Markham area gets historic designation
By Kelly Alm
Susan Russell, Sue Scheer and other members of Citizens For Fauquier County have begun the laborious process of trying to secure Rural Historic District (RHD) designation for the area surrounding Auburn. Two Civil War battles were fought on the periphery of Auburn, and CFFC is interested in getting the battlefields listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.
Although CFFC has received a $25,000 grant for the project, Russell said they will need to raise more money to hire a military historian and archaeologist.
Russell is fairly fresh of a successful RHD designation in the northern part of the county.
Last fall, parts of northwestern Fauquier County were designated a Rural Historic District (RHD) and listed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places .
With Leads Manor Road serving as the district's backbone, the 22,184-acre “John Marshall’s Leeds Manor Rural Historic District,” stretches approximately two-and-one-half miles north of Markham, south to Leeds Episcopal Church, west to Rattlesnake Mountain and East to Cobbler Mountain.
Bill Stribling, who owns Stribling's Farm in Markham, conducted much of the historical background for the project. “I’ve always been interested in history,” he said, “and I’ve wanted this area’s history documented for years.”
The Manor of Leeds was once the largest and most important of Lord Fairfax’s manors. The family eventually sold the property to the Marshall “syndicate,” consisting of Chief Justice John Marshall, James Markham Marshall, Rawleigh Colston, and John Ambler.
Because of a system of land grants and manorial holdings, substantial pieces of land remained intact and undeveloped until after the American Revolution. Subsequently, subsistence farmers settled in this area, making it important to understanding 18th-century exploration and settlement in the northern Piedmont and Fauquier.
The area’s eligibility for the RHD designation can also be attributed to the respect new residents have demonstrated for its historic heritage. “The people who have moved in have restored the estates,” Stribling said. “They didn’t tear them down and build modern houses.”
This is not always the case. The area originally proposed in an overview of the district’s historical significance and preliminary boundaries stretched from Orlean to Markham. However, the Department of Historic Resources rejected these boundaries, based on Hume having too many new houses.
In order to qualify as a Rural Historic District, an area must have more “contributing” buildings ? buildings 50 years and older ? than non-contributing buildings, which are younger than 50 years.
Architectural historian Deborah McClane conducted a “windshield survey” of the area to document the contributing and non-contributing buildings. “We ended up adding a few, and dropping a few [tracts],” said Russell, chairman of historic resources for CFFC, of the process that helped determine the final boundaries.
The area includes a total of 464 “contributing” resources ? buildings, sites, structures and objects associated with a significant event, person, or distinctive characteristics of the past, as well as property which yields historical information ? and 291 noncontributing resources.
A rural historic district designation is not the same as a local historic district. A local historic district designations can mandate review of new construction or renovation by an architectural review board, as well as create zoning overlay areas that conform the district’s zoning to the community’s historic preservation goals.
In contrast, the state-approved
Rural Historic District designation does not involve any such legal regulation.
“In a rural historic district, you could have a historic house and burn it down or paint it purple,” Russell said. “It is purely honorary.”
It is possible to apply for special tax credits in connection with the restoration of historic buildings. If used, then construction and renovation decisions become subject to review. But applying for the tax credits is voluntary.
According to a letter sent to district residents before the nomination was approved, the designation “signals to the outside world, ‘We welcome you to our community, but please be respectful of our history, our rural, agricultural heritage and our way of life.’”
The identification of the area as a Rural Historic District is filed with the Fauquier County Planning Commission, bringing its historic significance to the attention of county planners and the board of supervisors. Although this does not give them a mandate to block new development, it does make it more challenging for federal and state agencies to take actions inconsistent with the historic and rural character of the area.
“If VDOT wants to run an interstate through the [here], or, in the case of Dominion, power lines, the designation makes it harder for them to do that,” Russell said. “They’ll have to go through reviews and do studies that give credence to their plan.”
Both long-time and new residents in the district shared a desire to document this historic area. Had more than 50 percent of the landowners opposed the nomination, it would never have seen the register’s office. Not only did no one object at the two public hearings held, but the community donated $22,000 to pay for McClane’s services and other related expenses.
“It's about developing a pride of place,” Russell said. “Knowing the history of a place makes people more likely to be good stewards of the land.”
While the Auburn effort is gathering steam, the attempt to gain RHD recognition for the Springs Valley District — 7,510 acres, roughly bounded by Lee Highway to the north, Lees Bridge Road to the east, Spring Road to the southeast and the Fauquier /Culpeper County line to the southwest — is still in flux, due to some resident opposition.
In 2002, the county contracted an architectural historian to survey approximately 21 villages and towns that were deemed eligible for listing on the Virginia Landmarks and National Registers. Since then, more than half of these eligible areas are now listed on both registers, and include historic districts within Ashville, Atoka, Casanova, Delaplane, Markham, Marshall, Morgantown, New Baltimore, Paris, Rectortown, Middleburg, Upperville and the Town of Remington.
"We have to give the county a pat on the back," Russell said. "The fact that they are separately funding the registration for these villages is very admirable."