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Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont » Piedmont » Rappahannock County » Sperryville Historic District

Sperryville Historic District

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U.S. 522, U.S. 211, and VA 1001 (Main St.)
  • (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • Tavern (former) (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • Tavern (former) (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • Tavern (former) interior (Photograph by Mark Mones)

In 1820 Francis Thornton, Jr., laid out Sperryville, a small crossroads town now serving the apple-growing economy and the tourist trade. A few houses were built, which survive along Virginia 1001, but little happened until 1867, when the Smoot Tannery Works located here and built mills on the Thornton River. The mills, which do not survive, employed forty to fifty workers. Simple wooden residences built for them still line the east end of Main Street (Virginia 1001) and the Thornton River. The workers' housing is intermingled with the houses of the more prosperous citizens and factory managers. At the intersection of U.S. 211 and Main Street is the former tavern (c. 1825), a substantial brick structure, much altered, but still retaining its two-story front porch.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Richard Guy Wilson et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Washington
Montpelier
Ben Venue

Citation

Richard Guy Wilson et al., "Sperryville Historic District", [Sperryville, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-01-PI3.

Print Source

Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont, Richard Guy Wilson and contributors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 122-122.

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