Places on the National Historic Register

Botetourt County is full of history and historic places. At one time the county stretched to the Mississippi River and up into Wisconsin. It's not so large today but we have many historical structures on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here are 13 of them.

The Phoenix Bridge

1. The Phoenix Bridge. This is a truss bridge near Eagle Rock.

2. Greenfield. Currently (2015) a major source of controversy in the county as the property was purchase by government officials 20 years ago. They want to move the historic structures to build a shell building in hopes that some big company will come in.



Botetourt Courthouse Steeple

3. Fincastle Historic District. The entire town of Fincastle is mostly a historic district. The town was established as the county seat in 1770. Fires took out a few blocks but many old buildings still exist in the town, including a number of historic churches.



4. Breckinridge Mill. An historic grist mill that no longer works. It has been turned into apartment complexes but the structure is still intact.

5. Bessemer. This is an archeological site of prehistoric Native Americans. The site was first discovered during road construction.

6. Buchanan Historic District. While not quite as old of an incorporated town as Fincastle, Buchanan has been around a long time. It was originally known as Pattonsburg and because of its location along the James River was an active port town. It was also a site of Civil War activity.

7. Lauderdale is a huge home located outside of Buchanan. It has been undergoing restoration for a number of years.

8. Santillane is a historic home located just outside of Fincastle. It was constructed around 1835. The family who originally owned it was the Hancocks, and daughter Julia married William Clark (of Lewis & Clark fame).


Santillane


9. Wheatland Manor. This historic home is located between Fincastle and Buchanan.

10. Wiloma. Another historic home located near Fincastle, constructed in 1848.

11. Nininger's Mill. This is also known as Tinker Mill. The grist mill was originally constructed about 1847.

12. Greyledge. Located near Buchanan, the original structure was built around 1842.

13. Bryan McDonald House. This is one of the older homes in the Troutville area. It was built in 1766.

You can find more listed at this Wiki article.

The Phoenix Bridge

This historic bridge is located about 2.6 miles from Eagle Rock in Botetourt County, Va. It is one lane across Craig's Creek on Rt. 685. The roadway is made of wood.

The bridge was constructed in 1887 and was one of the first steel bridges in this end of Virginia. It is called a Phoenix Bridge because it was built by The Phoenix Bridge Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

The bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Iron instead of timber use in bridges began around 1840; two iron bridges were built across the Erie Canal in New York about that time.

In 1850 an iron railroad bridge collapsed, which set the use of iron back a bit.However, by the 1860s it was in demand and after the Civil War there was a boom in bridge-building.

Many companies formed to take advantage of the need, including the Phoenix Bridge Company.

The Phoenix Company's distinctive product was the Phoenix post, a compression member composed of four flanged segments riveted together, which is used in this bridge.

It is formed of rolled wrought iron.