton, the Hopewell Baptist Church, the Rapidan Train Depot and Taylor Sylvania Barn as well as remnants of the Civil War era Rapidan Line and sites associated with early Native American groups.
A historic district is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places and is only an honorary designation, but has several benefits. According to the PEC, landowners of properties within a historic district can use historic preservation as a qualifying purpose under IRS regulations when taking a charitable deduction for a conservation easement. The process also educates residents and landowners about the history of their properties and the SCC is required by Virginia Code to minimize impacts to historic districts when siting transmission lines.
Establishing a historic district is a multi-step process. Using grant and private funding, the PEC hired a consultant to complete a preliminary information form for the proposed district. The form will be guided through the evaluation process with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources which requires a full nomination. Properties within the area have to be surveyed to ensure an accurate depiction of all the resources that exist there. The PEC hired the Fairfield Foundation of Gloucester to complete the survey and nomination work. Don McCown, PEC Land Use Field Representative for Madison and Orange Counties, said it’s the survey process that has taken years to complete, causing the gap from when the historic district was first presented in 2020 to now.
“Because of the size of the district, it’s taken several years to complete the inventory of historic resources,” he said. “That process is pretty much complete now, and we are almost ready to submit the full application to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.”
The district and the work that has been completed over the past several years will be the topic of a community meeting Feb. 19, 6-8 p.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 28279 Rapidan Road, Rapidan. During the meeting, staff from the PEC, the Fairfield Foundation and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources will lead a discussion about what a rural historic district is, where they are in the listing process and the historical significance of the area. The presentation will be followed by time for questions. Folks interested in attending are asked to RSVP online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/community-meeting-rapidan-river-clark-mountain-rural-historic-district-tickets-1981882214053?aff=oddtdtcreator.
