CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA CITY COUNCIL AGENDA Date: September 8, 2020 Action Required: Vote on Resolution Presenter: Jeff Werner, Historic Preservation & Design Planner Staff Contacts: Jeff Werner, Historic Preservation & Design Planner Alex Ikefuna, NDS Director Title: Resolution expressing support for listing River View Farm and the Carr-Greer Farmhouse (Ivy Creek Natural Area) on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Background: Since 1978, the City and Albemarle County have co-owned the 219-acre Ivy Creek Natural Area, which covers much of what was Hugh Carr’s River View Farm. In 1870, the formerly enslaved Carr acquired 58-acres and by 1890 had expanded his farm to over 125 acres. After Carr’s death in 1914, another three generations of his family resided on the property. Carr’s daughter, Mary Carr Greer, and her husband, Conly Greer, followed his commitment to learning and were teachers and leaders in the effort to educate African Americans. On August 5, 2019, City Council adopted a resolution endorsing the preparation of a historic survey of River View Farm and the Carr-Greer Farmhouse (River View Farm) in order to determine eligibility for listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). In December 2019, the Virginia State Review Board determined that River View Farm is eligible for those listings. Earlier this year, the Ivy Creek Foundation completed and submitted to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR) the formal nomination for the proposed historic designation. On September 17, 2020, the Virginia State Review Board will review the nomination and make its determination for listing River View Farm on the VLR, and, with the anticipated affirmative vote, then forward the nomination to the U.S. Department of the Interior to be considered for the NRHP. The historic designation incorporates a 152-acre landscape and numerous contributing structures and elements, including the Carr-Greer Farmhouse (c1880), the Carr-Greer family cemetery, a barn, a tenant house and other structures dating to 1937, historic fence lines, stone walls and a well. River View Farm/Carr-Greer Farmhouse VLR/NRHP – (Final 25 August 2020) 1 Discussion: Among the objectives of the Ivy Creek Foundation are to make Ivy Creek Natural Area a model of land, water, historical, and cultural resource management and to encourage and sponsor studies of the natural and cultural resources at Ivy Creek Natural Area. VLR and NRHP listing, if granted, will increase public awareness of not only the site and structures, but of the extraordinary accomplishments of Hugh Carr and his family. Such a listing is an honorary designation administered by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Benefits of listing include recognition, community pride, and providing qualification for certain grant funding, such as assistance with building maintenance and rehabilitation. Furthermore, this designation would impose no restrictions on future use, development or modification of the site and structures. VLR and NRHP designation is part of a broader, long-term effort to provide interpretive opportunities about River View Farm and the important elements of local history it makes available to the community and visitors. In evaluating the historic significance of a proposed site or district, four criteria are considered: A. Association with events that have made a significant contribution to history; or B. Association with the lives of persons significant in our past; or C. Distinctive characteristics related to design and/or construction; or D. Yields or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. River View Farm is nominated based on Criterion A and C. Once emancipated, Hugh Carr accumulated land, became a prosperous farmer and a prominent community leader and advocate for the education of African American children. One of Carr’s daughters, Mary Carr Greer, and her husband, Conly Greer, followed his commitment to learning and were teachers and leaders in the effort to educate African Americans. The farmhouse, while typical in design, remains a rare surviving example of a substantial home built by an African American farmer within Albemarle County during the period. Alignment with City Council’s Vision and Strategic Plan: Council’s Vision 2025:  Charlottesville cherishes and builds programming around the evolving research and interpretation of our historic heritage and resources. City Strategic Plan:  Goal 3.5: Protect historic and cultural resources. From the City’s Comprehensive Plan, Historic Preservation & Urban Design.  Goal 2.3: Continue to interpret historic resources to the community through markers, publications, events and other means. Strive to include the narratives and resources of under-represented groups and areas significant in our local history. Coordinate this interpretation of historic resources with City improvement projects and other city initiatives.  Goal 4.5: Survey, evaluate all City-owned property, including schools and parks for River View Farm/Carr-Greer Farmhouse VLR/NRHP – (Final 25 August 2020) 2 historic and design significance and integrity.  Goal 4.2: Continue to identify and survey additional significant individual properties located outside historic districts. In addition to historic buildings, consider significant buildings from the recent past (less than 50 years old), structures such as sculptures, landscapes such as public spaces and cemeteries, and archaeological sites. From the Recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials, & Public Spaces:  Highlighting and Linking Historic Places: […] provide financial and planning support for historic resource surveys of African American, Native American and local labor neighborhoods and sites, seeking National Register listing and zoning and design guideline protection, where appropriate.  New Memorials: Recommended no new monuments to specific individuals. Explore other ways to recognize the city’s leaders and hidden heroes and invest in other creative ways to memorialize the full story of race in this community’s history including, but not limited to, new murals. Community Engagement: The property is jointly owned by the City and Albemarle County. The nomination was prepared and submitted by the Ivy Creek Foundation, which maintains and operates the property. In addition to the community awareness of this effort, VDHR is required to notify adjacent property owners and allow them to comment on the nomination Budgetary Impact: No additional budgetary impacts. Recommendation: Staff recommends that Council adopt the proposed resolution. Alternatives: Council can amend the proposed resolution or not adopt it. Attachments:  Proposed Resolution: Support for listing River View Farm and the Carr-Greer Farmhouse (Ivy Creek Natural Area) on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.  River View Farm National Register of Historic Places Registration Form River View Farm/Carr-Greer Farmhouse VLR/NRHP – (Final 25 August 2020) 3 RESOLUTION In Support of Nominating River View Farm and the Carr-Greer Farmhouse (Ivy Creek Natural Area) for Listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Charlottesville, through its Vision Statement, the City’s Comprehensive Plan and the City’s Strategic Plan has recognized the value of preserving and protecting historic and cultural resources; and WHEREAS, the City Council wishes to encourage such efforts; and WHEREAS, the River View Farm and the Carr-Greer Farmhouse located at the Ivy Creek Natural Area are significant relative to their connection to local African-American history; and WHEREAS, Hugh Carr was an advocate for education of African American children and his descendants, including Mary Carr Greer, became prominent teachers and educators during a period of segregation and inequality; and WHEREAS, the City is a co-owner of the Ivy Creek Natural Area and thus a steward in the preservation and protection of the River View Farm and the Carr-Greer Farmhouse; and WHEREAS, on September 17, 2020, the Virginia State Review Board for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources will consider listing the River View Farm and the Carr-Greer Farmhouse on the Virginia Landmarks Register and, upon approval, recommend that the U.S. Department of the Interior list the school on the National Register of Historic Places; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Charlottesville, Virginia endorses this effort to recognize the historical significance of the River View Farm and the Carr-Greer Farmhouse and supports its listing on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Approved by Council September 8, 2020 __________________ Clerk of Council River View Farm/Carr-Greer Farmhouse VLR/NRHP – (Final 25 August 2020) 4 NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: ____ River View Farm ____________________________ Other names/site number: ____ Carr-Greer House (VDHR 002-1229)___ Name of related multiple property listing: __N/A_________________________________________________________ (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing: NA ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: _1780 Earlysville Road__________________________ City or town: _Charlottesville State: _Virginia__ County: _Albemarle___ Not For Publication: Vicinity: ______________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property _X__ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national _X_ statewide ___local Applicable National Register Criteria: _X_A ___B _X_C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date _Virginia Department of Historic Resources__________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government Sections 1-6 page 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: Public – Local X Public – State Public – Federal Category of Property (Check only one box.) Building(s) District X Site Structure Object Sections 1-6 page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing _____6_______ ______3______ buildings _____4_______ ______0______ sites ____17_______ ______6______ structures _____1_______ ______5______ objects ____28_______ _____14_______ Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register __0_______ ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) _DOMESTIC/single dwelling = house____________ _DOMESTIC/secondary structure = smokehouse___ _DOMESTIC/secondary structure = storage shed__ _DOMESTIC/secondary structure = garage_______ _DOMESTIC/secondary structure = carriage house _FUNERARY/cemetery = burying ground_________ _AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/agricultural outbuilding = barn _AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE/agricultural field = stone alignments Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) _EDUCATION/education-related = education building_____________ _RECREATION AND CULTURE/outdoor recreation = park, hiking trail_ _RECREATION AND CULTURE/museum = exhibition hall _LANDSCAPE/conservation area = ecological habitat__________________________ Sections 1-6 page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State _____________________________________________________________________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) __ OTHER: I-house _________________ Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: Roof: METAL: Tin Walls: STUCCO____ Foundation: STONE: Fieldstone Chimney: BRICK Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph River View Farm is an agricultural landscape, 152 acres in size, that falls within a public park jointly owned by Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, and managed by the non-profit Ivy Creek Foundation. River View Farm was established by Hugh Carr, born enslaved, with an initial down payment on land in 1870 near the confluence of Ivy Creek and the Rivanna River. By the time of his death in 1914, Carr had amassed a farm totaling 108 acres, and was among the largest African American landowners in Albemarle County. Hugh Carr (circa 1840-1914) built a frame Virginia I-House on the farm circa 1880. In 1979, approximately 136.3 acres of River View Farm was acquired by Albemarle County and City of Charlottesville and designated Ivy Creek Natural Area. Most of the buildings present on the property at the time have been preserved, including the farmhouse built by Hugh Carr, a small garage, a three-bay garage, small carriage house, and ham house built by the Greers between circa 1917 and 1956, and a large frame barn built by Conly Greer in 1937 that reflects standardized plans provided to Agricultural Extension Agents in the 1930s to share with their constituents. The barn, which Greer used to demonstrate best practices to African American farmers within Albemarle County, appears to be a rare surviving example of a demonstration outbuilding constructed by an African American Agricultural Extension Agent on his property. Together with a family cemetery, surviving farm roads, fencelines and walls, fields, spring boxes, plantings, and the ruins of a Section 7 page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State tenant house, the house, barn, and other outbuildings associated with River View Farm constitute the last remaining intact resources associated with an African American farming and tradesperson community, known as Union Ridge and Hydraulic Mills, that arose during Reconstruction and flourished during the final quarter of the nineteenth century. Contributing resources are six buildings (the farmhouse, barn, small garage, three-bay garage, small carriage house, and ham house); four sites (family cemetery, two fields, and the foundation of a tenant house); seventeen structures (walls, fenced areas, spring boxes, roads, and road traces); and one object (stone entry markers at the original driveway into the dwelling precinct). Since 1979, Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville have provided access to Ivy Creek Natural Area for the public to enjoy passive recreation and educational programming managed by Ivy Creek Foundation. Non-contributing features include the access road, parking area, trail system, information kiosks, an education building, bathroom, and maintenance shed needed to manage and maintain the property. Overall there are three non-contributing buildings, six non- contributing structures, and five non-contributing objects associated with this use that postdate the period of significance. ______________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description Setting River View Farm is located six miles north of the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, on Earlysville Road in Albemarle County. The property falls within the larger area known as Ivy Creek Natural Area, a park co-owned and administered by the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Ivy Creek Natural Area is edged to the north by the South Rivanna Reservoir, an impounded lake that serves the needs of the urban water system along with the Sugar Hollow and Ragged Mountain reservoirs. The reservoir inundated the former site of Hydraulic Mills, a village and commercial hub with its origins in the early nineteenth century that served a community of African American farmers during the last quarter of the nineteenth century (VDHR 002-0151). Notable residents included Jesse Scott Sammons, Berkeley Bullock, Moses Gillette, Albert Wheeler, Rev. Tinsley Woodfolk, and Hugh Carr. Land to the east and west of Ivy Creek Natural Area is generally residential and ranges from rural to suburban with subdivisions of large lots. To the south of the River View Farm, Earlysville Road intersects the commercial corridor of Rio Road. This intersection marks the center of the Union Ridge community. Union Ridge Baptist Church (VDHR 002-0364), at the intersection, has been an important pillar of the African American community since the late nineteenth century. The site of Albemarle Training School (VDHR 002-1135), the only school within Albemarle County to offer an education beyond the seventh grade to African American students until Burley High School opened in 1951, is located near the intersection as well. Section 7 page 5 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Dwelling Precinct River View Farm is composed of a dwelling precinct located in close proximity to Earlysville Road on a level terrace overlooking the road corridor. The dwelling precinct centers on the Carr- Greer Farmhouse, which faces south. The principal façade is edged by an open lawn contained by a planting of boxwoods, trees, flowering shrubs, and bulbs added by Mary Carr Greer by the 1950s. Evidence of the original driveway leading into the dwelling precinct is southeast of the house, and passes through a pair of boulders, which retain evidence that they were once painted white, edged by ornamental plantings toward the house. A stone retaining wall edges the former driveway, helping to establish the level dwelling precinct where the land begins to drop away to the east. The driveway once continued around the house to the north and west where the outbuildings are located. The driveway was later reoriented when a garage was added to the north of the house that is entered from the west. The later driveway survives today. Edging the house to the north is the garage built by the mid-1950s and attached to the house. To the west of the kitchen at the north end of the house is the ham house as described by Mary Carr Greer’s grandson, Manfred Jones, in a 2020 personal interview. A paved landing that connects the kitchen entry, the garage, and the ham house is covered by a roof. Inset within the landing is a well that served the family for many years and has been described by Theodosia Lemons, granddaughter of Mary and Conly Greer, as having an electric pump. To the north of the ham house is a frame shed, wide enough to store a single farm vehicle, while to the northwest is a three-bay frame garage, which is accessible from the driveway. Mature shade trees edge the dwelling precinct to the south, northeast, and north. Just beyond the dwelling precinct to the northwest is the family cemetery where Hugh and Texie Mae Carr, their son, Marshall Carr, Mary Carr Greer, Conly Greer, and Charles Whitten, grandson of Hugh and Texie Mae Carr, are buried. These graves are marked by ornate granite headstones set within a walled precinct that Mary Carr Greer had built following the death of her husband in 1956. Outside of the wall, set some distance away, are two unworked upright stone markers believed to be associated with family burials during the nineteenth century that may include Hugh Carr’s mother, Fannie. Further to the north, sited along a gravel farm road, is a barn built in 1937-1938 by Conly Greer. The barn is located southeast of a large open field herein referred to as the north field and edged by the remains of fencing described by family members as part of a system of livestock corrals and pastures formerly located to the north and northeast of the barn. Between the farmhouse and the barn are a fencepost and the remains of fencing that once contained a large kitchen garden maintained by the Greers. To the west and northwest of the dwelling precinct are the fields, woodlots, pastures, and other features associated with River View Farm. Surviving farm features include fencing, walls, farm roads and road traces, a tenant house site, spring boxes, and erosion control features such as stone walls and check dams. Section 7 page 6 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State The built features of River View Farm are generally vernacular in character, and modest in size and scale. The buildings are all wood frame with gable roofs; several were later clad with stucco, which remains today. The Carr-Greer Farmhouse is a Virginia I-House with a cross-gable roof in the front pediment, a front porch, and brick chimneys at either gable end. An addition was built on the east side of the rear façade in 1915 by the Greers. All of the outbuildings appear to have been constructed by the Greers based on documentation, between circa 1930 and 1956, using locally sourced materials wherever possible. All feature standing seam metal roofs, with buildings within the dwelling precinct painted white with green trim and green roofing, while the barn’s metal roof is painted silver. The landscape features associated with River View Farm are also vernacular, and composed of locally sourced wood and stone, with metal barbwire and woven wire fencing. River View Farm was a carefully tended property, maintained with pride and love for the land by Hugh Carr, Texie Mae Hawkins Carr, Mary Carr Greer, and Conly Greer, in a vernacular fashion. The barn is the primary exception, and reflects the efforts of the United States Department of Agriculture to provide Agricultural Extension agents with plans for model outbuildings during the 1930s.1 River View Farm retains all aspects of integrity due to the ongoing presence of these features, which have been only altered in the limited way in order to protect and maintain them. Roofing materials have been replaced, and some structural work has been done to the barn interior, diminishing integrity of materials and workmanship. Otherwise the property possesses integrity and continues to convey its historic associations. Visitor Facilities Set within the River View Farm landscape are the later additions associated with development of the property for visitor use as Ivy Creek Natural Area. To the south of the dwelling precinct is an access road that arises from Earlysville Road near the original driveway entrance. The access road leads to an oval looped parking area west of the house. Trees screen the access road and parking from view within the dwelling precinct. A paved trail leads north from the parking area to a pair of kiosks within view of the family cemetery. The trail continues on to the barn. It is edged by a bathroom building and a small shed. A spur of the trail leads northeast to another addition to the property, the education building, that serves environmental education and cultural heritage programming conducted by Ivy Creek Foundation. The building is edged by a low stone seat wall, and native trees, shrub, and perennial plantings that help to diminish its visual impact on the dwelling precinct to the south. Inventory 1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Plans of Farm Building for Southern States, Miscellaneous Publication No. 278 revised (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1940). Section 7 page 7 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Contributing Buildings 1. Carr-Greer Farmhouse (circa 1880). The Carr-Greer Farmhouse is a two-story, three-bay, wood-frame Virginia I-House with an L-shaped plan constructed in at least two stages. The original dwelling was built circa 1880 as a two-over-two Virginia I-House with a floor plan that consists of two rooms over two rooms with a central hall on each floor. The main block measures 38 by 16 feet 4-1/2 inches in plan. A full width porch extends across the south (principal) façade supported by six Tuscan columns set on a concrete porch. Attached to the eastern half of the original main block is a rear (north) extension addition that forms an L. The addition was built circa 1915 by Mary and Conly Greer following their acquisition of the property upon Hugh Carr’s death. It measures 15 by 28 feet 2 inches in plan. A two-story porch that edged the L addition to the west was converted to enclosed space circa 1950. The enclosed space measures 8 feet 6 inches by 28 feet 2 inches in plan. At the north end, the first-floor space includes