Virginia vernacular architecture

by James P. Gannon, Winter 2002/2003

Rappahannock County is a land of treasures: wooded mountains, sparkling streams, lovely old farmhouses, winding country roads, and historic villages. RLEP, an organization dedicated to preserving these treasures for future generations, has held a series of programs under the theme, "Treasures of Rappahannock County," designed to build public awareness and appreciation of the treasures around us.

The first of these programs was held Sunday, April 6, 2003, on the topic of "Farmhouses and Other Treasures of Rappahannock County." This program, which was free and open to the public, featured a talk and slide show by Henry Glassie, a noted national authority on vernacular architecture and a strong advocate of preserving the rural landscape.

Two of Rappahannock County's many historic houses.

Vernacular architecture is the indigenous building tradition of a locality. Virginia vernacular architecture encompasses the common styles of buildings that grew up in the commonwealth in the 18th and 19th centuries and are found in farmhouses, old barns, village houses and public buildings in Rappahannock County.

"Farmhouses and Other Treasures of Rappahannock County" was co-sponsored by the Piedmont Environmental Council and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

"We are pleased to join forces with the PEC and the National Trust to bring to Rappahannock County an outstanding expert who knows Virginia well and shares our values," said RLEP president Bob Lander. "Our hope is that this gathering will deepen our understanding and appreciation of the time-honored architecture of Virginia and inspire builders, planners, land owners and others to think carefully about the kinds of homes and buildings that fit well into our beautiful surroundings."

Virginia's vernacular architecture is of special interest of Professor Glassie. Among his many books are "Folk Housing in Middle Virginia," a study of historic housing patterns in a portion of the Virginia Piedmont; and "Vernacular Architecture," a study that illuminates how housing styles common in England and Ireland were imported and adapted to new environments in Virginia, New England, and other regions of the United States.

Dr. Glassie is Professor of Folklore at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana. He is a scholar of folk history and has studied cultures throughout the world and written books examining history, tradition, and cultures in Ireland, Turkey, Bangladesh, and countries in Africa.

As a keynote speaker to the National Preservation Conference of the National Trust in the Fall 2002, Dr. Glassie talked of the need to preserve rural places. His presentation rang with a message that coincides with the mission of RLEP and like-minded organizations and people.

In his presentation, Dr. Glassie said, "We are not used to thinking of rural places as hotbeds of invention, but the rural designers of the Mohawk Valley, southeastern Pennsylvania, the Valley of Virginia and eastern Tennessee were as creative as their industrial contemporaries....But when the old buildings have all decayed and the land has been paved, there will be no record to challenge the urban view....The urban view dominates our history and governs our policies. From the urban perspective, the rural landscape-in fact, a record of creative endeavor-is a pretty thing, belonging to a placid past, in need of development. It is crucial that we have alternatives...and it is primarily for that reason, I believe, we need programs of rural preservation."

Urban sprawl is obliterating the rural landscape: "When it has all been developed, when the countryside has been obliterated by travesties of one kind or another, by broad, bland highways and jerry-built commercial strips, by vulnerable mobile homes and plastic-clad Queen Anne Revival-French Provincial mansions, the stories muttered in the ruins of gaunt wooden houses and soaring stone barns will be too weak, unable to county the urban ideology or stay the hand of the developer." Dr. Glassie praised the efforts of local organizations fighting to preserve the countryside and its record of history and culture found in its old buildings.

Rappahannock County, a land of treasures, is not yet obliterated but is threatened. By sponsoring a series of programs focused on these various treasures surrounding us, RLEP has raised public awareness of their value.