Preservation Warrenton's Upcoming Events:
Special Partners' Event: Saturday, September 11, 2010
The Board of Directors of Preservation Warrenton, Inc. cordially invites all "Partners in Preservation" to a Reception in their honor to be held at Whitsome (The Coleman-White-Jones House, Circa 1820's) 305 East Halifax Street, Warrenton, NC on Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 5 o'clock. Refreshments of wine and heavy hors d'oeuvres will be served, followed by special guest speaker, Willie Nelms, ("Road Scholar") presenting "America's Music Down to its Roots".
The evening promises to be a very entertaining one at a lovely, historic venue. If you are not a "Partner in Preservation", please find out how you can become a "Partner". Your participation will help Preservation Warrenton in its mission of "Preserving the Past for the Future" and we will appreciate your kind support!
See below for a brief history of Warrenton and see here for a full screen interactive map of the 2010 Homes Tour. The tour was a great success and Preservation Warrenton would like to thank everyone who attended.
Warrenton, a National Register Historic District, was established in 1779 on 100 acres of land owned by Thomas Christmas. By the 1820s Warrenton had become the center of a prosperous plantation region. Tradesmen, professional men and the wealthy planters gave the county seat sophistication; while the county’s politically prominent lawyers lent it power. By the 1840s, and especially in the 1850s, it was a bustling trade center, thriving on the burgeoning wealth of the tobacco and cotton plantations of the Roanoke Valley. Builders and craftsmen from Prince Edward County, Virginia, came in the 1840s and produced a distinctive group of fine buildings. Jacob Holt was a master carpenter and Edward Rice and Francis Woodson were reputable masons. Initially they worked in the Greek Revival style of fluted Doric porch columns and intricately carved classical ornamentation. In the 1850s this basic form was enriched with bracketed rooflines, arched tracery windows, and more Italiante style ornamentation. Gamaliel Jones, later famous for his Murfreesboro buildings, had his start in Warren County. The architectural legacy of these men has been visibly preserved in Warren County homes and buildings. Preservation Warrenton, Inc., continues their mission, "Preserving the Past for the Future."