a pantry and bath that abut the kitchen. The roof, which is clad with standing seam metal, is side gable with a central front gable. The roofing was replaced in 2020, following an earlier replacement in the 1980s. Evidence of the original wood shake roof is beneath the metal roof near where the north addition is connected. Exterior brick chimneys are at either gable end of the main block. These were rebuilt in 2020. The single-story porch across the principal (south) facade has a pent roof. The building is clad with stucco over plain horizontal weatherboards (affixed with wire nails). It features turned and molded cornices. The L addition has exposed wood vertical beams and a box cornice. The house sits on a stacked fieldstone foundation. On the south façade, the front door is a centered transom four-panel wood door with sidelights and paired two-over-two double-hung sash windows to either side that dates to Greer family ownership. Three double-hung windows extend across the second story. A brick chimney, overclad with stucco, is centered in each gable end of the main block. A single double-hung window is in the east elevation of the main block, at both the first and second stories. Rooms on the first floor in the main block include a central hall and stair edged to either side with living spaces. The interior fireplace mantels are Victorian era. The upstairs of the main block contains two bedrooms, and a small extra room above the hall. On the first floor, the L addition contains a dining room and kitchen. The east side of the north wing features paired two-over-two windows centered on each of the two rooms that comprise the addition. The upstairs features a third bedroom, a bathroom, and a laundry room as indicated by Manfred Jones. Section 7 page 8 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State A variety of trim types are present throughout the house. The base trim within the east parlor as well as the bedrooms in the original part of the house is wood with a slightly rounded top and an ogee piece at the base, 5 inches high, and painted. Trim in the south bedroom is flush with gypsum board that is a later addition. The base in the west bedroom has been covered in part by decorative plaster coating associated with the wall. In the east parlor, the base is square wood, approximately 3 inches high. This same trim is present in the kitchen and second floor bathroom and may represent a later replacement. There is no base trim in the dining room. The wood trim at doors and windows is flat near the opening and steps outward toward the edge. The windowsills project slightly from the window trim. The arched opening at the north end of the central hall has similar trim, but it is slightly wider than the other openings in the house. Simple flat wood trim is present at the pair of windows on the east wall of the kitchen and around the door between the kitchen and dining room that may be a later replacement. All of the interior doors are multi-panel wood. The most prevalent is a four-panel door, but there are also two-panel doors in the closets of the east and west bedrooms. A pair of wood doors with fifteen-light panels is between the parlor and the dining room, while a similar door leads from the parlor to the central hall. A six-panel wood door is between the kitchen and enclosed porch that has three horizontal wood panels at the lower half and three glazed lights at the upper half. Non-historic doors are in the closets in the north bedroom and the second-floor bathroom. The former open porch to the west of the L, located behind the main block front stair, is slab on grade. It is enclosed by banks of four-over-four double sash windows. The bathroom and pantry, of unknown date, have no window openings. Attached to the north end of the addition, and sharing a wall with the kitchen and bathroom, is a garage with a dirt floor. West of the kitchen is covered space with a concrete slab floor. Set within the concrete slab is a stone-lined well covered with a hatch. Beyond the well is a wood frame outbuilding referred to as the ham house. 2. Small garage (by 1956). The small garage abuts and shares a wall with the northern (rear) wall of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse. The one-story, one-bay, modest vernacular building was built by 1956. Rectangular in plan, the building measures 12 feet 1 inch along the principal western façade, 19 feet 10-1/2 inches along the northern façade, and 11 feet 10 inches along the eastern façade. The shed roof extends from the ridgeline of the adjacent roof between the Carr-Greer Farmhouse and the ham house and is clad with standing seam metal painted green. The roof Section 7 page 9 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State is framed with nominal 2- by 6-inch rafters spaced between 24 and 33 inches apart. The rafter ends are tapered at the exterior walls and extend to form the soffit. The walls are composed of a 4-foot 4-inch high concrete masonry units (CMU) wall topped with light wood framing. The CMU is painted white, while the clapboard walls are clad with stucco. Inset within the center of the west facing principal façade is a single door, 8 feet 8 inches in width and 7 feet in height, built to accommodate entry by a single car. The north elevation features four fixed three-over-three wood awning windows, all of which appear original, while the east side features two three-over-three wood awning windows. The south elevation, which shares the majority of its wall with the Carr-Greer Farmhouse, includes a cut opening used as a pass-through into the kitchen. The western 6 feet of the south wall, which extends beyond the exterior wall of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse, features a wood door that leads to the covered porch. The interior of the small garage is a single open space with a dirt floor. Wooden shelving edges the interior of the eastern wall. 3. Ham house (by 1937). The ham house is located west of the dwelling’s L addition. The entrance, in the east facade, faces the entrance into the farmhouse kitchen. A covered space with a concrete floor connects the farmhouse and the ham house. The ham house appears on an aerial photograph dated 1937. The ham house is a one-story, one-bay vernacular wood-frame building. Rectangular in plan, the ham house measures 12 feet 5 inches by 16 feet 6 inches. The building stands approximately 11 feet 9-1/2 inches in height at the gable end. The gable roof is clad with standing seam metal painted green. The roof structure consists of 2- by 4-inch rafters at 24 inches on center with a 1-inch-thick ridge board. The walls are wood clapboard siding over 2- by 4-inch wood studs at approximately 24 inches on center, with let-in bracing at the corners, clad with stucco. The building is supported by a wood sill plate measuring 3 inches by 4 inches, which bears directly on the ground. A concrete floor slab was installed within the footprint of the foundation at some time that post-dated construction of the building. A door is centered in the principal east facing façade, while a pair of wood-frame windows is set in the north façade. The interior is a single open space with a dirt floor. Section 7 page 10 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 4. Small carriage house (by 1937). Located northwest of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse is the small carriage house, which appears on an aerial photograph dated 1937. The westernmost 4 feet of the building appears to be an addition based on the framing conditions. The small carriage house is a single-story, one-bay, wood-frame building. Rectangular in plan, the building measures 10 feet 4 inches by 18 feet 5 inches. The carriage house stands approximately 10 feet 9 inches in height at the gable end. The side gable roof is clad with standing seam metal painted green. The walls are clapboard clad with stucco. The building has no foundation. The walls are supported by a wood sill plate bearing directly on the ground, with portions having decayed, leaving the stucco, now bearing directly on the soil, to support the wall. The exterior walls are constructed with 2- by 4-inch wood studs at approximately 24 inches on center and let-in bracing at the corners. The building has no openings except for a single large garage door in the principal east- facing façade that has been filled with a wood board-and-batten clad wall inset with a smaller door opening at the south and a small animal door opening at the north. The interior is a single open space with a dirt floor. 5. Three-bay garage (by 1937). Located to the southwest of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse is the three-bay garage, which faces south. The one-story, three-bay, vernacular wood-frame building measures 31 feet 4 inches by 21 feet 3 inches in plan. The three-bay garage appears on an aerial photograph dated 1937. The shed-roof is clad with standing seam metal painted green. The building stands 12 feet in height at the principal façade and 8 feet 10 inches along the rear façade. The walls are clad with wood clapboard siding. The foundation is board-formed concrete. A 6- by 2-inch sill plate bears on the concrete walls and supports the 2- by 6-inch stud framed walls. Let-in bracing is present at the corners of the walls. The only openings are in the principal (south) façade. These include three wood-plank double doors that extend the length of the south elevation. The doors vary in width from 8 feet 6 inches on the sides to 11 feet 5 inches in the center. The interior is a single open space with a dirt floor. A fenced area edges the three-bay garage to the east, forming a pen. 6. Barn (1937–1938). A large barn is located to the north of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse. The building faces south, and is a two-story, three-bay agricultural building constructed circa 1937–1938 by agricultural extension agent Conly Greer, based on standard plans devised by U.S. Department of Agriculture engineers and distributed to county extension agents. Greer Section 7 page 11 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State used the barn to demonstrate model practices to local farmers. The barn measures 38 feet 4- 1/2 inches by 70 feet 4-1/2 inches in plan. The interior has a main floor and a high loft. The barn features a Dutch gambrel roof clad with standing seam metal painted silver. Two cupolas/ventilators and a weathervane are set atop the ridge line of the roof. The walls are composed of wood framing clad in weatherboard, set atop a board-formed concrete foundation. Wooden doors that measure 8 feet 9 inches in height and 11 feet in width, are centered in both gable ends, and open by sliding on metal tracks. Wood blocks affixed to the walls to either side of the sliding doors limit the extent that the doors can open. Nine-light wood casement windows, which open out using a crank, are set to either side of the doors. Eight similar windows are also set in the east and west facades, although one of the windows on the north façade was replaced with a door at an unknown date. Some of the windows are replacements, with snap-in lights. The upper level of the principal facade has a large door with a wooden hoist edged to either side by windows. The north façade gable end also features windows to either side of the upper level. A 10-foot-wide concrete pad edges each door. The concrete pad at the principal east façade and the door have been modified to include an interior door and step. The barn interior has a wide center aisle that was used by farmers to drive wagons the entire length of the barn, eliminating the need to use wheelbarrows for the heavy work of cleaning and maintaining the barn. The barn has horse stalls on the west side of the center aisle. Inside the main door is a former granary used to store oats, corn, and wheat. At the end of the barn are the stanchions, stalls, gutters, and feed troughs for dairy cows. Health regulations required milk cows to be kept separate from other animals in the same barn. A partition wall was used for this purpose. The upstairs contains a large vaulted hayloft. The barn was rehabilitated in the 2000s to address repair needs and accommodate educational programming. The barn is in good structural condition due to the repairs, although some of the original interior farm-use features were removed during the rehabilitation. Today, the barn is used to demonstrate early- to mid-twentieth-century farming practices, local and family history, and the natural history of the area by the Ivy Creek Foundation. Non-contributing Buildings Section 7 page 12 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 1. Education building (1997). The education building is located to the northeast of the Carr- Greer Farmhouse within the original domestic precinct of River View Farm. The building was constructed in 1997 to support educational programming and administration related to the work of the Ivy Creek Foundation. The education building is a 1-1/2-story, three-bay, wood-frame building that measures 36 feet 3 inches by 44 feet 3 inches in plan. The gable roof features a hay hood front and is clad with slate from a local quarry. Three skylights are set within the roof. The walls are clad with Hardiplank siding, while the foundation is poured concrete. A trapezoidal concrete slab 4 feet long and 8 to 12 feet wide sits in front of the entrance. The heating is geothermal. The principal façade faces northwest. A single entrance door, measuring 41 inches, is set within a 12-foot-wide panel at the center of the principal façade. The door is edged to either side by single, single-light windows that open using a crank. In the south façade is a pair of French doors and two single-light windows. The north elevation contains four single-light windows. The interior features a large open space and exposed rafters, with small bathroom and office spaces located along the northwest side to either side of the entrance door. A loft space overlooks the main room over the entrance, while an enclosed storage room and housing for the building HVAC sit above the first-floor office. Additional space housing HVAC equipment sits above the bathrooms. 2. Tool shed (circa 2000). The tool shed is located to the west of the barn. The tool shed is a single-story, one-bay, wood-frame building that supports maintenance of Ivy Creek Natural Area. The building was built circa 2000 by Albemarle County. The building measures 10 feet 3 inches by 14 feet 3-1/2 inches in plan, and approximately 11 feet in height. The building has a gable roof clad with standing seam metal, Hardiplank siding, and a concrete foundation. The principal façade and gable end, which faces east, has the only opening, a single 5-foot 1- inch wide wood door. A concrete slab, 6 feet wide by 4 feet 6 inches long, is set in front of the door opening. The interior is a single space. 3. Restroom (1982). A restroom is located along the paved walk leading to the barn. The restroom features Clivus composting technology. It was installed by Albemarle County circa 1982 to address park visitor needs. Section 7 page 13 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State The building is compound and asymmetrical in form. The main block measures 14 feet 2-1/2 inches by 16 feet 2 inches. The principal façade, which faces northeast, is edged by a full- length porch that is 3 feet 11 inches deep with a concrete floor. To the rear is an attached enclosed structure set over top of the composting bins that is 16 feet 8 inches long, and a concrete slab that extends west from the composting bins. The concrete slab measures 20 feet in length and is 11 feet 5 inches wide. The slab ranges in height from 5 feet 10 inches at the east end to 2 feet 9 inches at the west end. The building has a shed roof clad with standing seam metal, clapboard siding, and a concrete block foundation. The main block is divided into two interior restroom spaces each accessed by a single door. Windows are fixed single pane sliding. The building was designed to recall former chicken coops that stood on the site, but were in deteriorated condition, at the time the property was acquired by Albemarle County and City of Charlottesville. Contributing Sites 1. Carr-Greer family cemetery (circa 1899–1956). The Carr-Greer family cemetery is located northwest of the farmhouse. The cemetery is composed of a walled precinct that contains four headstones and a pair of unmarked fieldstones placed upright in the ground within concrete footers outside the wall to the southeast. An area was reserved as a family cemetery based on a deed dated 1917 that divided Hugh Carr’s estate among his heirs. The open area around the walled precinct and the upright stones may contain additional unmarked graves. The walled portion of the family cemetery was built under the direction of Mary Carr Greer in the 1950s. It is composed of a low CMU wall that measures 23 feet by 11 feet 11 inches. The wall is one CMU, and thus 8 inches, thick. The height of the wall varies due to the slope of the surrounding ground from 4 inches to 1 foot 9 inches. Each of the headstones faces west. The headstone furthest to the north is that of Charles Whitten. The headstone is a slightly angled granite slab, rusticated on the sides and honed on top where the epitaph is located. The headstone measures 3 feet 7 inches in length and is 1 foot 7 inches deep. It is 5 inches tall at the rear and approximately 4 inches high in the front. The epitaph reads “Charles Francis Whitten / February 2, 1922 – August 14, 2008 / Husband of Eloise Culmer / Grandson of Hugh Carr & Texie Mae Hawkins / Son of Emma Carr & Section 7 page 14 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Tobias Whitten / Father of Lisa Whitten & Wanda Shurney / Grandfather of Simone Shurney & Cameron Shurney.”2 The second headstone is that of Hugh Carr, Texie Mae Hawkins, and Marshall Carr. Also composed of granite, the headstone is composed of a slab base that supports an upright slab, rounded at the top, and rusticated on the sides. The front is polished with an inset epitaph area. The base measures 2 feet 2 inches long by 1 foot 1 inches wide and 8 inches in height. The slab is 1 foot 10 inches in height, is 1 foot 7-1/2 inches wide, and 6 inches thick. The epitaph reads “Hugh Carr / 1843-1914 / his wife Texie Mae Hawkins / 1865-1899 / their son Marshall H. Carr / 1886-1916.” The third headstone, located to the south of that of Hugh Carr, marks Conly Greer’s grave. This granite headstone is similar to that of Hugh Carr, with a rusticated granite base and upright granite slab. The base measures 8 inches in height and is 1 foot 1 inch wide and 2 feet 2 inches long. The slab is curved on the top and is 6 inches thick, 1 foot 10 inches tall, and 1 foot 7-1/2 inches wide. The epitaph reads “Husband / Conly G. Greer / Mar. 30, 1883-Apr. 30, 1956.” The final headstone to the south is that of Mary Carr Greer. It is similar in character to that of Conly Greer’s headstone. The slab base measures 1 foot deep, 2 feet 8 inches long, and 8 inches in height. The slab is 7 inches thick, 1 foot 8 inches long, and 1 foot 10 inches high. The epitaph reads “Wife / Mary Carr Greer / Nov. 8, 1884-Dec. 10, 1973.” The two fieldstones are located 21 feet to the south of the walled precinct. The stones are set in concrete approximately 6 feet 10 inches apart. One of the stones is 2 feet 2-1/2 inches high and 1-1/2 inches thick, while the second is 2 feet 8 inches high and 3 inches thick. The stones do not include any text. 2. North field (by 1937). Located northeast of the barn is the north field, also referred to as Barn Field. This large relatively level expanse of open space served as one of the fields associated with River View Farm. Although no longer cultivated, the field remains open today through mowing, managed for plant and wildlife diversity as part of Ivy Creek Natural Area. The open space continues to recall agricultural use of the land, particularly due to its direct physical relationship to the barn. The open space of the north field measures approximately 5 acres. It is not marked by a perimeter fence. 2. Dr. Charles Whitten is known as a pioneer of sickle cell screening and a champion of African American medical students. Whitten founded the post baccalaureate program at Wayne State University School of Medicine, a national model for the inclusion of under-represented minority students in schools of medicine. Section 7 page 15 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 3. West field (by 1937). Located northwest of the domestic precinct is the west field, an open space maintained in open vegetative cover through mowing. This field is also no longer cultivated, but remains open today through mowing, managed for plant and wildlife diversity as part of Ivy Creek Natural Area. The open space continues to recall agricultural use of the land. Existing hedgerows that edge the west field to the east and south are consistent with those present historically. The west field is also about 5 acres in size and is not marked by a perimeter fence. 4. Tenant house site (by 1937). Located in the north-central portion of the River View Farm property is the foundation of a former tenant house known to have been occupied during the Greers’ ownership, and possibly earlier. The foundation of the structure remains in evidence at the edge of an old field. The foundation, which measures 29 by 25 feet in plan, is composed of piled fieldstones up to 1 foot in height. Two mature trees are located nearby that might have been part of a yard. Contributing Structures 1. Well (by 1937). West of the kitchen beneath the covered breezeway that connects the farmhouse and the ham house is a metal-covered space within a concrete slab floor set over top of a stone-lined well. The well provided water for the house into the 1970s. A pump was used to help draw water for indoor plumbing beginning in the 1930s. 2. Rock wall east of farmhouse (by 1937). Located to the southeast and east of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse is a mortared stone retaining wall. The wall follows the trace of a former alignment of Earlysville Road, and includes both straight and curved sections. The wall is fashioned from rubble fieldstone mortared in place with no capstone. The wall measures 152 feet in length, is 14 inches deep, and ranges in height from 2 feet 1 inches to 2 feet 8 inches on the outside edge. The interior height ranges from 8-1/2 inches to 1 foot 10 inches. The wall extends above the grade of the yard northeast of the farmhouse by approximately 8 inches. 3. Driveway leading to the small garage (by 1937). An asphalt driveway leads to the small garage from the west. The driveway measures 8 feet 6 inches in width. It extends from the current service road, following a portion of the route of post 1930s River View Farm driveway. 4. Service drive (by 1956). The service drive is an approximately 10-foot-wide gravel-surfaced road that allows park staff to access the buildings for maintenance purposes. The service drive extends north from the entrance road past the farmhouse precinct and the family Section 7 page 16 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State cemetery. The service road then continues along the edge of the paved walk to the barn. The service road narrows to 8 feet in width where it parallels the paved walk. The service drive appears on historic aerials as a farm route providing access to the barn and other outbuildings. 