Greenwood-Afton Rural Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Greenwood-Afton is a rural district of roughly 16,300 acres at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, mostly in northwestern Albemarle County, with small areas of Nelson and Augusta Counties. Its boundaries follow mountain edges, historic roads, gaps and creeks that shaped early travel. Within them are mountainous woodlands, rolling pastures, large farms, and villages such as Yancey Mills, Afton and Greenwood, along with the historically African-American communities of Newtown and Free Town. The district counts 954 contributing resources, including houses, barns, churches, outbuildings and gardens, in styles from Georgian to Modern. Ten individual properties were already listed, among them Mirador, Swannanoa, Seven Oaks and Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The district is described as notable for properties linked to early Scots-Irish settlement and the American Country House Movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Modern intrusions are limited, and Interstate 64 crosses the district with a small, non-commercial interchange.