County makes list of most historic homes

Published 8:00 am Thursday, June 30, 2022

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

When it comes to the number of pre-war homes — those built before 1939, Charlotte County is ranked number 24 out of 30 in a new list compiled by Stacker.

Stacker compiled a list of counties in Virginia with the most pre-war homes using data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Counties are ranked by the highest percentage of homes that were built before 1939 based on five-year estimates in 2020.

According to Stacker, 15.4% of homes in the county were constructed prior to 1939.

Lexington ranked number 1 with 37.7% of its homes built before 1939.

Homes built before World War II are dubbed pre-war. At the time, home construction began shifting from functional farmhouses and Victorian mansions to two-storied houses with a basement.

Most pre-war homes feature hardwood floors, moldings, high ceilings and fireplaces.

In addition, today, most pre-war homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The National Register of Historic Places currently lists 19 locations in Charlotte County, with 11 of those being homes.

One example of a pre-war in the county is Westview, also known as the Elam Homestead and Terrell Place.

Westview was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

According to the home’s current owner, Katy Liston Westview is a plantation house and farm built in 1832 and is a two-story, three bay, single pile, brick dwelling in the Federal style.

It has two later frame additions.

Also on the property are three contributing slave log cabins, a frame milk house, log smokehouse, log schoolhouse, log shed, two barns, a stable / hay barn, ice pit, a family cemetery and a slave cemetery.