5. Dwelling precinct walks (by 1956). Several walks connect elements of the dwelling precinct. One is a concrete walk that leads from the driveway to the concrete slab floor between the kitchen and the ham house. This walk measures 3 feet 6 inches in width. A second walk leads from the driveway west of the ham house to the front porch of the farmhouse. This walk is flagstone set in concrete. The walk measures 3 feet in width. A third walk leads southwest from the concrete slab floor between the kitchen and ham house to join the mortared flagstone walk. This concrete walk measures 4 feet 1 inches in width. All of these walks appear to have been present by 1957. 6. Fenced pen adjacent to the three-bay garage (by 1937). Adjacent to the three-bay garage is a fenced pen composed of heavy gauge hog wire and wooden posts. The pen measures 18 feet 8 inches by 10 feet 3 inches. The fencing varies from 4 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 9 inches in height. 7. Home garden fenceline (by 1956). Set between the farmhouse and barn is a long, rectangular home garden space still marked with the historic fenceline present during the period of Greer ownership. The fencing that survives, which is not continuous, is composed of wood and metal posts and strands of hog wire and barb wire fencing. Historic bird’s eye aerial photographs as well as the personal accounts of family members indicate the presence of a very large home garden in this location. The section to the north was dedicated to growing corn, while the area to the south was a smaller kitchen garden. The fenceline ranges from 93 to 100 feet in width and approximately 250 feet long. 8. Fenceline along the former alignment of Earlysville Road (by 1956). A former alignment of Earlysville Road is in evidence on the hillside east of the farmhouse. Edging the former road are overhead power lines. A metal hogwire fence and metal posts follow the former road alignment. 9. Fenceline along southern and southwestern boundary (by 1956). Much of the southern and southwestern River View Farm property boundary remains marked with historic fencing composed of wood posts and barb and hog wire. Although the fencing is not continuous and includes sections that are on the ground due to rotted or dislodged posts, much of the fencing remains. Section 7 page 17 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 10. Fenceline near the barn (circa 1938). The remains of several interconnected fencelines are present north of the barn. Wood posts and hog and barb wire are present along the paved trail and near the barn that were believed to contain pigs as described in a personal interview with James Butler, the county extension agent who followed Conly Greer in the 1950s. 11. Fenceline north of the barn (circa 1938). A wire fence edged by a line of rocks is located north of the barn. The fence, where still complete, stands 30 inches in height. This fenceline is described in a personal interview with James Butler as a pasture fence for cattle. 12. Farm road trace west of the farm precinct (by 1956). Located southwest of the visitor parking area is a short segment of a road trace that likely served the farm historically. The road is surfaced with hard-packed earth and measures approximately 8 to 10 feet in width. Portions of the road are edged by a hedgerow, while others are washed out, leaving irregular rock in places. 13. Farm road trace in northwest corner of property (by 1956). Located within the northwestern corner of the property south of the peninsula that extends into the South Rivanna Reservoir is the trace of a former farm road. The road is surfaced with hard-packed earth and varies in width from 6-1/2 to 10 feet. Approximately 100 feet of the road are clearly visible today. 14. Dry stacked rock wall (by 1937). Located northwest of the barn is a substantial rock wall. The dry laid, stacked fieldstone wall stands approximately 3-1/2 to 4 feet in height, is 2-1/2 feet wide, and extends for 260 feet. Soil has deposited behind the wall on the uphill side, likely due to erosion of formerly cultivated fields. Several larger native woodland trees are growing along the downhill side of the wall, such as white and red oak and hickory. Although the wall retains a good degree of integrity, some rock has become dislodged and is now near rather than part of the wall. 15. Rock wall in northwestern corner of property (by 1956). A rock wall is located in the northwestern corner of the River View Farm property on a slope above Ivy Creek. The wall is composed of stacked fieldstones set around boulders. The wall measures 33 inches in width and 40 inches in height. The wall is approximately 64 feet long. 16. Spring box south of tenant house site (by 1956). Located to the south of and downhill from the tenant house site is a free-flowing spring and a spring box constructed of dry laid stone. The stonework forms two walls approximately 4 feet long, 2 feet high, and 1-1/2 feet wide. The spring box contains a pool of water as it flows from the spring. Section 7 page 18 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 17. Spring box near upper spring (by 1956, rebuilt 1970s). A second spring box is located near the upper spring within the northeastern peninsular section of River View Farm. The spring box is composed of stacked stones set in a triangular formation that measures approximately 10 feet 3 inches by 7 feet 3 inches, and 4 feet on a side. The stones stand approximately 4 feet 6 inches in height. A tree is growing on the hillside above the spring, and the spring emerges below the rocks and tree. The water from the spring flows 15 feet to a second spring site, also surrounded by placed rock. Rebar is set into a concrete footer associated with the second spring box. This structure measures 4 feet in overall length and forms a horseshoe. The back is 1 foot wide, while one side is 64 inches long, and 37 inches wide, while the second side is 48 inches long and 12 inches wide. The second spring box was rebuilt in the 1970s. Non-contributing Structures 1. Entrance road and visitor parking area (circa 1982). The contemporary Ivy Creek Natural Area entrance road arises from Earlysville Road northeast of its intersection with Rio Road. The entrance road is asphalt-paved and measures 20 feet in width. The road curves uphill to a visitor parking area located on the edge of the River View Farm domestic precinct. Associated with the entrance road is a park identity sign, access control gate, and informational and regulatory signs. The visitor parking area is also asphalt paved and shaped in the form of an elongated tear drop. The paved area accommodates approximately 40 cars, which park facing a central island featuring trees and grass. Two paved walks and an unpaved trail arise from the margins of the visitor parking area. Also located along the margins of the visitor parking area are light poles and bollards and signs. 2. Paved walk (circa 1982). An asphalt-paved walk leads north from the visitor parking area to the core visitor area of Ivy Creek Natural Area that also encompasses the domestic precinct of River View Farm. The paved walk is joined by a service drive, a portion of which follows the River View Farm driveway. The paved walk varies from between 5 and 7 feet in width. The paved walk leads to a pair of park orientation kiosks, passes the Carr-Greer family cemetery, a park restroom, and a tool shed before ending at the barn. Another section of paved walk extends to the education building and continues to a pollinator garden before extending behind the barn and back to the visitor parking area. Portions of the walk as it continues behind the barn appear to follow a historic farm road alignment and are Section 7 page 19 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State edged by remnant fencelines composed of wooden posts and woven wire and barbwire fencing. 3. Wall at education building (1997-1998). To the west of the education building is a native plant garden developed for the Ivy Creek Foundation by notable local landscape designer Ian Robertson. Framing the garden is a curvilinear low mortared stone wall built with funds furnished from the Commonwealth award granted to Ivy Creek Foundation by the Garden Club of Virginia circa 1998. The wall measures 14-1/2 inches in depth and height. It includes two sections, one to either side of the paved walk that leads to the education building entrance. The eastern side measures 45 feet in length, while the western side measures 30 feet 2 inches in length. The plantings are to the south of the wall. 4. Scout shelter (after 1992). Located to the west of the education building is a wooden shelter built by members of a local Boy Scout troop after 1992. The rustic open post and beam structure has interior seating. It measures 12 by 10 feet 4 inches. The roof is asymmetrical with a side gable and clad with asphalt shingles. The 6- by 6-inch posts are set in concrete. The posts are set approximately 44 inches on center. The interior is edged by 16-inch-wide wood benches 18 inches in height with a 36-inch-tall back. The roof of the shelter ranges from 11 feet 2 inches in the front, with an 8-foot 2-inch high opening, to 7 feet 3 inches at the rear. 5. Kiosks (2007, 2019). A pair of post and beam interpretive kiosks are located along the path leading to the domestic precinct from the park parking area across from the cemetery. An older kiosk, built in 2007, is a post and beam structure that measures 12-foot-square and has a gable roof clad with standing seam metal painted green. Clapboards are in the gable ends. The newer kiosk was built in 2019. The post and beam structure measures 18 feet square and has interior dimensions measuring 14 feet square. A cupola is centered in the gable roof. Shed roofs extend from the central roof to the sides. The posts are set in concrete footers. 6. Park trails and footbridges (post 1979). Several unpaved trails extend throughout the property. Contemporary wooden footbridges convey the trails across streams and wet areas. Contributing Objects 1. Stone entry markers (by 1937). Southeast of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse is a pair of stone entry markers set to either side of the historic entrance drive that once led into the domestic precinct. The driveway into the property edged the house to the east at least until 1937 as it appears in an aerial photograph in this location. By 1957, the driveway had been relocated to the west of the house and a new garage built along the Carr-Greer Farmhouse to the north. Section 7 page 20 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Flowering bulbs and shrubs edge the boulders to the outside. The markers are large rounded fieldstones that have not been worked. Non-contributing Objects 1. Park identity sign. Located at the entrance into Ivy Creek Natural Area from Earlysville Road is the park identity sign. The sign, set on the hillside north of the entrance, stands approximately 15 feet in height. It is composed of a single 8- by 8-inch wood post that supports a 10-foot-long 8- by 8-inch wooden beam from which the identity sign hangs. The sign measures approximately 6 long and is 4 feet high. Lights affixed to the wooden cross piece light the sign at night. The sign reads “Ivy Creek / Natural Area / funding assistance / Virginia Commission of Outdoor Recreation / The Nature Conservancy / National Park Service US Department of Interior / Ivy Creek Foundation.” Three logos are also on the face of the sign. They relate to Albemarle County, Ivy Creek Foundation, and City of Charlottesville. 2. Access control gate. Just west of the park entrance is a keypad access control gate that is closed when the park is not open to visitors. The gate is composed of two tubular metal gates, painted rust red, mounted on swinging arms supported by 8- by 8 –inch wood posts. The gates rest to either side of the road when open. The metal gates measure 4 feet 3 inches in height and 13 feet 10 inches in length. The wood posts are 4 feet 10 inches tall. A metal keypad mounted on a metal post sits to the south of the road and east of the gate. A sign that notes “No Dogs” is mounted on a 6- by 6-inch post between the keypad and the southern gate panel that also features a light. A sensor box mounted on a square metal post is located inside the northern panel, while a 6- by 6-inch wood post is located to its outside. 3. Sign system. Several signs are located along the margins of the entrance road and visitor parking area, as well as the central part of the paved trail. These contemporary features include a “No Pets” sign mounted on a 4- by 4-inch wood post; a “Private Residence” sign mounted on a 4- by 4-inch wood post; a sign marking a designated accessible parking space in the northern bay of the visitor parking area; a sign directing visitors to the education building with a “No Dogs” sign mounted on a 6- by 6-inch post near the designated accessible parking space; a “No Dogs” sign near the trailhead to the paved trail; a “No Parking” sign in the grassy area to the west and south of the visitor parking area; an “Ivy Creek” sign on a 4- by 4-inch wood post; and a trail sign post associated with the Red Trail as it leads south from the visitor parking area. Section 7 page 21 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 4. Overhead lighting. Two overhead metal lights frame the paved trail as it enters the park from the visitor parking area. These contemporary lights stand approximately 20 feet in height and are mounted on treated wood poles. 5. Bollard lighting. A system of bollard lights edge portions of the visitor parking area and the central part of the paved trail as it leads to the kiosks and education building. The lights are set on 3-foot-high 6- by 6-inch wood posts. The lights are repositionable long metal cones that can be pointed downward to light the trail. Each bollard features two lights. Integrity Analysis As of 2020, River View Farm retains many of the features known to have been associated with the property at the end of the period of significance in 1973. Nearly all of the resources present in 1973 survive, along with field patterns, roads and road traces, walls and fencelines, spring boxes, and other evidence of the farmstead, such as plantings near the house and woodlots. The development of the property as a public park has been carefully considered so that all interventions have had minimal impact on the historic setting and allowed for the property to be managed as a natural area. These limited interventions have included the establishment of a new entrance road and parking area, trails, and the addition of a few buildings to accommodate educational programming and visitor amenities. The visitor access road and parking are located beyond the view of the dwelling precinct, which survives relatively intact, with the three park- related buildings sited discretely, and screened with tree plantings, along the margin of a central open area that once served as an enormous kitchen garden for River View Farm. Within view of the open area associated with the kitchen garden, as well as the adjacent barn, is a large open space that once served as a farm field and continues to be maintained through mowing by Albemarle County. There remains one other large open space, a former farm field, that continues to be maintained through mowing. Elsewhere, management of the property as a natural area has led to the conversion of former fields to woodland. Even so, surviving walls, fencelines, and hedgerows help to illustrate the locations of many former fields. The natural undulating topography of the property remains unchanged, along with Ivy Creek and Martins Branch, both of which flow through the property. Check dams and stone walls remain in evidence in association with these waterways that were likely built by Conly Greer based on his understanding of soil conservation in order to control erosion. River View Farm possesses integrity of location as the original property acquired by Hugh Carr beginning in 1870, and where he chose to build his family a home. River View Farm also possesses integrity of setting due to the limited extent of development that has occurred within view of the property. One of the most dramatic changes to occur to the setting of the property was the establishment of the South Rivanna Reservoir in 1966, which inundated land to the north Section 7 page 22 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State of River View Farm and altered the flow of Ivy Creek into the river. This change, however, occurred during the period of significance, and was experienced by Mary Carr Greer during her lifetime. The property also possesses integrity of association due to the ongoing presence of the farmhouse and agricultural outbuildings that can be tied to Hugh and Texie Mae Carr, and Mary and Conly Greer, while integrity of feeling is conveyed by the historic character of the house and outbuildings, the contained space of the house precinct, edged by boxwoods planted by Mary Carr Greer, and the evidence of field fencing that indicates historic divisions between fields and pastures. Integrity of design, materials, and workmanship are diminished to a degree as a result of the loss of some formerly open farm fields that have been allowed to undergo succession, missing kitchen gardens and other evidence of use of the property as a working farm, and replacement of original roofing materials on the house and several outbuildings by Albemarle County to protect the buildings from deterioration. Despite these changes, which postdate the period of significance, River View Farm retains all aspects of integrity and continues to convey its historic associations with the Carr-Greer family. Section 7 page 23 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State _________________________________________________________________ 8. Statement of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) X A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. X C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Criteria Considerations (Mark “x” in all the boxes that apply.) A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes B. Removed from its original location C. A birthplace or grave D. A cemetery E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure F. A commemorative property G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years Section 8 page 24 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.) _ETHNIC HERITAGE: African American _AGRICULTURE_______________ _ARCHITECTURE______________ _EDUCATION_______________ Period of Significance _1870-1973_________ Significant Dates _circa 1880_________ _1937-1938_________ Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.) _N/A__________________ ___________________ ___________________ Cultural Affiliation _N/A__________________ ___________________ ___________________ Architect/Builder _Carr, Hugh (builder)__________________ ___________________ ___________________ Section 8 page 25 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph (Provide a summary paragraph that includes level of significance, applicable criteria, justification for the period of significance, and any applicable criteria considerations.) River View Farm possesses significance under National Register of Historic Places Criteria A and C during a period of significance that extends from Hugh Carr’s initial purchase of land in 1870 to Mary Carr Greer’s death in 1973. Under Criterion A, River View Farm is significant at the local level in the area of Ethnic Heritage: African American for its association with Hugh Carr, born an enslaved person, who established a prosperous working farm following Emancipation where he raised seven children, all of whom he encouraged to pursue higher education. Carr was part of a community of African American farmers, tradespeople, businessmen, ministers, and educators centered around Union Ridge and Hydraulic Mills that prospered during the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. River View Farm is also locally significant under Criterion A in the area of Education for its association with Hugh Carr’s daughter, Mary Carr Greer, who served first as a teacher at and later the principal of the Albemarle Training School for twenty years. Albemarle Training School was the only post elementary school available to African American children in Albemarle County during the Jim Crow era of segregated education. Mary Carr Greer inspired many of her students to seek a college education, while playing a key role in the community as an active member of many clubs and groups. To honor her contribution to the community, Albemarle County named a new school—Mary Carr Greer Elementary—in her honor posthumously in 1974. River View Farm is also locally significant under Criterion A in the area of Agriculture for its association with Conly Greer, who served as Albemarle County’s first African American Agricultural Extension Agent between 1918 and 1953. As Agricultural Extension Agent, Conly Greer helped many families improve their lives through scientifically advanced farming practices introduced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Greer built a large barn at River View Farm in 1937-1938 using agency plans for improved farm buildings. As a rare surviving example of a standardized barn plan built by an extension agent for this purpose, River View Farm is significant at a statewide level for this association. River View Farm is also locally significant under Criterion C in the area of Architecture for the farmhouse built by Hugh Carr circa 1880 that survives today. Although the house is similar to many built within the region during the nineteenth century, it remains a rare surviving example of a substantial home built by an African American farmer within Albemarle County during the period. The house also reflects the evolution of family lifeways on the property during the twentieth century through the inclusion of an addition built in 1915 by Mary and Conly Greer, the addition of electricity, plumbing, and central heating between circa 1930 and 1950, the application of stucco over the original wood clapboards circa 1940 and replacement of the original wood porch, and the enclosing of a two-story open side porch circa 1950. Few changes have been made to the house since the period of significance. These include replacement of the roof and some interior walls, wiring, trim, windows, and doors. Section 8 page 26 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Statement of Significance (Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.) Historical Overview Over time, four generations of the Carr family resided on the property. Hugh Carr, who was born into enslavement on the nearby Woodlands Plantation circa 1840 (VDHR 022-0621, NRHP 1989), worked as an agricultural laborer and later as farm manager for his former owner at Woodlands following the Civil War and Emancipation, eventually saving enough money to purchase his own farm. With his earnings, Carr began to acquire land associated with River View Farm in 1870, completing purchase of his initial parcel by 1873. By 1890, he had amassed one of the largest farms owned by an African American in the region. Upon Carr’s death in 1914, his eldest daughter, Mary Carr Greer, inherited a parcel that contained the farmhouse and outbuildings. She and husband, Conly Greer, later acquired the other parcels of the farm from Mary Carr Greer’s siblings, who had similarly inherited land from their father. They raised their daughter Evangeline at River View Farm. Three of Evangeline’s children—Theodosia, Hinton Jr., and Manfred—would each live on the farm with the Greers at different times. Mary Carr and Conly Greer married in 1913. Both were graduates of Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (present-day