Abingdon Historic District (Boundary Increase)

This extension of Abingdon's original historic district takes in about 124.5 acres, centered on twelve blocks of Valley Street and adding parts of King, Park, Oak Hill, Main and Whites Mill Road streets. The area was left out of the 1970 listing because most of its houses date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It holds 138 contributing buildings, including a few antebellum homes, Italianate brick houses, modified Queen Anne dwellings, many bungalows, and some Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival residences. Sinking Spring Cemetery, begun in 1773 at the site of an early Presbyterian church, holds about 2,000 marked graves, including those of two Virginia governors, along with a relocated log house. William King High School, built in 1913, overlooks the cemetery. Together these resources show how Abingdon, a commercial and political center of Southwest Virginia, grew from the early 19th century into the 20th, with few modern intrusions.