{"nrhp_refnum":"73002210","name":"Cherry Hill","other_names":["John Mills Farm"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"312 Park Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Falls Church (Independent City)","county":"Falls Church","state":"VA","lat":38.885629100000074,"lon":-77.17314960999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-07-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Literature","Architecture","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Cherry Hill, also called the John Mills House, is a farmstead of a Greek Revival frame farmhouse and a heavy timber barn, both built about 1840, with other outbuildings. It stands in a municipal park of about six acres at 312 Park Avenue in the center of Falls Church, Virginia.","why_significant":"The farmstead is significant for its largely unaltered mid-19th-century architecture and for its role as a surviving piece of the 19th-century townscape. It is tied to Civil War skirmishes, including the Battle of the Peach Orchard, and to the Riley family, who included Judge Joseph Riley, a leader in the incorporation of Falls Church, and ornithologist J. Harvey Riley. It remains in active municipal and community use.","narrative":"Cherry Hill is a farmstead from about 1840 in the middle of Falls Church, Virginia, now set in a six-acre municipal park beside City Hall and across from the public library. The two-story, five-bay Greek Revival frame house keeps its original finishes, hardware and a finely detailed open stair, and a heavy timber barn and open-sided shed survive nearby. The land was part of a 1729 patent to John Trammell, and a portion later hosted the original Falls Church in 1746. A railroad right of way through the property became a military railroad in the Civil War, and skirmishes took place here, including the Battle of the Peach Orchard. From 1870 to 1956 the Riley family owned the farm. Judge Joseph Riley helped bring about the town's incorporation in 1875 and chaired its first School Board, while his son J. Harvey Riley was a Smithsonian-connected ornithologist. The buildings remain in active community use.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival (vernacular)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked excellent and unaltered on original site; in active municipal and community use, owned by the City of Falls Church.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.39187-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/6805/41680574/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/73002210.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73002210/41e29dfd76-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73002210/41e29dfd76-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"ProfReader","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cherry_Hill_Farm.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">ProfReader</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cherry_Hill_Farm.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680574","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Hill_Farmhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1070354"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/falls-church/cherry-hill-73002210/"}