Virginia State University) and became notable persons within the local Charlottesville/Albemarle County community. Mary Carr Greer was an educator who became Principal of the Albemarle Training School in 1930. Albemarle Training School, which offered a vocational curriculum, was the first, and later, along with Esmont and Jefferson School, one of three to offer an education beyond the seventh grade for City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County African American students during the era of segregation. When Burley High School opened in Charlottesville in 1951 it replaced the three earlier schools. In recognition of Mary Carr Greer’s contribution to education, Albemarle County named a newly constructed elementary school for her posthumously in 1974. Conly Greer was hired by the fledgling Virginia Agricultural Extension Division in 1918 as the first African American extension agent for Albemarle County. Greer built the existing barn on the property as a showpiece and demonstration facility to educate his constituents. He also managed River View Farm according to best practices as taught by the Agricultural Extension Division, an outreach program of the United States Department of Agriculture. The Greers resided at River View Farm for the remainder of their lives. Conly Greer died in 1956, three years after retiring from his position as extension agent. Throughout their lives, the Greers Section 8 page 27 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State continued to manage the property as a farm, maintaining it in productive fields and woodlots, supported by outbuildings that served animal husbandry, storage, and other needs. In addition, both Mary and Conly Greer were tireless educators, working long hours and going to great lengths to provide opportunities to their constituents. The Greers traveled as a team from farm to farm in the county; Conly would teach best agricultural practices while Mary would work with the women of the household to teach cooking, canning, and kitchen and flower gardening. Although River View Farm falls within Ivy Creek Natural Area today, the cultural heritage of the Carr-Greer farm remains in evidence, particularly the domestic precinct. The property serves as the first stop on the Union Ridge Heritage Trail tour of African Americans in Charlottesville- Albemarle, a program administered by the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center and developed with the assistance of several organizations and funding provided by the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. CRITERION A--AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE River View Farm is significant under Criterion A at the local level in the area of Ethnic Heritage: African American for its association with Hugh Carr, born an enslaved person, who was able to assemble and develop a prosperous working farm following Emancipation where he raised seven children, all of whom received an education, and was an active member of the Union Ridge/Hydraulic Mills community of African American farmers, businesspeople, ministers, and educators that emerged during the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. A successful farmer and farm manager, Carr amassed nearly 109 acres and became one of the largest African American landowners in Albemarle County. Hugh Carr Hugh Carr was born circa 1840-1843. Born an enslaved person, the exact date of Carr’s birth is not recorded. Carr was born to parents Thomas and Fannie Carr at Woodlands Plantation, located approximately one-mile northwest of Ivy Creek Natural Area along the Rivanna River, in Albemarle County, Virginia. In addition to Hugh Carr, more than 25 enslaved individuals occupying five houses lived at Woodlands Plantation, owned by Richard W. Wingfield.3 As of 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, federal census records indicate that approximately 14,500 enslaved African Americans resided in Albemarle County, while white residents 3. The names of Hugh Carr’s parents are given both on his December 25, 1865, marriage license to Florence Lee and his September 6, 1883, marriage license to Texie Mae Hawkins. Albemarle County Marriage Records, Clerk’s Office, Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. Section 8 page 28 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State numbered 12,000. The census also suggests that there were approximately 600 free blacks living in the county at the time.4 Among these as of the winter of 1859-1860 was Rollins (also Rawlings or Ralls) Sammons (circa 1815-circa 1893), one of the millers working at Nathaniel Burnley’s Hydraulic Mills complex near Woodlands. Sammons worked as a miller from at least the age of nineteen at several different mills in Albemarle County, including one in Milton and another, Garth’s Mill, on Ivy Creek upstream from Hydraulic Mills.5 The first documentary reference to Hugh Carr is in the records of the First Baptist Church of Charlottesville, where, on November 18, 1860, Richard Wingfield presented Carr for baptism. Family oral tradition suggests that Hugh Carr may have been afforded a special status and privileges by his owner both before and after Emancipation; the documentary evidence of his baptism suggests this, as do later records of their ongoing business relationships and long- standing family ties that extend at least to the mid-twentieth century. It is also indicated in several records that Hugh Carr, like many enslaved persons, was not afforded the opportunity to read or write. Although it was illegal for African Americans, free or enslaved, to learn to read or write in Virginia, some plantation owners, including Thomas Jefferson, chose to provide educational instruction to their slaves. Local resident Charles H. Bullock recounted that “Peter Fossett taught my father [Berkeley Bullock] to read and write by lightwood knots in the late hours of night when everyone was supposed to be asleep. They would steal away to a deserted cabin, over the hill from the big house, out of sight.”6 Many of Albemarle County’s literate slaves and free blacks went on to become important civic and religious leaders post Emancipation. For others, like Hugh Carr, the transition to free society following Emancipation would have been all the more difficult without the benefit of literacy. 4. John Hammond Moore, Albemarle, Jefferson’s County, 1727-1976 (Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1976), 115. 5. Following the Civil War, Rollins Sammons returned to the mill in 1867 to serve again as its operator. He eventually purchased the complex with a partner, Webster Worledge, around 1873. Deposition of Ralls Sammons, March 6, 1873, “R. Vest and wife vs Nathaniel Burnley’s executors et al.,” Index No. 1911-046 Cc, Albemarle County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1768–1969, Local Government Records Collection, Albemarle County Court Records, The Library of Virginia, Richmond; Albemarle County Deed Book (ACDB) 81:478. Webster Worledge of Culpeper County had moved to Albemarle by 1868, the year he married Sarah D. Goodman, daughter and heir of William Goodman (1786–1855). At the time of the 1870 census, Worledge was living with his wife and her four siblings on the Goodman family property on the north side of Ivy Creek near Richard W. Wingfield’s Woodlands plantation. Albemarle County Marriage Records, Clerk’s Office, Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia; Albemarle County Wills Book (ACWB) 23:254; ACDB 63:360). 6. Samuel L. Horst, Education for Manhood: The Education of Blacks in Virginia During the Civil War (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1987), 51, 54, 62; Lucia Stanton, “Monticello to Main Street: The Hemmings Family and Charlottesville,” Magazine of Albemarle County History 55 (1997):117; Lauranett L. Lee, “Crucible in the Classroom: The Freedpeople and their Teachers, Charlottesville, Virginia 1861–1876,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Virginia, 2002), 22. Section 8 page 29 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State How the family got the surname Carr is unknown; however, there is evidence that the name may be linked to the Carrs of North Garden dating to the late eighteenth and nineteenth century.7 Both the Carr and Wingfield families owned large estates in North Garden, probably adjacent to each other. Two of the Wingfield sons, Richard and Edward, emigrated to Hydraulic sometime around 1840, Richard possibly earlier.8 Richard Wingfield built Woodlands in 1841, and Edward Wingfield’s farm was just to its north. In 1836, their brother John Buster Wingfield of North Garden married Elizabeth Carr of North Garden, the daughter of Dabney Carr.9 John and Elizabeth Carr Wingfield had a daughter, Mary Caroline, in 1837. Shortly thereafter both parents died, and Richard Wingfield was appointed guardian to Mary Caroline, although she lived at first with her aunt Ann Carr in North Garden. Ann Carr died in 1846. According to the 1850 census, Mary Caroline, age 12, was living in Hydraulic in the household of her uncle, Edward Wingfield at the time. In 1854, Mary Caroline married Horace Goodman, from a neighboring Hydraulic family. Sadly, both Mary and a son, William, died in 1858. Mary Caroline was written into the wills of both her Wingfield and Carr grandparents, but she preceded both in death.10 Dabney Carr’s will makes reference to property and slaves he gifted to his granddaughter. Mary Caroline’s husband, Horace, was a medical doctor. They moved to North Garden at some point after marrying, and he remained there as a doctor. Mary Caroline is buried in Hydraulic. How the family got the Carr surname is not known. The first record of the surname Carr associated with this freedmen family is in 1865, on the marriage certificate for Hugh Carr and Florence Lee with parents “Fannie and Thomas” under Hugh, and Mary Ann and Nelson Lee for Florence. Hugh, his parents and siblings are recorded as Carrs in the 1870 federal census, as well as subsequent censuses, with the exception of his sisters who marry. 7. The Carr family of North Garden was descended from Thomas Carr of Caroline County who owned several thousand acres in Fredericksville Parish on the South Fork of the Rivanna River as patented in 1830. His grandson of the same name inherited 2,000 acres and built Carrsbrook. In the 1780s, Thomas sold Carrsbrook and moved his family to a 400-acre farm in North Garden before 1800. 8. Richard Wingfield, born in 1795, was much older than Edward, who was born in 1820. 9. Dabney Carr, born at Carrsbrook, was Thomas Carr’s son, and the nephew of Martha Jefferson’s husband, Dabney Carr. 10. In his will, John Moore Wingfield indicated that his property, including both land and slaves, was to be divided among his children. Because she preceded him in death, daughter Mary Caroline would not have received any of the property indicated in Wingfield’s will. Section 8 page 30 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State It is clear from several pre- and post-Emancipation documents that an extended (Carr) family was enslaved in the household of Richard Woods (R.W.) Wingfield at Woodlands, in the village community known as Hydraulic, six miles north of Charlottesville situated at the junction of Ivy Creek and the Rivanna River. Slave schedules record anywhere from 21 to 27 enslaved persons at Woodlands in the decades preceding the Civil War. A record known as “Enslaved Mothers and Their Babies” record at least one known, and maybe more, sisters of Hugh Carr having children, and belonging to Richard Wingfield. In an 1860 baptismal record, we see several family members being baptized under their first names, “belonging to RW Wingfield.” After Emancipation, it is evident that many of those enslaved at Woodlands remained on the Woodlands estate for some time, yet none of them took the surname Wingfield. Post Emancipation Life On December 6, 1865, the U.S. Congress ratified the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime. Within Albemarle County, this meant that approximately 60 percent of the population was released from a life of bondage. Freedom, however, came with the seemingly impossible task of building new communities from almost nothing except hope, faith, and perseverance, amidst a well-entrenched social order that held strong to wealth and power and that continued to erect new barriers and obstacles to advancement and achievement. Soon after passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, Hugh Carr married Florence Lee at the home of her parents in Albemarle County, on Christmas Day, 1865. On their marriage license, Florence (or Florina) was listed as 18 years old, and Hugh 25. Based on court records, the couple resided at Woodlands following their marriage.11 However, the marriage did not turn out to be a happy one for Florence, and she left Carr in August 1867, approximately 20 months following their marriage. Records indicate that Hugh Carr initiated divorce proceedings against Florence Lee in 1873. The complaint filed with the court is signed by J.R. Wingfield as Carr’s attorney. It indicates that the couple had been living apart for more than five years, and that Florence Carr had left Hugh Carr on August 15, 1867, without returning. Wingfield describes Hugh Carr as a faithful and affectionate husband who had discharged “To the best of his ability, all the duties imposed upon him by the relation of marriage.” Based on these arguments, Wingfield suggests 11. Deposition of Richard Wingfield in the complaint taken per divorce proceedings against Florence Lee Carr by Hugh Carr 1873. Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. Section 8 page 31 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State that Hugh Carr is entitled “to a divorce from the bond of matrimony with his said wife Florence Carr.”12 Based on a deposition provided by Richard Wingfield in the divorce proceedings, Carr continued to live at Woodlands, in fact had “always lived with” Wingfield, and also served at the time as his “foreman” or “headman.”13 Following the end of the Civil War, Hugh Carr was hired by local farmers to work and manage their farms, for which he was paid in a combination of wages and a share of the crop. In 1868, Carr along with four other African American men, including his brother Armstead, entered into a share-cropping agreement with Albemarle County farmer A. A. Sutherland for the following year. In return for laboring for Sutherland for one year, presumably in his agricultural fields, the men were to share in one-quarter of Sutherland’s crops of tobacco, wheat, oats, corn, hay, fodder, and potatoes.14 Many other freedmen likely labored under similar arrangements, both formal and informal, in the years following Emancipation. In mid-August 1870, the federal census taker recorded 30-year-old Hugh Carr as residing on Richard W. Wingfield Woodland plantation, but as well in the household of his parents, Thomas and Fannie Carr, along with his brother Armstead, or in his own household with his mother.15 The census recorded his wife, Florence Lee, as living at home with her family by this time. One month later, in September 1870, Hugh Carr began making payments toward purchase of a 58-acre property, part of the so-called “Martin tract,” from John Shackelford who had purchased the land as part of a 93-acre parcel south of Hydraulic Mills from George Moore in 1866.16 John Shackelford sold the remaining 35 acres of the Martin tract to freedman Berkeley Bullock in 12. Transcription of the complaint taken per divorce proceedings against Florence Lee Carr by Hugh Carr 1873. Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. 13. Deposition of Richard Wingfield in the complaint taken per divorce proceedings against Florence Lee Carr by Hugh Carr 1873. Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. 14. 1868 Work Agreement between A.A. Sutherland and Hugh Carr. Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868– 1976, Box 10176, University of Virginia, Special Collections Library, Charlottesville, Virginia 15. Hugh Carr was actually listed twice in the 1870 census, both entries being recorded on the same day by the same census taker and listed one page apart. In the first entry, Hugh Carr is listed on the W.W. Worledge Farm, in the household of Thomas Carr (head) and Fannie (age 5*), and Armstead (age 26). The farm is owned by Webster and Sarah (Goodman) Worledge, who are white. In the second entry, he is listed on the R.W. Wingfield farm as the head of household, with Fannie (age 70), Margaret (12); Armstead and Eliza Carr in the household next to Hugh Carr on the Wingfield farm. Sister Clarinda is listed in another adjacent household with her children. The reason for the double listing is unclear but suggests that Hugh Carr and others in this area may have worked and maintained residences on neighboring properties. 16. ACDB 62: 194. Section 8 page 32 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 1871.17 The property had previously been owned and occupied by George Martin from 1834 until about 1849 and then was owned, and possibly occupied, by his son Patrick Martin from 1850 to 1860. Carr and Bullock joined six African American men, brothers and in-laws, all formerly enslaved at nearby Dunlora plantation, who together purchased a 51.8-acre tract on the eastern side of the road leading from Charlottesville to Hydraulic Mills (near the intersection of present-day Earlysville, Hydraulic, and Rio roads) in 1868.18 In only three years, records saved by the family show that Hugh Carr had paid off his 58-acre portion of the Martin tract with interest, making payments totaling $748.40. A deed for the property was recorded in the Albemarle County Courthouse in 1873.19 Soon thereafter, Carr initiated purchase of an adjoining tract of 25.75 acres in 1873. In 1874, he also began making payments on a 19.5-acre tract to the east in an area along the road to Rio Mills known as Cartersburg.20 On November 22, 1875, Hugh Carr contracted with the nephew of his former owner, J.R. Wingfield, to serve as Wingfield’s farm manager.21 The terms of their written agreement required that Carr “give his whole time & attention & bend all his energies & exercise all the forethought he can” to managing Wingfield’s property. For one year’s work, Carr was to be paid $150 and provided with flour, bacon, corn and firewood, a heifer in summer and fall, and a house and garden for himself and his mother. Additional benefits included permission to raise two hogs and chickens, and receipt of four pounds of bacon per week, one barrel of flour, and one-half bushel of corn per month. His duties included managing the hired hands, the livestock, and making sure the crops were properly tended, harvested, and readied for sale in the marketplace. If he were to miss work, $0.85 per day would be deducted from his pay, with a grace period of three days.22 17. ACDB 83: 323. Berkeley Bullock (1835-1908) was a principal founder of Union Ridge Baptist Church. He owned and operated a popular restaurant at Union Station, and also had a business selling wood, coal, and ice. Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, Heritage Trails, African Americans in Albemarle: Union Ridge describes Bullock as one of the pioneer businessmen in the city of Charlottesville. A portion of Bullock’s land is now included in Ivy Creek Natural Area. 18. Central Virginia History Researchers, “The Hydraulic Mills-Union Ridge community,” African American Families Database, Available at http://www.centralvirginiahistory.org/SammonsCemetery6.shtml (accessed June 10, 2020). 19. ACDB 67: 654. 20. ACDB 70:274; ACDB 82:90. 21. R.W. Wingfield died in 1875. His brother, Edward Wingfield, inherited Woodlands. It was Edward Wingfield’s son., J.R Wingfield. who entered into the contract with Hugh Carr to serve as farm manager. 22. November 22, 1875, contract between J.R. Wingfield and Hugh Carr. Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868– 1976, Box 10176, University of Virginia, Special Collections Library, Charlottesville, Virginia. Section 8 page 33 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Carr thus likely spent the next few years running two farms, his own property south of Hydraulic Mills and the Wingfield farm. The 1880 population census records Hugh Carr as living next door to the household of Berkeley Bullock, suggesting that both men were living on their respective portions of the “Martin tract,” purchased from John Shackelford, by this time. The occupation of both men was recorded by the census taker as farmer, further suggesting that they occupied and worked their own land. By 1880, Carr appears to have earned and saved enough money to build a home on his land. In the census, Hugh Carr is indicated as sharing a dwelling with his brother, Armstead, Armstead’s wife, Eliza, and their children, Lizzie, Alice, and Ernest. Armstead is listed as a farm laborer. The census also shows brother Thomas Carr and his family living in a separate dwelling adjacent to Hugh and Armstead Carr, possibly also on Hugh Carr’s land; the locations of homesteads is not currently known, but they may have been located at the current farmhouse and tenant house sites. Rollins Sammons, a miller, is indicated as owning the property on the other side of Hugh Carr from Berkeley Bullock. According to the 1880 agricultural census, Hugh Carr was already operating a highly diversified, approximately 80-acre farm, half of which was under cultivation and half kept in woodland. The census taker valued Carr’s land and buildings at $1,500, his farm equipment at $15, and his livestock at $100. Carr had 15 acres planted in corn, 7 acres in oats, and 10 acres in wheat, which yielded 500 bushels, 20 bushels, and 10 bushels, respectively, each year. He also raised Irish potatoes (0.5 acre), sweet potatoes (0.25 acre), and tobacco (8 acres), in addition to maintaining a one-half-acre apple orchard. Among his livestock were two horses—probably used for traction— as well as a milk cow, two beef cows, four swine, and ten chickens. Finally, Carr harvested approximately 15 cords of wood each year from the property. The farm that Hugh Carr assembled and improved, and made available as a home for other family members, contained several landscape features essential to sustaining those living on the property. It included a spring that provided clean, pure drinking water used in the house and for the livestock; field sites occupying relatively level terrain with fertile soils; and stands of woodland where rock outcroppings, steep slopes, and poor soils limited the productivity of cultivation. The land had been farmed for at least a century before being acquired by Hugh Carr. It is not known to what degree he adapted or adopted existing field patterns, farm roads, and features such as rock walls and spring boxes within the landscape. Receipts from the blacksmith reveal numerous repairs made to Carr’s plows and other tools, suggesting the extent of the rock in the soil and the fact that much of the land may have been marginal for farming. Carr, however, persevered and continued to improve the property and establish a prosperous farm that allowed him to continue to acquire more land, and later to support a large family. Section 8 page 34 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State On September 6, 1883, Hugh Carr, who listed himself as 40 years old and a widower on their marriage certificate, married 18-year-old Texie Mae Hawkins (1865-1899) at the home of the bride’s parents, Frank and Elizabeth Hawkins, in Albemarle County.23 Roy Temple is listed as presiding over the marriage. Texie Mae, as she was called, was described as a tiny, lovable person who was very jolly and always had a joke to tell.24 She met Hugh Carr while working as a seamstress for the Wingfields. Hawkins came from a large family of six girls and one boy. The Carrs similarly had a large family, also composed of six daughters and one son—Mary Louise, Fannie, Emma, Peachie, Hazel, Virginia, and Marshall. It is possible that Hugh Carr did not construct the two-story farmhouse at River View Farm until after his marriage in 1883 despite the census records that suggest Carr and family members were residing on the property by 1880. As built, the farmhouse was one-room deep, with a center passage and two exterior end chimneys. The house followed a plan, popular in the Upper South, known as the I-House. The first floor held two rooms, one a parlor, as well as an entry hall and staircase. The second floor also held two rooms and a central hall, with a smaller room above the first-floor entrance hall. The roof was wood shingles, while the exterior walls were sheathed with wood clapboards. Paired windows provided good light on the first floor. Brick end chimneys served fireplaces on both floors. A porch extended along the principal (south-facing) façade that featured a wood floor and a roof supported by narrow square wood posts. The front door was edged by wood panels inset with decorative lights. It is likely that the kitchen was housed in a separate building nearby or perhaps an early rear shed addition. No evidence of an original kitchen has been located to date. The interior was painted with colors popular during the day; sales receipts from 1897 document Texie Mae purchasing paint of deep red and Venetian yellow, fairly common Victorian era colors. Some of the floors, such as the historic bedrooms currently dark red, were likely painted by the late nineteenth century. The Carrs’ first child, Mary Louise Carr, was born in 1884. Son Marshall Hubert Carr was born in 1886, followed by Fannie Carr in 1887, Peachie Carr in 1889, Emma Clorinda Carr in 1892, and Virginia Carr in 1893. Annie Hazel Carr, the youngest child of Hugh and Texie Mae Carr, was born in 1895. Carr was strict about the children remaining focused on their work and was a “very close parent.” Both Texie Mae and her family always referred to Hugh as “Mr. Carr.” The Carrs instilled the importance of education in their seven children, who became teachers and community leaders.25 For Hugh and Texie Carr, education of their children was as important as feeding and sheltering them. Although he never learned to write, and had his children do 23. Marriage license, Hugh Carr and Texie Hawkins, Albemarle County Marriage Records, Clerk’s Office, Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. 