{"nrhp_refnum":"90002005","name":"Lafayette Historic District","other_names":["DHR file # 60-418"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly, High St. from Main to Washington Sts., Main from High to Water Sts. and Church St. from Main to Washington","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lafayette","county":"Montgomery County","state":"VA","lat":37.235040598500035,"lon":-80.21059372400512,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-01-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A twelve-acre historic district in the village of Lafayette, Montgomery County, Virginia, at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Roanoke River. It has 19 contributing buildings, mostly frame houses dating from about 1830 to 1940, plus a ca. 1847 brick Methodist church.","why_significant":"The district is significant under Criterion C because its buildings show the architectural development of the town and the gradual infill of its lots over more than a century. It is significant under Criterion A for exploration/settlement as a good example of an early nineteenth-century turnpike town that retains much of its original plan, including the site of an unusual square or muster ground.","narrative":"Lafayette is a small village where the north and south forks of the Roanoke River meet. Laid out in the 1820s near a gristmill and established as a town in 1828, it grew quickly in the 1830s and was the most populous place between Christiansburg and Salem. The Southwestern Turnpike bypassed it in 1846, and growth slowed. The twelve-acre district keeps four square blocks of its original plan, with houses mostly of frame construction from about 1830 to 1940. The oldest are the Pepper House, containing a log single-pen core built before 1829, and the Preston Waskey House, probably from 1829. The brick Methodist church of about 1847 stands beside the site of a former muster ground and may have been built on a meetinghouse plan unique in the county. Two small stores, one of which served as the post office until 1985, also survive. The district was listed for its architecture and as an example of an early turnpike town.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1825-1940","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular; single-pen, center-passage, nave plan and 20th-century commercial forms","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Houses are described as nearly all owner occupied and well maintained; the Sid Butt Barbershop has been restored as a pottery shop and studio. The form lists current functions including vacant/not in use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.58603-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/42/6788/41678842/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/90002005.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90002005/3c475f2a41-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90002005/3c475f2a41-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loving_and_Walthall,_Lafayette.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loving_and_Walthall,_Lafayette.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678842","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafayette_Historic_District_(Lafayette,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712681"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/montgomery-county/lafayette-historic-district-90002005/"}