Newport Historic District

Newport is a small rural village in the narrow Greenbrier Branch valley of eastern Giles County, Virginia, laid out along two intersecting roads. It began as an agricultural processing center with a tanyard, grist mills and an oil mill, then became more commercial after the Cumberland Gap Turnpike came through in the 1830s. Taverns, stores, houses and churches followed, and other early roads met at the village crossroads. A fire in 1902 destroyed most commercial buildings on the main street, so many stores date from the following years. The district's 53 contributing resources include I-houses, a board-and-batten cottage, Italianate and Queen Anne stores, a 1927 Beaux-Arts bank, a Craftsman service station and the 1872 Newport Woolen Mill, which still holds its belt-and-pulley system and machinery. Concrete sidewalks from the 1930s and mature street trees add to the setting. The district was recognized for its commerce, transportation, industry and architecture between 1832 and 1943.