24. Interview with Mrs. Bertha Cooper, Hugh Carr’s niece, born 1900, by Ivy Creek Foundation, April 19, 1996. Ivy Creek Foundation records. 25. Interview with Mrs. Bertha Cooper. Section 8 page 35 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State necessary writing for him, Carr urged his progeny to achieve as much education as possible. He was known to say, “I want to hear that you’ve learned to read and write.” At River View Farm, though perhaps not yet known by that name, Hugh Carr raised his large family in the house that he built, nourished by food grown on the property, including bread made of flour and corn meal ground at a mill run nearby along the Rivanna River by Rollins Sammons. The family attended church, and the children school, nearby at Union Ridge. While raising his large family, Carr also continued to add to his farm. On December 18, 1889, Carr purchased 147- 1/4 acres from Richard J. Shackelford, the son of John Shackelford, for $883.50.26 On January 1, 1890, Carr sold 124 acres of his recently purchased land to J.R. Wingfield for $589, retaining 23- 1/4 acres of the tract as part of his farm.27 By 1890, Carr appears to have owned approximately 125 acres.28 Carr was described by family members as a good man and a good farmer, but one who didn’t mix much with church people. Nieces and nephews remember visiting and helping with the farming: “It was ‘fun’ for us to clear the land. We dug up roots, thinned the corn… Got 25 cents and glad to get it.”29 Grandson Tobey Whitten recalls riding horses with the names Queen of Sheba and Hallie Selassie.30 Hugh Carr’s niece, Bertha Cooper, also remembered “He urged all the children to learn. He would say ‘I want to hear that you’ve learned to read and write.’ You could see the school from the house, he could see the girls playing and he’d get them later when they came home.”31 The Carrs resided within a larger community of African American farmers, businesspeople, ministers, and educators known as Union Ridge. Union Ridge and the surrounding area became a center of African American life during the last two decades of the twentieth century. By 1900, more than eighty African American landowners held nearly 700 acres in the neighboring communities of Union Ridge, Webbland, Cartersburg, Georgetown, and Allentown. By 1920, this number had risen to 1,100 acres owned by 160 individuals. It appears that the average size of 26. ACDB 92: 371. 27. ACDB 95: 323. 28. Ben Ford, “Land Acquisitions of Hugh Carr,” unpublished manuscript, Ivy Creek Foundation records, from ACDB records, Albemarle County Courthouse, Charlottesville, Virginia. 29. Interview with Mrs. Bertha Cooper, April 19, 1996. Cooper was the daughter of Cain Hawkins, brother of Texie Mae Hawkins. The family lived in White Hall, Virginia, and visited River View Farm often. 30. Summary of audiocassette tapes in the Ivy Creek Foundation records of interviews conducted with Carr-Greer family descendants during family reunions. Notes submitted by Corinne Nettleton, February 19, 1996. Ivy Creek National Area, Box 10176, University of Virginia, Special Collections Library, Charlottesville, Virginia. 31. Interview with Bertha Cooper. Section 8 page 36 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State the properties comprising these communities was relatively small—less than 10 acres—and that there were many renters as well as homeowners. Hugh Carr was a member of the recently formed Union Ridge Church. Although he never learned to read and write, Carr is said to have sat with a bible open in his hands, reciting passages he had memorized.32 Nearby residents included Reverend Tinsley Woodfolk, a prominent Baptist minister who founded several Albemarle County churches, including Earlysville’s Pleasant Grove Baptist Church by 1874, and his brother, Reverend David Woodfolk.33 Also living in the area was Rollins Sammons, who returned to Hydraulic Mills in 1867. Sammons operated the mills at Hydraulic Mills for more than twenty years and owned a half-interest in the commercial complex from 1872 to 1892. Carr likely had his grain ground at the Hydraulic Mill or the nearby Rio Mills a mile downstream where the road north from Cartersburg crossed the Rivanna.34 Freedman Albert Wheeler, a blacksmith, purchased land adjoining Carr and Bullock from Nathaniel Burnley’s Hydraulic Mills estate in 1872, while another group of four former slaves acquired nearly 20 acres opposite Carr’s Cartersburg tract around 1873.35 By 1875, African Americans had purchased more than 250 acres in the Hydraulic-Union Ridge area. For the community of newly freed men and women who worked to acquire their own farms and to establish churches and schools, Hydraulic Mills “was the community center, for here was found the Post Office, the Country Store, and the Flour Mill.” A ford crossing of Ivy Creek was located between River View Farm and Hydraulic Mills that facilitated passage between the two. The community that grew up near Hydraulic Mills was remarkable for the degree to which freed people managed to earn and save enough money to acquire land, sometimes land on which they had once been enslaved. Local community members earned money through work as blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers, dressmakers, teachers, or farm managers. Sometimes individuals worked 32. Interview with Frances Walker Hill by two members of the Nature Conservancy committee, February 1, 1977. Papers of Mary Carr Greer, Box 10176, University of Virginia, Special Collections Library, Charlottesville, Virginia. 33. Central Virginia History Researchers, “The Hydraulic Mills-Union Ridge Community” African American Families Database, available at http://www.centralvirginiahistory.org/SammonsCemetery6.shtml (accessed May 18, 2020). 34. 1904 receipt paid by Hugh Carr to Rio Mills for grinding corn. Carr-Greer Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. 35. Memorandum of agreement, November 1, 1871, between Albert Wheeler and Thomas Wood and Oscar Reirson, Commissioners, “R. Vest and wife vs Nathaniel Burnley’s executors et al.,” Index No. 1911-046 Cc, Albemarle County (Va.) Chancery Causes; ACDB 90:410. Section 8 page 37 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State cooperatively to achieve landownership. In addition to the mill complex, the community centered along a ridge traversed by present Hydraulic, Georgetown, and Woodburn Roads.36 This community appears to have thrived despite various forces opposing the potential for African Americans to succeed following Emancipation. Following the end of the Civil War, the federal government passed legislation designed to extend rights to African Americans with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1865) which abolished slavery; the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) that made citizens of all persons born in this country and afforded equal protection of the laws to all citizens regardless of race; and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870), that prohibited the federal government and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Additionally, also following the end of the Civil War was Reconstruction (1865-1877), an effort conducted by the federal government, as represented primarily by the Northern states, to fashion society so that African Americans could fully participate in this country as equal citizens. After the effort began to falter, it was abandoned by the federal government and the fate of African Americans was left to the individual states to decide. After 1877, many states passed discriminatory laws, enforced by the courts, that limited many aspects of community life for African Americans, while violence was perpetrated on African Americans that was ignored by policing agencies in Virginia and throughout the South. African Americans were relegated to second-class status. The racially segregated society that developed in Virginia after Reconstruction denied political, economic, educational, and social equality to African Americans. So-called Jim Crow mandated the segregation of public schools, public places such as restaurants, theaters, libraries, parks, and public transportation, and neighborhoods. The segregation of residential neighborhoods was enabled through the use of restrictive covenants and bank lending practices. Public schools available to African American children were typically poorly funded and far from equal to those of white children. Efforts to control the political process included various measures used to deny African Americans the right to vote or to run for political office, such as State-imposed poll taxes (1876) and literacy test requirements. In 1901-1902, these policies were entered into the Virginia State Constitution and 125,000 African Americans in the state lost their right to vote.37 36. Anonymous, “A Short History of Ayteesse,”” in Ayteesse 1948 (Albemarle Training School 1948 Yearbook), Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia; Letter, Central Virginia History Researchers to Kathleen Kilpatrick, Director, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, February 19, 2013. 37. The Virginia poll tax remained in force until 1966 when the United States Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in the ruling on Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections. Section 8 page 38 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State The Carr family was fortunate to live near a school where the children could be educated. Although its earliest history remains obscure, Union Ridge School was likely established for the education of African American children circa 1880 through the consolidation of an earlier one- room Ivy Creek School, located about a mile west of Hydraulic Mills, and the Salem School. The school was likely founded based on the unification of the Ivy Creek Baptist congregation with Salem Church and the establishment of Union Ridge Baptist at its present site on Hydraulic Road, known at the time as Webbland. Nearby landowners Berkeley Bullock and Albert Wheeler served as trustees for the church, while Jesse Scott Sammons was the church secretary. The church stands today at the intersection of Rio and Earlysville Roads and remains the home of an active congregation. Union Ridge Church and school likely tied together the people who lived in the nearby, growing African American rural neighborhoods known as Cartersburg, Georgetown, Allentown and Webbland. Land for the church was donated in 1876 by George Crawford, one of the six men who had purchased land together in 1868, for the establishment of Union Ridge Baptist Church, founded in 1867 as Salem Church. Evidence suggests that the African American Union Ridge congregation initially met in the old Ivy Creek Church building located on the old Barracks road west of Hydraulic Mills prior to Crawford’s gift of land for a new building.38 Union Ridge School likely occupied the church building before moving to its own site in 1886 at the intersection of the roads to Hydraulic and Rio Mills. After a fire burned the school in 1895, a new two-room facility was built on the property that became known as Union Ridge Graded School.39 Jesse Scott Sammons (1853-1901), son of miller Rollins Sammons and Sarah Scott Sammons of Hydraulic Mills, was the first teacher at the school. He was named principle of the school circa 1885.40 Sammons was also active in local Republican politics. All of the Carr children attended the Union Ridge Graded School, which was in walking distance of River View Farm. Mary, or Mary Lou as she was often called, attended Union Ridge School between 1889 and 1896, completing all grades available to her. 38. ACDB 63:63, Charles Bailey and wife Fanny to George Crawford, John Crawford, Pleasant Jones, William Jones, Peyton Jones, and Dabney Holmes, 51.8 acres, 1868; Central Virginia History Researchers, “The Hydraulic Mills-Union Ridge Community.” 39. The Daily Progress, November 4, 1895. 40. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, “Education: The Power of the Mind,” available at https://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/education-power-mind (accessed May 18, 2020); Central Virginia History Researchers, “An Historic Family Cemetery,” African American Families Database available at http://www.centralvirginiahistory.org/SammonsCemetery1.shtml (accessed May 18, 2020); Anonymous, “A Short History of Ayteesse.” Section 8 page 39 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Texie Mae Carr died in 1899 at the age of 34. She was buried in a small family cemetery near the farmhouse. Hugh Carr was left to raise his seven young children, ranging in age from 2 to 15. He never remarried, as noted later by daughter Peachie Jackson, who indicated a frequent refrain of Hugh Carr was “No step-mother for my children.”41 Hugh Carr continued to operate River View Farm following the death of wife Texie Mae Carr while daughter Mary Carr helped to raise her younger siblings. Records indicate that Hugh Carr purchased a new wood cook stove, a Juno #8 Range, along with a boiler, kettle, and pot, all for $17, in 1904. Mary was likely responsible for preparing the family meals before she would go away to college, using this stove. Mary would later describe the clapboard house that the family lived in, sited on the highest ground on the farm, in a school essay as follows: “There stood a massive frame structure of snowy whiteness with three gables facing as many directions. Two chimneys stood at either end like strong sentinels whose duty it was to guard it. In front an immense verandah spread like a mighty hearth which always welcomes one to its comforts… clustering vines struggling hither and thither form a network on the balustrades…”42 Despite the difficulty of rearing seven children without a wife while working the farm, Carr continued to insist that his children attend school and encouraged them to pursue the highest level of education available to them. As they reached school age, the Carr children all attended Union Ridge Graded School.43 During the initial years of the twentieth century, a new school— the Piedmont Industrial Institute--opened in the Rose Hill neighborhood in Charlottesville that offered additional grades to African American children. A May 1903 receipt saved by the family indicates that Hugh Carr paid $3.75 for son Marshall and one of his daughters (assumed to be Mary) to attend the new school.44 Mary Carr likely attended Piedmont Industrial Institute between 1902 and 1904, where she earned her teaching certificate. The school was short-lived, however, possibly due to a fire, and later closed. In addition to helping to raise her younger siblings, Mary Carr set an example in terms of education. Mary and her sisters worked in the summer at resort hotels, including locations as far away as Atlantic City, to earn money for school. 41. Interview with Peachie Carr Jackson by Rose Warfield, June 18, 1976. Notes for the use of the Nature Conservancy History Committee. Ivy Creek Foundation records. 42. As quoted in “Mission Statement: Anne 2/11”, unpublished document in Ivy Creek Foundation records. 43 Jesse Sammons attended the Freedmen’s School, also known as the Jefferson Graded School, in Charlottesville. He was the first teacher at the Ivy Creek school located about one mile west of Hydraulic Mills and served as the first principal of the Union Ridge Graded School that later became the Albemarle Training School. Sammons acquired two tracts of land totaling 73 acres between 1881 and 1885 about one mile southwest of Hydraulic Mills and became a neighbor of Hugh Carr. 44. Receipt, Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Section 8 page 40 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Mary Carr is believed to have taught locally until continuing her education, circa 1910, at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (present-day Virginia State University) in Petersburg, Virginia. Mary Carr did not complete her degree, however, returning to care for her ailing father in 1912. Her sister, Virginia Carr, likely assumed responsibility for their father’s care while Mary Carr accepted a teaching job in a nearby county, possibly to help support the farm. Una Mary Carr taught at the Jefferson Graded School in Charlottesville, which offered elementary school education at the time. Several of Hugh Carr’s daughters would eventually attend Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, and all but one would earn a degree from the college.45 Daughter Fannie, who did seek to earn an advanced degree, choose instead to work as a teacher, while son Marshall also was not inclined toward higher education. Peachie Carr left home to attend college in 1906. She would later become an educator and taught at the Jefferson School in Charlottesville for many years. Six of the Carrs’ seven grandchildren, ten of thirteen great grandchildren, and nine of twelve great-great grandchildren graduated from college. Many went on to attend graduate school and to serve distinguished professional careers in medicine, education, engineering, law, psychology, ministry, social work, and aviation.46 While at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, Mary Carr met Conly Greer. In August 1913, while at home at River View Farm, Mary Carr wrote Conly Greer to ask when he planned to propose marriage. On December 24, 1913, the couple was married. Hugh Carr had consented to the marriage after meeting Greer as noted in a letter saved by the family: Charlottesville, VA Dec 2, 1913 My Dear Friend: Your letter received am indeed glad to know that you arrived home safely and found your friends anxiously awaiting your return, am also pleased to know that you enjoyed yourself while here, we were truly glad to have you with us. In regard to you marrying my daughter Mary Louise, I would say yes I have no objection and hope that you will find her a true, loving and affectionate wife worthy of your loving care and protection. Hoping that you are well but and that you spent a pleasant Thanksgiving. I remain very truly 45. Mary Ann Coffey, “Hugh Carr, His Life and Legacy at Ivy Creek Natural Area” (unpublished manuscript, 2003), 7. 46. William H. Rough, Project Director, “A Report to the Virginia Humanities Foundation; A Search for Origins: Hugh Carr of Albemarle County, Virginia,” February 20, 2001. Section 8 page 41 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Hugh Carr Address: Mr. C.G. Greer, Seaside House, Atlantic City, New Jersey47 At the time of their marriage, Hugh Carr entered into an agreement with Mary and Conly Greer that allowed them to live in the house in exchange for their commitment to care for him and the property. Following their marriage, the Greers moved to River View Farm. While Mary continued to teach at the Jefferson School, Conly Greer, with a degree in agriculture and an attachment to the land that rivaled that of Hugh Carr’s, began to manage the property as Hugh Carr’s health continued to decline. Among the tasks conveyed to Greer by Hugh Carr was the repair and construction of outbuildings on the property to meet the needs of the farm animals. In support of this request, Conly Greer was to cut down trees on the property to secure the lumber needed to repair and construct outbuildings.48 Before Greer had completed the task, Hugh Carr died on May 23, 1914. The funeral was held at the farm, and Carr was buried next to his wife, Texie Mae, within the family cemetery.49 By this time, his property encompassed approximately 108.82 acres of land.50 In his will, Hugh Carr left each of his daughters a share of his property, while son Marshall received cash in the amount of $50. As a result of the agreement that Hugh Carr had made with Mary, she inherited the tract that included the farmhouse, cemetery, approximately 18 acres, and all of Carr’s farm implements and livestock. Following Hugh Carr’s death, Mary Carr Greer left her position at the Jefferson School in 1915 to join the teaching faculty at the newly formed Albemarle Training School, which grew out of the old Union Ridge Graded School with the addition of grades beyond elementary. Later that year, the Greers expanded the farmhouse, building a rear ell addition to the original house. The addition was built using timber cut from the property by an African American man from Belmont named Walter B. Harlow, who may also have served as the Greers’ carpenter-builder.51 The addition contained a kitchen and dining room, and incorporated or replaced an existing shed 47. Letter from Hugh Carr to Conly Greer, December 2, 1913, Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. 48. Deposition of Conly Greer in the civil suit of Peachy S. Johnson v. Virginia G. Carr, Emma Carr, Fannie E. Washington & Robert Washington, her husband, Annie Hazel Carr, Marshall Carr, Mary Carr Greer, in her own right and as Executrix of Hugh Carr, dec’d and C.G. Greer, her husband, 1916. Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. 49. Interview with Mrs. Bertha Cooper. 50. ACDB 165: 306-309. 51. Deposition of Conly Greer, Peachy S. Johnson v. Hugh Carr heirs, Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Section 8 page 42 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State or outbuilding, perhaps original to the late-nineteenth-century domestic complex. Conly Greer continued with his work upgrading the outbuildings on the property.52 As noted in a receipt of sale saved by the family, the Greers added circuit lightning rods to the farmhouse as well as to a barn in 1915. In 1916, Hugh Carr’s daughter, Peachie Carr, brought a civil suit against the rest of the heirs based on perceived inequities in the terms of the will. The suit sought redress regarding the division of lots within the property, the transfer of the farmhouse to the Greers, Conly Greer’s removal of timber from the property, and their receipt of several farm animals. Based on these grievances, they filed a civil suit for fair dispensation of Hugh Carr’s property. Depositions taken as a result of the suit outline the agreement and understanding that Hugh Carr reached with Mary and Conly Greer before his death, his request for Conly Greer to fell trees on the property to address outbuilding needs, additional tree cutting conducted in order to fence pasture land, and consider the value of the farm animals inherited by the Greers for redress purposes. The deposition of Jonathan R. Morris, nephew of Richard Wingfield, addresses some of these concerns, while also shedding light on the ongoing relationship between the Wingfield and Carr families: Carr told me that his daughter had recently married a man named Greer and that he had an agreement with his daughter and her husband whereby they were to live with him during the balance of his life providing a home with him, as he had no one prior to this time to take care of him in his old age and that he had given his daughter, Mrs. Greer, and her husband privilege of cutting enough timber to make necessary improvements to his home with the understanding that at his death they were to get this part of his place and the improvements that they had put on it. In other words, my impression from his conversation was that in order to keep his daughter and her husband with him so as to provide for him in his old age, he had given them these concessions to pay them for the care and trouble of providing for him in his old age. While talking with him he told me that he had lost all the hogs he had and that he was out of meat. I offered for him to go to my mother’s and she would give him some meat. Which she did, and also a couple of pigs as she had a good many on hand at that time. The reason that she was liberal with him in giving him meat and the pigs was on account of Hugh belonging to her uncle, Mr. Richard Wingfield prior to the Civil War and my mother and all of my immediate family thought a great deal of him on account of being one of the old family servants and always tried to help him any way they could, especially in case of sickness and want.53 52. Complaint and Commissioners Report, Peachy S. Johnson v. Hugh Carr heirs, Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. 53. Deposition of Jonathan R. Morris in Peachy S. Johnson v. Hugh Carr heirs, Albemarle County General District Court, Charlottesville, Virginia. Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. Section 8 page 43 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State It was during the civil suit that Mary and Conly Greer welcomed the arrival of their only child, Louise Evangeline Greer in 1916. Sadly, brother Marshall also died in 1916, although little information is available regarding the circumstances surrounding his death. The Greers sold many of Hugh Carr’s farm implements that year as well. Records of the sale of his personal property offer an interesting window on the material culture of an early twentieth century farm in Albemarle County, including such household items as bureaus and bedsteads, pillows and quilts, wash stands and lamps, an ironing board, piano stool, coffee mill, corn sheller, cutting knife, scale, sewing machine, and farm items such as a plow harness, buggy and harness, an old wagon, two calves, grind stone, old plow, double harness, cows, and chickens.54 The civil suit was settled in early 1917. A plat was filed indicating the division of Hugh Carr’s estate in February 1917. The six daughters each received a lot— Mary Lot 1, 18.82 acres; Fannie Lot 2, 22.4 acres; Virginia Lot 3, 19.2 acres; Annie Lot 4, 19.2 acres; Emma Lot 5, 19.2 acres; and Peachy Lot 6, 10 acres. The 1917 division notes the presence of a ¼-acre reservation within Lot 1 reserved for a “graveyard for Hugh Carr’s descendants, with rights of ingress and egress thereto and there from and the spring on dividing line of Lots 2 and 6 for the joint benefit of Lots 2 and 6.55 The deed also notes “Mary C. Greer is charged with certain posts which she had cut and to which she is entitled and which are now on the tracts allotted to the other parties to this it is adjudged ordered and decreed that she have said posts and she is authorized to have same moved from the property on which they are now lying as soon as practicable and when she shall have paid the $26.75 with interest as herein provided she shall be relieved from further liability as Executrix of Hugh Carr’s estate.”56 Thus the family dispute ended. CRITERION A--EDUCATION River View Farm is significant under Criterion A at the local level in the area of Education for its association with Mary Carr Greer (1884-1973), who served students throughout Albemarle County while at Albemarle Training School first as a teacher (1915-1930) and then as the principal (1930-1950). Mary Carr Greer influenced and inspired several generations of students through her leadership to “improve [yourselves] and help others as you go along” during the Jim Crow era that offered many impediments to achievement for African Americans. Mary Carr Greer’s own achievements and contributions to the community were recognized posthumously in 1974 when Albemarle County named a new school—Mary Carr Greer Elementary School—in 54. Sale of personal property from Hugh Carr estate, 1916. Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. 55. ACDB 165: 306-309. 56. Decree December Term 1916, Peachy S. Johnson v. Hugh Carr heirs, ACDB 165: 306-309. Section 8 page 44 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State her honor. The school, located near River View Farm, continues to serve students from neighboring areas of Albemarle County in 2020. Mary Carr Greer As noted above, Mary Carr Greer was born in 1884 as the oldest child of Hugh and Texie Mae Carr. After her mother died in 1899, Mary assumed responsibility for helping to raise her six younger siblings. At the same time, Mary took the opportunity to attend Piedmont Industrial Institute, located several miles away in Charlottesville, which offered education beyond the elementary level and where she acquired her teaching certificate. Between 1904 and when she matriculated at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, Mary Carr may have begun teaching at local schools while continuing to help raise her younger siblings. Mary completed two years at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute before leaving in 1912, possibly to care for her aging father. While living at home, Mary Carr began teaching at the Jefferson School in 1912. In 1913, she married Conly Greer, whom she had met while attending Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute. Following their marriage in December 1913, the Greers resided at River View Farm, caring for Hugh Carr and managing the farm. The Greers continued to reside at River View Farm following Hugh Carr’s death in 1914. Nearby, the Albemarle Training School had begun to expand. After Jesse Sammons died in 1901, Rives Minor was named principal of the school. He was replaced by John G. Shelton in 1903. Shelton remained in the position until 1930. During his tenure, the school expanded to three rooms by 1911. Soon thereafter, in 1911-1912, the first county training schools were established in the South by the John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen.57 With assistance from the Slater Fund, a two-room structure was added to the existing three-room school in 1915. As additional teachers were hired and a two-year high school curriculum added, the Union Ridge Graded School was renamed Albemarle Training School and became the county’s first high school for African American students.58 Albemarle Training School followed the curriculum advocated by Booker T. Washington, with an elementary school program followed by two years of vocational agriculture, domestic science, or industrial education.59 The 57. The John F. Slater Fund was a financial endowment established in 1882 to fund education of African Americans in the Southern United States. The fund remained in independent operation until 1937. 58. Central Virginia History Researchers, “An Historic Family Cemetery;” Lucia Stanton, “Chronology of Union Ridge Schools,” unpublished manuscript and research notes, 2014; The Virginia Journal of Education 9.4 (Dec 1915), 187; The Virginia Journal of Education 9.6 (Feb 1916), 299; Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, “Albemarle Training School,” African American Historic Sites Database, Available at http://www.aahistoricsitesva.org/items/show/12 (accessed May 18, 2020). 59. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, “Albemarle Training School.” Section 8 page 45 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Slater Fund and the county budget for “colored” schools provided the funds needed to establish the new school.60 With the opportunities afforded by the new Albemarle Training School, Mary Carr Greer left her position at Jefferson School in 1915, accepting a position to teach Domestic Science at Albemarle Training School. It was around this time that the Greers expanded the farmhouse. In 1916, the Greers welcomed a daughter, Louise Evangeline Greer. The Albemarle Training School combined vocational education, such as Home Economics, Agriculture, and Shop, with various academic courses, including English, Math, Chemistry, Biology, History, French, and Latin. In 1919, a newspaper article described the school as having three buildings and an enrollment of 105 students. Mary Carr Greer is listed as one of the teachers in the article, which notes: “John G. Shelton, principal and instructor in shop work; Jackson Burley, agriculture; Mary Carr Greer, home economics; Julia Shelton and Bessie Taylor, academic work. The article described the industrial curriculum as boys being “taught carpentry, cobbling, chair caning, shuck mat and broom making, farming (additional land about to be bought for expanded agricultural work)” and girls “sewing, cooking, rug making.”61 Mary Carr Greer likely aspired to teach more than domestic science. In a letter dated 1922, Mary Carr Greer wrote to the principal of Albemarle Training School, inquiring about the possibility of applying for an academic teaching position, indicating that she had passed the examinations necessary to teach English and her hope to expand on her home economics experience.62 Greer is known to have continued her education by taking graduate level classes at Cornell University, Virginia Union, Hampton Institute, and Fisk University during the summers. As noted by Frances Walker Hill, a former student, Mary Carr Greer would go every other year for a “refresher course.”63 In 1930, Albemarle Training School Principal, John G. Shelton, retired, and Mary Carr Greer was named the new principal. Although many women serve as school principals today, one of Mary Carr Greer’s former students notes how unusual it was in 1930. During an interview conducted in 1978, Albemarle Training School graduate Oneida Smith noted: In that day and time, you just didn’t see or hear of a woman being principal, although it is common now, and it must have seemed strange. But I never heard anything about it regarding Mary Carr Greer, one way or the other. Nobody would speak against her for anything…because she was so positive, so firm…people wanted their children to go to 60. The Daily Progress, August 4, 1915. 61. The Daily Progress, April 25, 1919. 62. Letter, 1922, Mary Carr Greer to Mr. H.L. Bennett, Principal, Albemarle Training School, July 12, 1922. 63. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. Section 8 page 46 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State school, to be under her, because…she taught them something. They learned. You liked her. I have never heard of any vandalism of any kind at Albemarle Training School.64 Perhaps to ensure her credentials were in order, Greer returned to Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, which had been renamed Virginia State College, to complete her college degree soon after beginning her new job. An article in the New Journal and Guide dated June 24, 1933, notes: “Mrs. Mary Greer, who was awarded her B.S. degree at recent commencement exercises at Virginia State College after being out of school for 20 years. She staged a come-back four years ago after being granted a leave of absence from the principalship of the Albemarle County Training School. Mrs. Greer, who is principal of the same school which she attended as a girl, is the wife of C.G. Greer, county farm agent, who is considered one of the most influential farmers in Albemarle County. They have one child, Evangeline, who was a freshman at State College last year. Mrs. Greer has been teaching at the same school 17 years and is very prominent in club and fraternal affairs in this section of the state.”65 The active role that Mary Carr Greer took in clubs and organizations noted in the newspaper article was echoed in a personal interview conducted with her sister, Peachie Carr Jackson. In the interview Jackson describes her sister as a leader in organizing and encouraging social and cultural life in many areas, including organizing the first retired teachers club in Albemarle County that grew from a small group of women that met in private homes to a large gathering that had to meet in public places. As the organization grew, they began to meet at the Hideaway Hills Club, a private catering and restaurant business on U.S. Highway 29 South, operated by another African American family, the Jacksons.66 As noted by former student Frances Walker Hill, “she was everywhere. She belonged to every club in Charlottesville. And she would be from organization to organization.”67 Her granddaughter, Theodosia Lemons, also recalls how involved Mary Carr Greer was in the community, noting that she “belonged to all the civic groups and went to all the meetings. And belonged to the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.”68 She is also known to have been a member of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.69 One of Mary Carr Greer’s favorite pastimes was gardening, both to produce food for the kitchen, and to cultivate ornamental plants. As noted by her granddaughter, Theodosia Lemons, “Mary 64. Interview with Mrs. Oneida Smith by Mrs. John N. Warfield, November 15, 1978. Papers of the Carr-Greer Family, 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. 65. “After 20 years,” New Journal and Guide, June 24, 1933, A8. 66. Interview with Peachie Jackson by Rose Warfield, 1976. Ivy Creek Foundation records. 67. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. 68. Interview with Theodosia Lemons by Ivy Creek Foundation Farmhouse Group, September 7, 2019. Ivy Creek Foundation records. 69. “Charlottesville Couple Observe 25th Anniversary,” New Journal and Guide, January 14, 1939. Section 8 page 47 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Greer planted roses, zinnias, geraniums around the porch. She did not go on vacation because of her plants. She ground up fertilizer like coffee grounds and eggshells to put on the plants. There were huge boxwoods, you could hardly get out on the front porch. There was a pear tree near the curve in the road. There were stone piers. There were apple trees along the side going towards the road.” She also loved indoor plants, with a passion for African violets. One of the productive gardens was located between the barn and the farmhouse. “They grew watermelons, strawberries that Conly covered the ground with straw to keep from decaying. Brussel sprouts, broccoli, asparagus behind where the canned good building stood, and the garden extended all the way to the barn.”70 Evidence of Mary Carr Greer’s interest in gardening survives around the farmhouse precinct to this day. The fenceline associated with the large kitchen garden survives, along with large boxwood and forsythia in front of the house, and bulbs and perennials like irises that return each year. Mary Carr Greer belonged to a local chapter of the Negro Garden Club organization. She competed in local flower competitions with other local garden club members.71 She is also noted as entertaining the Southside Garden Club in a newspaper clipping: “Arrangements of flowers made from flowers from Mrs. Greer’s yard. A most bountiful and appetizing repast was served by the hostess.”72 Mary Carr Greer continued to teach American history even after being named principal. She also oversaw and encouraged extracurricular activities at the school, which included Lyric Club, the 4-H Club, and annual events such as Father and Son Banquet, Field Day, and May Day. She was personally invested in the success of her students, likely the reason why so many graduates remembered her as an important influence in their lives. Oneida Smith, for example, remembers May Greer as: interesting to listen to, stimulating and moving… you could go to class and say ‘Oh, I can’t do this, or I can’t do that’ but by the time Mrs. Greer got through with the lesson you were ready to do research, because you were just so...motivated… Also Mrs. Greer was firm, and positive, yet a good leader. She was so firm that we called her, behind her back, ‘Pistol Pete’…. Because the children would say, ‘Well, she is just standin over us all the time, with a pistol. And they named her ‘Pistol Pete’. … she tried to get as many of the able students as possible to continue their education if at all possible… She taught history and government, and home economics… She mixed with the students, and with the parents… and she was interested in the community work, and Sunday Schools… she thought that the chief function of education was the formation of character, and to make something of ourselves. She said that many times ‘Just make something of yourselves!’73 Another student, Frances Walker Hill, interviewed in 1978, recalled how Mary Carr Greer 70. Interview with Theodosia Lemons. 71. Untitled description of a Garden Club flower and garden show “Autumn Song,” New Journal and Guide, October 29, 1955. 72. Newspaper clipping: Mrs. Greer Entertains Southside Garden Club. No source information. 73. Interview with Mrs. Oneida Smith. Section 8 page 48 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State used to visit the children’s parents. And she knew about the homes that could afford it. And most of the time, when we went to school, there wouldn’t be a family that wouldn’t have two children in high school. When I went, I had another sister; we were both in the same grade. And most families had two children in high school…and Mrs. Greer would insist upon the families, if both the children graduate in June or May…see if they couldn’t get one child in college, and the child that had to stay at home, see if she could get a good job, to help this child in college, so that one child could finish. Some of the parents went along with it. And then some of the parents said that if you kept this out, Number A went to college, and Number B stayed home, when Number A finished college Number B wouldn’t want to go. And that did happen. But most of the students, while Mary Carr Greer was principal, went to college…74 One of the areas where Mary and Conly Greer worked closely together was the 4-H program administered by the Virginia Agricultural Extension Division and offered as an activity at Albemarle Training School. The couple also regularly visited families throughout the county, sometimes together. Oneida Smith notes: The first time I ever seen Mrs. Greer she was coming around with Mr. Greer. He was the farm agent in that part of the county, and she would visit with him. She would come just to visit…She would visit the women folks while he talked to the men. …75 Mary and Conly also met with other families through their participation in church activities. Frances Walker Hill indicated that Mary Carr Greer “belonged to the …First Baptist [Church]. But she loved visiting all the churches. Because she would go around from community to…she used to come to my church quite often, that’s Zion Union, in Charlottesville. She used to love to visit all the churches…I think, to see her students, and to see her friends. Because she would love to see whether the children really went to Sunday School and church on Sunday, or what did they do!”76 In addition to visiting families at their homes, the Greers appear to have helped out county families as possible. Frances Walker Hill notes that the “Greers always kept some students, that was poor… And the parents, you know, wasn’t able to pay a lot of money for their room and board. And they would do some work, in the reply for their room and board. …several people used to, students, used to stay in that house. I remember a schoolteacher used to stay [in a building near the house] by the name of Summerall. He used to stay there with a nephew of his that was going to Training School, he was at the training school too. And he did a lot of work on the farm, helped Mr. Greer around at the barn, with the cattle that he had…and in the 74. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. 75. Interview with Mrs. Oneida Smith. 76. