Whaleyville Historic District

Whaleyville is a small village about twelve miles south of downtown Suffolk, Virginia, where U.S. Route 13 meets State Route 616. It grew around the timber industry in the late nineteenth century and was large enough to incorporate as a town around 1900. The historic district contains 127 buildings, of which 103 contribute to its character. Most are wood-frame vernacular houses built between about 1880 and 1940, including I-houses, small cottages, American Foursquares and bungalows, with consistent setbacks, spacing and mature trees. Other buildings include Gothic Revival churches, Odd Fellows and Masonic lodges, and brick commercial buildings such as the Bank of Whaleyville and the Whaleyville Store. Many modest frame structures come from the African-American community. The district was listed for its architecture, with a period of significance from 1874 to 1944. Later buildings, mainly one-story brick or frame structures from about 1950 to 1980, are noncontributing.