It was a packed house at Emanuel Episcopal Church as the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) discussed its proposed historic district encompassing portions of Culpeper, Madison and Orange counties.
First introduced in 2020, the proposed Rapidan River – Clark Mountain Rural Historic District encompasses 42,000 acres of historic landscape over 65 square miles 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.
“I feel like the process of designating a historic district can be a place-making tool,” PEC Land Use Representative for Madison and Orange Counties Don McCown said. “It’s a distinct place and a special place. Raising awareness of the resources in an area bolsters a sense of community pride and investment and spurs an interest in protecting a place.”
McCown said establishing a historic district can stimulate low-impact tourism activities including heritage-based tourism.
Kristie Kendall, who previously worked for the PEC and is now a consultant, said the project is one near and dear to her. The idea for it began with another previous PEC employee–Dan Holmes–who had the idea of recognizing the area’s rich history in the form of a historic district. They started brainstorming and in 2015 the PEC received funding from foundations and with the encouragement of area landowners, hired the Fairfield Foundation of Gloucester to complete a preliminary information form. That form was submitted to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources which said the district would be eligible and the Fairfield Foundation began working on the full nomination, surveying and documenting properties.
“Work on the district has taken quite a bit of time to get to this point, but I think it’s a welcome opportunity to have time for community input and documenting underrepresented resources,” Kendall said.
Among those resources is the often overlooked Black history of the area, including the community of Little Petersburg. Fairfield Foundation Co-Director Dave Brown said taking a tour of the area was one of the greatest parts of the surveying work completed for the district.
“Going in backyards and woods,” he said. “That’s hard to get out of [reading] history books.”
Brown said it was easy to be captivated by the stories that happened all throughout the proposed district.
Becoming a historic district is one with only upsides, Brown said, stating the designation allows for the pursuit of easements and rehabilitation tax credits, but doesn’t restrict an owner’s use of their property.
One thing several meeting attendees were interested in is the effect of a historic district designation on data centers and transmission projects.
“There is an increased scrutiny to approve data centers and transmission lines when [a historic district] is at play,” Brown said.
McCown added that the understanding is the SCC takes into account registered historic districts when scrutinizing transmission applications.
The PEC plans to submit the historic district application soon with the state review taking approximately three to four months. Any suggested revisions will then be made and additional public meetings will be held before the district is approved. Brown said the process is likely to take nine months to a year before the district is listed on the registry.
“I hope it passes and soon,” Orange County resident Bernice Walker said. “This is a rich area. It needs to have every level of protection that can be provided.”
More information regarding the Rapidan River-Clark Mountain Rural Historic District is available online at https://www.pecva.org/work/landscapes/the-rapidan-river-clark-mountain-rural-historic-district/.