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. Section 8 page 49 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State summertime with the garden. They used to raise a huge garden.”77 More specifically, Walker indicates that During the summer she would have children that would come, to take and work for her…She used to give them a little money. And then, a lot of the children that was in school that wanted to volunteer and help her, you know, they would go in there and help her like that. And that’s how she kept up. She always kept a…you know that little room from the kitchen, which the old people always used to call the “cellar house”… There is where she used to keep all the fruit, and the butter and the milk, and things like that, and she always had aplenty. You never went to Mary Carr Greer’s house, but she didn’t have aplenty of food, of all kinds. But she was the type of lady that liked people, there was somebody staying there, teachers, or students, or somebody, all the time. And I imagine that when the people came there, they helped, give her a hand you know, (indistinguishable) season, give her a hand, it wasn’t hard… Because people used to, you know, in those days, do canning. It wasn’t no deep freeze process, you know. And they had these…these pressure canners… And then, a lot of times, when we were in school, why Mr. Greer would come along on a day like in April…seem like he used to always put in an early garden. And before our school was over, it wouldn’t be anything for him to bring a bushel of beans, or peas, or something like that over there. And you see, we could use that for our project today! You take ten or fifteen children get that stuff, to stringing beans and canning them. You got, well its ready in about twenty-five or thirty minutes! Yes. We had a steam pressure cooker there. And you put those beans and things in there, and turn that pressure gage up, and in so many minutes, its ready! And then she’d have four or five children over there, washing jars, so that when the pressure cooker was ready, there was your jar ready, to put the vegetables in.78 During the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s, the Greers’ granddaughter, Theodosia Jones (now Lemons) came to live at River View Farm. She remembers helping out with all kinds of work in the gardens. Theodosia recalls that the stucco was added to the exterior of the farmhouse during the time she was living there. She remembers the canning cellar northeast of the house, as well as the various outbuildings present on the property today.79 During the period when Mary and Conly Greer worked for the state and the county racial discrimination was prevalent. Both the school system and the Virginia Agricultural Extension Division were subject to segregation policies that afforded fewer resources to the African American programs than the white equivalents, even as they were described as “separate but equal” under the law. This manifested itself in challenges for children getting to school and being comfortable while at school. Smith described Albemarle Training School as a “disgrace,” with no running water and no central heat. “We had these great big what you call pot-bellied stoves… 77. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. 78. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. 79. Interview with Theodosia Lemons. Section 8 page 50 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State We’d go in and be freezing to death, and get around the stove… Yes, I would say, the building is one of the things I would like to have changed.”80 Oneida Smith described the challenges associated with getting to school, which was located a long distance for some students in the county. Although there were buses available to provide transportation, she described them as old and unreliable. To reach the bus stops some children had to walk long distances.81 Frances Walker Hill remembered “the school buses were always overloaded, because they would try to get in as many children as they could, to get them to school, and we always had to hold somebody in our lap…”82 When the children could not get home because of problems with the bus, they often stayed at River View Farm. As noted by Frances Walker Hill, “Well, you see, like, if this was a bad day… she would find something, someplace, to rescue you, till your parents got there.”83 Frances Walker Hill also remembered learning about slavery while at Albemarle Training School: Every year. They had Negro History Week in February. You learned about what Carver did…you learned about Mary Betheune…and George Washington Carver, because you took a study of those people. And that was the only time I ever heard in school, anything about slavery or the elderly people in those days. And then I talked with Mary Carr Greer. And she said something about people was brought over here, from Africa or something…and maybe, she said, your great-great-grandmother, was a slave on somebody’s farm, or something, you know? And I say, “it’s can’t be so”. And…but, it was such a little bit told about it I can’t even remember! What it was. But since then, you know…when I started searching, and getting books and things…then I found out for myself about slavery.84 When asked about how Mary Carr Greer dealt with the issue of racial discrimination, Oneida Smith noted: she didn’t ignore it, but neither did she have, as you say, any hard feelings. Never any hard feelings…but what she actually did was she told us the facts, the truth…but as for having any hard feelings or animosity toward…nor hard feelings in her heart towards the white race, no…none of that. There was none. But not that we would have a dislike of white people. Oh, yes. She would talk about them (racial injustices?) … I just…I have heard Mrs. Greer say more than one time that the aim, the purpose of education is the formation of one’s character. If you build your character, to the point that you are going to be able…that you can mix with anybody…that you can get along, with most people…if you form your own character. I am sure that that is what she meant when she said that. She said – “Make something of yourself!” if you are going to make something 80. Interview with Mrs. Oneida Smith. 81. Interview with Mrs. Oneida Smith. 82. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. 83. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. 84. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. Section 8 page 51 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State of yourself, you won’t mind if maybe you have these ups and downs, and you’ll have these trials and errors, but there is no hard feelings toward (indistinguishable)…Because, if I can mold my own character, maybe there were a lot of things that happened back in the Civil War time, maybe there were a lot of things that white people thought were wrong, and a lot of things that the black people thought were wrong, but why should I hold malice in my heart for that. …85 They got rid of Albemarle Training School before they integrated. Because they closed down Albemarle and built Burley. They built this new high school, that consolidated the Charlottesville blacks, and the Albemarle blacks. And the old school, I don’t remember the time on that, but they sold it, I don’t know to whom, and they got rid of it.86 During a 2013 reunion of the Albemarle Training School class of 1947, several of the attendees were interviewed about their experience. Mabel Guthrie described how the school “was segregated and when we would go into town we would have to ride in the back of the bus and sit in the back of the bus station and if you wanted to eat anything you went to the counter at Woolworth's and bought your sandwich and then you had to walk down the street and eat it.” At the same time, Guthrie also recognized the school for providing her with the foundation she needed for a lifetime of learning, later attending Virginia State College and earning both a Bachelor and Masters degree. She believes it was because “We had dedicated teachers who really took time with us.” In particular, those interviewed remembered their strict but wonderful principal, Mary Carr Greer. Mary Carr Greer maintained friendships with a wide range of community members, who were both African American as well as white. On the occasion of Mary and Conly Greer’s 25th wedding anniversary, an account in the newspaper illustrates the couple’s connection with and importance in the community. The article notes: The home of Mr. and Mrs. Conly G. Greer of “River View” near Charlottesville was the scene of a wedding reception and family reunion at which time this popular couple celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary of their marriage with many of their friends. C.G. Greer, who hails from Crumpler, NC, is a graduate of Virginia State College, taught in the public schools of Albemarle County, and is now local farm agent of Albemarle County. Mrs. Mary Carr Greer is the oldest of seven children of the late Texie M (Hawkins) Carr and Hugh Carr well known citizens of Albemarle County. She was educated in the public schools in Albemarle County, holds a B.S. degree in education from Virginia State College and has done advanced study at Fisk University and Cornell University. She is principal of Albemarle Training School which has made great progress under her administration. 85. Interview with Mrs. Oneida Smith. 86. Interview with Mrs. Oneida Smith. Section 8 page 52 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Mr. and Mrs. Greer have one daughter, Evangeline, who holds a B.S. degree in Home Economics from Virginia State College and M.S. degree from Cornell University. She married Hinton C. Jones of Dublin, GA, who holds an A.B. degree from Morehouse College and had done advanced study at the University of Minnesota, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University, from which institution he holds a M.A. degree. The high esteem and respect in which Mr. and Mrs. Greer are held was shown by the large number of cards, letters, and telegrams as well as many useful and handsome silver gifts including money from white and colored friends from all parts of the country. A very unique program was rendered at which time remarks were made by Miss Penelope Barbour, a graduate of Virginia State College and teacher in the Albemarle County Schools, Miss Jane C. Johnson, teacher in the city schools, J.R. Morris, ex-mayor of Charlottesville, Charles Bullock, retired YMCA secretary, and life-long friend of the family. Prayer was offered by Rev. I.A.J. Kennedy, pastor of Zion Union Church, Charlottesville, Christmas carols and other selections were led by Mrs. M. Bessie Taylor and Mrs. Docia Johnson, teachers in the city schools. Mrs. Cora B. Duke, principal of the Jefferson School of Charlottesville, was toastmistress. Toasts to the twenty-five-year bride and groom were given by other friends. A classical instrumental solo was rendered by Miss Aquilla Jones, graduate of Spelman College and Columbia University. Miss Jones has also studied abroad. Violin music was furnished by Prof. Hinton Co. Jones of South Carolina State College, and son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Greer. He was accompanied by his sister, Miss Aquilla Jones. Mrs. Peachie Carr Johnson presided at the punch bowl. White friends present included Mrs. Bessie Dun Miller, county home demonstration agent, and Richard Miller, Mis Ruth Burress, assistant home demonstration agent, Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Wingfield and daughter Miss Betsy Wingfield; Mr. and Mrs. L. Deyerle, Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Morris, Mrs. Lucy Morris and Miss Calhoun, Mr. Quarles and daughter Miss Eleanor Quarles of Chicago University, and Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Morris, ex-mayor of Charlottesville. Other out of town guests included Mrs. Hazel Carr Jackson, and son Earle of Farmville, Miss Nettie Kennedy and Frederick Burley of Hampton Institute, Miss Channie Catlett teacher of Fredericksburg, Miss Grace Burley, music teacher, Miss Aquilla Jones, instructor in music in Macon, GA, Mr. and Mrs. Hinton Jones of Orangeburg SC, Mrs. Elizabeth Airston of Pittsburg, PA, Miss Nellie P. Jackson, R. N. of Petersburg, VA. Miss Celestean Wood, Virginia State Colelge, Harold Henderson, Washington, D.C., Miss Gertrude Samuels, teacher, Luray, VA.87 Conly Greer died in 1956, three years after retiring from his job of 35 years. During the later years of his life, it appears that Greer built a garage for Mary along the north side of the house. The two buildings shared a wall. An opening was made into the wall of the house so that Mary Carr Greer could pass her groceries through to the kitchen from the garage. It was also during the mid-1950s that a two-story exterior porch on the west side of the addition was enclosed with walls and a bank of windows. Grandson Manfred Jones, who came to live with Mary Carr Greer 87. “Charlottesville Couple Observe 25th Anniversary,” New Journal and Guide, January 14, 1939. Section 8 page 53 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State at River View Farm following the death of Conly Greer, remembers these buildings, helping his grandmother with the farm, and keeping her company between the mid-1950s and the mid- 1960s.88 In 1966, River View Farm was impacted by the establishment of the South Rivanna Reservoir. A dam was built downstream from River View Farm that resulted in the inundation of hundreds of acres along its margins, as well as a portion of Ivy Creek. During the later 1960s, Mary Carr Greer struggled to manage the farm and financially. Her daughter, Evangeline Jones, who lived in Nashville and worked at Fisk College, invited Mary to come live with her. Greer traveled to Tennessee, leaving the farm in the hands of a tenant. Although Mary tried to adjust to life in Tennessee, she eventually returned to River View Farm. To address her financial needs, she entered into an arrangement with a relative and developer, James Fleming, who exchanged life estate rights with Mary Carr Greer for ownership of some of the River View Farm property upon her death. Mary Carr Greer died in 1973 and was buried in the family cemetery. CRITERION A--AGRICULTURE River View Farm is significant under Criterion A in the area of Agriculture for its association with Conly Greer, who served as the first Albemarle County Agricultural Extension Agent for African American farmers between circa 1918 and 1953. For 35 years, Conly Greer, who went by C.G., worked with local African American farmers to improve their land and increase the productivity of their land by employing and demonstrating best practices through training and information disseminated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the state extension agencies. Greer regularly visited all parts of Albemarle County, sometimes remaining away from home for several days due to the distances he had to travel. Greer also oversaw the local 4-H program, administered through Albemarle Training School, where he inspired generations of young people to participate in farm-related programs. In 1937-1938, Greer built a large barn at River View Farm using standardized plans prepared by the extension service that served as a model and demonstration barn for local farmers. The barn as it stands on the property today may constitute a rare surviving example of a U.S. Department of Agriculture barn built by an African American extension agent for the benefit of his constituents within the state of Virginia. For these associations, River View Farm is significant at the statewide level. Conly Greer Conly Garfield Greer (1883-1956) was born in Crumpler, North Carolina. The son of Moses and Lavinia Greer, Conly Greer was raised on a farm. He later attended Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute where he studied agriculture and received a Bachelor of Science in 88. Interview with Manfred Jones by Ivy Creek Foundation, January 2020. Ivy Creek Foundation records. Section 8 page 54 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Agriculture.89 Greer would later continue his studies at Hampton Institute as well as the State Agricultural College in Orangeburg, South Carolina.90 After completing his studies, Conly Greer’s first position was as a teacher. After marrying Mary Carr in December 1913, Conly Greer moved to River View Farm and assumed responsibility for its management while Mary Carr Greer cared for her ailing father. In addition to his work at River View Farm, Conly Greer took a job teaching at Crozet School, and later worked for the Southern Aid Life Insurance Company of Charlottesville. In 1917, the same year that Hugh Carr’s estate was settled, Conly Greer purchased 67 acres on the west side of Martin’s Branch, land that adjoined his wife’s inheritance. Over the next three decades, he and Mary would buy out most of her sibling’s shares in their father’s farm as well as other, adjoining tracts, increasing the size of River View Farm to over roughly 185 acres. In 1918, J.B. Pierce, Negro Farm Agent for the South, recommended the appointment of Conly Greer for Smith-Lever Extension Work in Albemarle County.91 Extension services were offered at Hampton Institute during the later nineteenth century. The first county agents utilizing U.S. Department of Agriculture funds were hired in Virginia in 1906. That year, both white and African American agents were hired by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The first African American agent, J.B. Pierce, was from Hampton Institute. The Smith-Lever Act in 1914 established the Cooperative Extension system, which was to entail a partnership between the federal government, state governments, and higher education, namely Land Grant colleges, working cooperatively to address social and economic issues. The headquarters for the Virginia Cooperative Extension was Virginia Polytechnic Institute.92 Hampton Institute would administer the African American extension service until 1930 when it was moved to Virginia State University.93 After accepting the position, Greer became Albemarle County’s first African American Farm Agent. In his position, he reported to a state agent at Hampton Institute responsible for several farm agents. Each year, Greer was expected to prepare a report summarizing his outreach activities for the year. These records are housed at the National Archives and Records 89. Funeral Services of Mr. Conly Garfield Greer, May 3, 1956. There are letters to Conly Greer from his mother, Lavinia, encouraging him to come home to farm, but acknowledging that the Carr land in Albemarle County presented a good opportunity. Papers of the Greer-Carr Family 1868–1976, Box 10176, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. 90. Testimonial at the retirement of Conly Greer by Randolph L. White. 91. Testimonial at the retirement of Conly Greer by Randolph L. White. 92. Anne Kinsel Wolford, “An Analysis of the Effects of Race and Gender in Scoring Extension Agent Performance Standards” (Ph.D. dissertation, Doctor of Education, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, December 1985), 6. 93. Wolford, 10-11. Section 8 page 55 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Administration in College Park, Maryland. The two versions of the state extension service were decidedly not equal. Granddaughter Helen (Theodosia) Lemons, who lived at River View Farm with her grandparents between the mid-1940s and the mid-1950s, later recalled “I remember going to grandpa’s office in the basement of the post office downtown Charlottesville. It was tiny compared to the white County Agent which was down the hall. They had secretaries. At 12 years old I obtained my social security card and took private typing classes so I could become his secretary.”94 A report prepared by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 1965 titled “Equal Opportunity In Farm Programs: an Appraisal of Services Rendered by Agencies of the United States Department of Agriculture; a Report” notes that “Segregated and Unequal Offices—Negro county staff were usually in segregated offices and the contrast between white and Negro offices …was striking. Negro offices were most often found in inferior buildings where the space, furnishings, and supportive services were inadequate and lower in quality and quantity than those provided for White staff… a 1939 study of county agents…noted that Negro county agents did not have offices or clerical assistance…”95 Conly Greer built the African American Extension Service in Albemarle single-handedly, working through churches and existing civil and social organizations to recruit demonstration farmers throughout the county whose work could serve as examples and inspiration to yet others. As noted in a retirement tribute: “Since this type of work was new to all farmers of this area, it required a great deal of patience, courage, faith, and a real love for the work as well as vision to put over the program. Not only was the work new, but Mr. Greer was a stranger in the county also. But with his characteristic conservatism and rugged honesty, and a will to succeed, he soon won the respect of all with whom he came in contact. Thus, it can truly be said of him that he was a pioneer in the demonstration work among the Negroes of Albemarle County.”96 Greer advised local farmers on innovations in agricultural production with information provided to him through the extension service. The programs that he instituted and oversaw ranged from soil improvements, to plant and animal breed introductions, home and garden beautification, installation of water systems, rural electrification, and methods of food preservation.97 During his tenure, Greer typically met regularly with his constituents, and organized demonstrations and tours of model farms within the region. 94. Dede Smith, “Notes on a conversation with Helen Theodosia Jones Lemons, February 18, 2018.” 95. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Equal Opportunity in Farm Programs: An Appraisal of Services Rendered by Agencies of the United States Department of Agriculture; a Report (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965), 28. 96. Testimonial at the retirement of Conly Greer by Randolph L. White. 