Scenery Hill Historic District
Also known as: See Also:Hill Tavern; Ringland Tavern
Why it's listed
Scenery Hill is a linear village of about 107 resources strung along the National Road, now U.S. Route 40, for roughly 3,300 feet in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The village grew after the road opened in 1818, when Hill Tavern, built around 1794, anchored a town laid out with 106 building lots by surveyor Jonathan Knight. Its taverns, shops and houses served travelers through the road's peak years. After the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad reached Wheeling in 1853, the village became a commercial centre for surrounding farms and mining communities, and coal-era growth brought Queen Anne and Colonial Revival buildings, two churches, a 1904 bank and a 1911 Romanesque Revival school. Automobile touring brought a further revival in the 1910s and 1920s. The district contains vernacular Federal and Greek Revival buildings, a cast-iron milepost erected in 1835, and a cemetery with headstones from the 1820s onward.
Significance in brief: The district is significant for its association with the National Road, which drove the village's growth from 1818 and shaped its later revivals with automobile touring. It is also significant as a well-preserved example of a Pike Town, with vernacular Federal and Greek Revival buildings and later commercial and residential architecture reflecting successive periods of the road's history.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 96001198, listed October 24, 1996. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly, National Pike East--US 40 between Scenery Hill Cemetery and Kinder Rd., Scenery Hill |
|---|---|
| County | Washington County |
| Listed | October 24, 1996 |
| Reference number | 96001198 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1794-1946 |
| Architectural style | Queen Anne, Italianate, Greek Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Commerce, Transportation |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Historic homes, taverns and stores house antique stores, restaurants and specialty stores; the Hill Tavern continues to operate as a hotel and restaurant. |
| Acreage | 35 |
| Coordinates | 40.08553, -80.07103 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 96001198.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7430771
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.