97. Testimonial at the retirement of Conly Greer by Randolph L. White. Section 8 page 56 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State With time, Conly Greer developed River View as a demonstration farm, introducing crops and farming practices developed to be more productive as well as more caring of the land. His son- in-law, Hinton Jones, said of Mr. Greer, “In those days they worshiped the land,” and as a county agricultural extension agent Greer “practiced what he preached.” James Butler, Greer’s successor in the county’s Extension Service, says Greer always practiced careful crop rotation and paid strict attention to soil and water conservation in planning his fields. Greer likely oversaw the introduction of electricity circa 1930, not long after the Greers granted an easement to the Virginia Public Service Company to run poles and electrical lines along the public road that bisected their property. However, rural electrification was one of the programs introduced during the Great Depression that Extension Agents brought to the attention of their constituents. Greer also likely installed water and septic systems on the property in 1933. Again, improving hygiene was one of the outreach programs promoted by the Agricultural Extension Service as well as the allied Home Demonstration Service, which Mary Carr Greer likely supported locally as well as through Albemarle Training School. In 1937-1938, Conly Greer built a state-of-the-art barn with a concrete floor, another important new sanitary improvement, that he used to educate his constituents. The barn appears similar to plans published with the 1936 statewide extension service report labeled Plan No. B-151 and drawn by the Agricultural Engineering Department, Extension Division, V.P.I.98 In addition to traveling from farm to farm throughout the county during the day as Extension Agent, Conly Greer would often awake well before dawn to drive a wagon to Charlottesville to earn extra money hauling garbage; and after work, would toil on his own farm until after dark: His daughter Evangeline later recalled, “Mama would look out and see Daddy coming with a lantern through the fields and say, ‘Well, I can put dinner on the table.’” At River View Farm, Conly Greer grew cash crops such as corn and wheat as well as hay to feed his livestock. The Greers raised dairy cows, hogs, and chickens, and sold eggs, as well as milk and the cream skimmed from it, locally. By mid-century, Greer had begun to focus more on cattle and horses. Like his father-in-law, Greer turned his fields with a horse and plow, finally acquiring a tractor shortly before he retired. The farm was described by Greer’s nephew, Dr. Benjamin C. Whitten, Director of the Baltimore Urban League, who regularly visited from his home in Washington. D.C.: “Those were wonderful summers... There were horses, milk and beef 98. Agricultural Extension Service Annual Reports, 1909-1968, Record Group 33T-893, Roll 49. National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland. Section 8 page 57 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State cattle, a flock of sheep, pigs, and chickens. There was corn, wheat, grass for hay, an orchard, potatoes, melons, and a vegetable garden.”99 Greer also applied his work on soil conservation as Farm Agent to management of River View Farm. According to Thomas A. Dierauf, retired Chief of Forest Research, Virginia Department of Forestry, who has inventoried and analyzed the history of the woodlands at River View Farm, “The rock check dams in gullies are almost certainly his [Conly Greer’s] work, and in the late 1930’s he constructed the cow barn using wood harvested from the farm. A great amount of timber harvesting occurred during his tenure. All of the present hardwood dominated stands show evidence of harvesting during his time, both partial harvests and clearcuts. During the 1950’s, when he became ill and died, cultivation seems to have ceased, but grazing of the open fields seems to have continued as they gradually grew up in forests.”100 James Butler, who was hired to replace Greer as the Albemarle County Extension Agent for African American farmers in 1953, and became a founding member of the Ivy Creek Foundation in 1979, noted in a later interview: I became extension agent in January of 1953 after three months training—one getting ready in moving, one in Chesterfield and then one under Mr. Greer here in the County sort of getting out to know some of the people in the county… During his [Conly’s] time they encouraged, especially black agents, to own little farms and to demonstrate a lot of what they were trying to teach… Mr. Greer [oversaw construction of the barn]. He had a sawmill over there cut the timber for this barn off the property…. The sawmill evidently belonged to somebody else…. it was built by a builder, a carpenter.” At that time, he got all the plans and all from the extension service at VPI. … It was divided into two parts where you could put ear corn and put sorghum… A corn crib- granary. A corn crib and a grain pen… It could probably store 2 to 300 bushels small grain in it… of course it was big enough to take whatever he was gonna grow on this place… He was part of the original conservation, you know, development here in the county and he had that whole field out there laid off according to the conservation district specifications and laid off essentially you had a strip of crop and then grass and hay that was supposed to help keep hold the soil from eroding… And they used the rotation system on that property and those strips, ah, were laid off by the conservation district… That was in the 30s. That was the way the conservation district worked, started, was in the 30s and Mr. Greer was working basically with the black farmers in the county and there were several farms that were laid off. One in specific was out here at Boyd’s Tavern, Mr. George Yates had one I think… Most of it corn. .. He had a corn picker, I 99. Charles V. Flowers, “Ivy Creek area is an oasis of the unspoiled,” Baltimore Sun, April 15, 1984. 100. Thomas A. Dierauf, The Forests at Ivy Creek Past Present and Future (July 2015). Section 8 page 58 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State believe, from my memory, to pick his corn. He didn’t have a grain harvester—somebody with a thresher would have come and harvested that. He did have a corn picker that worked on his tractor. … In late years, yes, he had a nice tractor. To begin with he had horses. … [during] his early years he did extension work riding a horse. He would leave here and stay, stay 3 or 4 days at a time. Because this is a big county… He was one of the first black extension agents, one of the early agents, to work for the state. He had some hog barns and some stuff over here on the hillside, but I don’t know what he had before he built this barn… Now in those years, we didn’t have many hay bales around here, because they cut the hay in a stack and put them little shocks up and they load it on the wagon with pitchforks …of course, then they had a hayfork over there and hook a horse to it and he started down in the hay load and get a bit of it and the horse would go on through there. Well, they had water down at the creek. Now, of course, one of the important works that he did, that was in the 30s, 40s, in the black communities a lot of stress was put on water systems, developing water systems…and… water in the homes and he did a whole lot of that, getting people to develop water systems for the homes and, of course, he had water and the house but before that time he had the creek. But he had, of course, the house had the hand pump, the pump house. He had his little hog pen and stuff right down the hill here, right down in this area… Of course, they had troughs. He collected garbage to feed his hogs through an agreement with the University of Virginia. They would have sold separated cream. .. I don’t know exactly how many cows he milked. Couldn’t have been more than 8 or 10 cows… Now when I came here he, they didn’t have any dairy cows to milk. He had a herd of beef cattle, nice herd of beef cattle. The cattle may have come in to eat once in a while, but you could drive all the way through the barn. He had three to five horses, but there were only 4 stalls and he did some work with his horse along because you got a right steep area here and in some areas you just … (unintelligible) hay mowing and you couldn’t do it with a tractor. At one time he had mules. I guess there were three buildings – one was the main chicken house and then they had two were brooder houses over there next to the garden where they raised baby little chicks, and you had the regular layer house which was the big house over there. The two little brooder houses were right against the fence of the garden. This area here was a garden. Right those two buildings set right there just aside the cemetery was just two small brooder houses up a bit farther then over there was the main chicken house where they put about 300 laying hens in there.101 Three years after his retirement, Conly Greer died. He is buried in the family cemetery located behind the River View Farm farmhouse. 101. Interview with James Butler by Bess Murray, Bob Hammond, and Charley Gleason, Ivy Creek Foundation, March 5, 1970. Ivy Creek Foundation records. Section 8 page 59 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State CRITERION C—ARCHITECTURE Both the Carr-Greer Farmhouse and barn appear significant at the local level for their architecture. The Carr-Greer Farmhouse, while a typical example of the I-house, appears significant for its size and the level of finish and detail that are rare for a property developed by an African American family during the early post-Reconstruction era. The house possesses a relatively large size, an impressive vernacular architectural style, and thoughtful finishes. With the exception of the addition of stucco over the original clapboards, and the replacement of the original wooden shake roof with standing seam metal, the house retains a high degree of integrity. The farmhouse appears today as it does in photographs during the period of significance and as described from memory by two of Evangeline Jones’s children—Theodosia Lemons and Manfred Jones—who lived at River View Farm with Mary Carr Greer, Theodosia between circa 1943 and 1956, and Manfred between circa 1956 and 1963. It also remains the centerpiece of a relatively intact larger farm precinct that dates to the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. In 2019, Theodosia Lemons recalled that by the time she began living in the house (circa 1943) there was already indoor plumbing and a bathroom upstairs. She remembers the stucco being applied while she was living there. She also remembers all of the outbuildings as present, with the exception of the garage attached to the north side of the house, which was added circa 1956, and the enclosing of the screen porch on the northwest side of the house, which was glassed in around the same time the garage was added. She remembers Mary Carr Greer enclosing the family cemetery with CMU walls and adding the granite headstones during the 1950s. She remembers the roof being tin and probably green, particularly since she used to dry apples on the roof by climbing out the window to reach the porch.102 Lemons also recalled a canning cellar lined with shelves to hold the canned goods no longer present to the northeast of the house. The property also featured a chicken house and two brooder houses that are no longer extant. Another farm feature no longer present except as a site was a tenant house located to the north of the farm precinct near a spring. Several families are known to have lived in the tenant house over the years, in addition to one of the English teachers at Albemarle Training School—Mr. Summerall—who apparently also helped out with work on the farm.103 The foundation of the tenant house remains visible on the property today. 102. Interview with Theodosia Lemons. 103. Interview with Frances Walker Hill. Section 8 page 60 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State One of the outbuildings that survives at River View Farm is the barn built in 1937-1938 by Conly Greer as a modern, up-to-date facility for his working, family farm and to demonstrate best practices to his constituents. The impressive structure, which appears to be built from U.S. Department of Agriculture model outbuilding plans, housed horses, cows, and the winter food supply necessary for successful livestock farming and was built from lumber derived from trees growing on the farm. Although the barn interior has been altered to address structural deterioration, and integrity of materials and workmanship is diminished, the building otherwise possesses all aspects of integrity. The large two-story building features a steeply sloped Dutch gambrel roof, and doors at either gable end that reveal a wide center aisle and a second set of doors at the far gable end. The design allowed farmers to drive wagons the entire length of the barn, thereby eliminating the need to use wheelbarrows for the heavy work of cleaning and maintaining the barn. The interior features stalls for milk cows to either side of the central aisle that were also used to house the horses that powered the farm work. The milking area and the granary remain relatively intact today. When not working in the fields, the horses were tied to the front partitions of the stalls. They ate hay from the floor of the feed aisle, located below the windows. Feed boxes at the front end of each stall held grain. Just inside the door on the right is a granary that was used to store the oats, corn, and wheat fed to the animals during the year. At the end of the barn are the stanchions, stalls, gutters and feed troughs where dairy cows were kept. The cows stood in the stalls with their heads extending through the stanchions for milking. At dairy farms at the time, cows would come into the barn twice a day to give milk. While some whole milk was reserved for the family’s use, the rest was separated into cream and skim milk. The cream was collected, processed by a mechanical separator, maintained and cooled in the spring box, and delivered weekly to the Monticello Dairy for sale. The skim milk was fed to the pigs. Between the stanchions and the utility pen is evidence of a solid partition that went across the barn. Health regulations of the time required that milking cows be separated from other animals in the same barn. Calves, heifers, steers and bulls could be kept with the cows or with horses, but the cows producing milk could be housed only by themselves or with other cattle. Following completion of the barn in 1938, many local dairy farms, including River View Farm, began to convert their operations to beef cattle farms. The beef cattle spent their lives out in the fields, rather than in the barn. The upstairs is a large vaulted hayloft. Hay grown in the fields was hauled to the end of the barn on horse-drawn hay wagons. Horses then helped lift the hay from the wagon into the loft with a series of ropes and pulleys. The track and two pulleys remain visible in the peak of the loft. The Section 8 page 61 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State hay holes on either side of the loft allowed hay and straw to be thrown down into the barn when needed.104 Ivy Creek Foundation After Mary Carr Greer died in 1973, her daughter, Evangeline Jones, inherited an 80-acre parcel that included the farmhouse, dwelling precinct with the barn, and nearby fields. The land to the west of the house was transferred to James Fleming based on a life estate agreement signed in the late 1960s or early 1970s. After acquiring the property, Fleming later announced plans to build 200 housing units on the property, which overlooked the South Rivanna Reservoir. Community members were soon contesting the proposed development for the potential impact it might have on the reservoir, which served as a source of drinking water for the county and city of Charlottesville. Although built only a few years earlier, the reservoir was already experiencing siltation and eutrophication problems. The county determined to limit the extent of the development citing environmental concerns. Fleming fought the proposed limitations on his development proposal in court; the case was eventually decided in the superior court of Virginia against Fleming. In the meantime, Evangeline Jones decided to sell her 80-acre parcel. The property was eventually acquired for conservation purposes by Elizabeth “Babs” Conant in 1975 with the support of the Nature Conservancy. During the lawsuit over the development of the adjacent land, pine trees were planted along the boundary between the two parcels to limit the impact of a housing development on the rest of River View Farm. The trees remain along the edge of the Ivy Creek Natural Area parking area today as a reminder of this aspect of the property’s history. During the late 1970s, Conant began to research the history of the Carr and Greer families, and to save and collect the records necessary to understand the history of River View Farm and the contributions to Albemarle County heritage made by Hugh Carr, Mary Carr Greer, and Conly Greer. These records are housed in the University of Virginia Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. About this effort, Conant wrote in 1976: We are beginning to have a little idea about the person of Mary Carr Greer, and she emerges as a strong and pivotal woman in the lives of many local people. She was respected and loved by her student and professional colleagues, and we are beginning to hear stories about her, like how she would take students into the house overnight before 104. Ivy Creek Foundation, “The Barn” Ivy Creek Foundation website, Available at https://ivycreekfoundation.org/the-barn (accessed June 11, 2020). Section 8 page 62 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State big school events so they could get to the school in time. One friend, Frances Hill, walked over the property recently and pointed out/at places that were familiar and touching for her in her own memories, and then took Norma and me to the site of the school. The old school has been torn down and now is the site of a construction company near Four Seasons. Rose (Warfiield) has located Mrs. Peachie Jackson, the only surviving sister of Mary Carr Greer, and has a wealth of information from her. So, we are beginning to be able to flesh out the figure of Mary Carr Greer and we are moved and impressed by the personality that is coming forth.105 Conant later wrote: Best of all, we have learned ever more about the remarkable, couple that lived in that house, the Greers. Mary Carr Greer was a stellar character, a stern headmistress of a technical school in town (now demolished), founder of negro Women’s Clubs, etc., and a pivotal person in the lives of countless local blacks. The more we learn of her, the more warm, intelligent, and farsighted she seems to us to be. And the few black friends of hers who have learned about the Conservancy’s vision for the place are ecstatic.106 On the history front, there has been started a Mary Carr Greer Collection in the Archives of Alderman Library, with all the Greer papers, a yearbook from her school, some old pictures, and the nucleus of a growing collection on the role of blacks in the history of Charlottesville. As the word spreads, I think we can gather much of what is left about that remarkable family, and it is long overdue.107 Anticipating contemporary interest in expanding the public’s understanding of local history, Conant suggested that River View Farm deserved to receive historic designation, while also writing: What I have longed for, and may still be in the future, is for some way to express appreciation for the unsung life of blacks in the area. Charlottesville/Albemarle is so full of Jefferson and the Good Life and the grand homes that it is easy to forget that there was a whole layer of poorer folk who have also made the area richer. In some ways, the Carr and Greer families seem to embody that element, and I wish that their stories could be told. The problem is that we know such little snatches of their stories. Can we ever tell it? Or would an article in Alb. M. be a way to generate the fuller history that the area needs so desperately to be whole? I wish I knew the answer.108 After Conant acquired the property, the farmhouse was rented to John and Priscilla Clark as caretakers in 1976. The Clarks are known to have put up new wallboard in the dining room, removing the original material and adding salvaged boards from the old tenant house and new plaster board. They also added bard boards and wall board in the living room and kitchen. In the 105. Excerpts from Babs Conant’s letters related to early Ivy Creek Natural Area and understanding of importance of River View Farm. Ivy Creek Foundation archives. 106. Letter from Babs Conant to Dave Morine of the Nature Conservancy, July 6, 1976. 107. Letter from Babs Conant to Dave Morine of the Nature Conservancy, November 13, 1976. 108. Letter of Babs Conant, Ivy Creek Foundation records. Section 8 page 63 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State kitchen, they added salvaged boards along some walls. They also replaced a failing ceiling in the newer bedroom upstairs. The Clarks also reportedly painted the standing seam metal roof with sealing roofing paint, resealed the windows, fixed the gutters, and replaced one downspout.109 A sump pump was added in the basement where the furnace is located. The Clarks also pruned and removed some of the boxwoods near the house. After the well began to go dry due to drought, a new pump was installed to restore water to the farmhouse. In 1977, the Clarks were authorized to remove a chicken coop on the property, while the old tenant house was razed. In 1979, much of River View Farm was acquired by Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville to be used as a public park. The Ivy Creek Foundation formed in 1979 to support management of the property as a natural area and environmental education center. Early organization records describe how trails were sited along old farm roads, Conly Greer’s barn was chosen as the symbol for the logo, and how the parking area was sited and installed in 1982. The barn later served as offices for the Foundation until the education building was completed in 1996. 109. Letter of Babs Conant, Ivy Creek Foundation records. Section 8 page 64 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________________________________ 9. Major Bibliographical References Bibliography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form.) Anonymous. “A Short History of Ayteessee.” In Ayteesse 1948 (Albemarle Training School 1948 Yearbook). Central Virginia History Researchers. African Americans Families Database. Available at http://www.centralvirginiahistory.org/index.shtml (accessed June 11, 2020). _________. “The Hydraulic Mills-Union Ridge community.” African American Families Database. Available at http://www.centralvirginiahistory.org/SammonsCemetery6.shtml (accessed June 11, 2020). _________. “Known Burials in the Sammons Cemetery: Jesse Scott Sammons, his wife Lula Minor Gibbons Sammons, and their son Robert J. Sammons.” African American Families Database. Available at http://www.centralvirginiahistory.org/SammonsCemetery1.shtml (accessed June 11, 2020). Coffey, May Ann. “Hugh Carr, His Life and Legacy at Ivy Creek Natural Area.” Unpublished manuscript, 2003. Ivy Creek Foundation records. The Daily Progress. November 4, 1895. August 4, 1915. April 25, 1919. Dierauf, Thomas A. The Forests of Ivy Creek: Past, Present, and Future (2015). Available at http://ivycreekfoundation.org/docs/Forests-of-ICNA-thomas_dierauf.pdf (accessed January 10, 2019). Flowers, Charles V. “Ivy Creek area is an oasis of the unspoiled.” Baltimore Sun. April 15, 1984. Ford, Benjamin P. Archaeological Investigations in a Canada Neighborhood: Mitigation of the B1/F8 Parking Lot. Charlottesville, Virginia: Rivanna Archaeological Consulting,2002. _________. Educational Opportunities for African Americans in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia 1831 – 1892. _________. The Foster Family–Venable Lane Site: Report of Archaeological Investigations. Charlottesville, Virginia: Rivanna Archaeological Consulting,2003. _________. “Land Acquisitions of Hugh Carr.” Unpublished manuscript. Ivy Creek Foundation records. Sections 9-end page 65 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Horst, Samuel L. Education for Manhood; The Education of Blacks in Virginia during the Civil War. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1987. Ivy Creek Foundation. “The Barn.” Ivy Creek Foundation. Available at https://ivycreekfoundation.org/the-barn (accessed June 11, 2020). Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, The Heritage Trails, African Americans in Albemarle: Union Ridge. John Milner Associates. “Hugh Carr Cemetery.” Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks Historic District/Brief Survey Form. File no. 2-1809, JMA #2067, Alt. 10. April 29, 1988. Lay, K. Edward. The Architecture of Jefferson County; Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 2000. Lee, Lauranett L. “Crucible in the Classroom: The Freedpeople and their Teachers, Charlottesville, Virginia 1861-1876.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Virginia. Charlottesville, Virginia: 2002. Moore, John Hammond. Albemarle, Jefferson’s County, 1727-1976. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1976. New Journal and Guide. June 24, 1933; January 14, 1939; October 29, 1955. O’Dell, Jeffery M. and John S. Salmon. “Woodlands,” National Register of Historic Places nomination form, 1989. Rough, William H. A Report to the Virginia Humanities Foundation; A Search for Origins: Hugh Carr of Albemarle County, Virginia. Charlottesville, Virginia: Ivy Creek Foundation, February 20, 2001. Stanton, Lucia. “Monticello to Main Street: The Hemmings Family and Charlottesville.” In Magazine of Albemarle County History 55 (1997):117. _________. “Chronology of Union Ridge Schools.” Unpublished manuscript and research notes, 2014. Ivy Creek Foundation records. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. “Getting Word: The Monticello African American Oral History Project.” Available at https://www.monticello.org/getting-word (accessed June 11, 2020). U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Equal Opportunity in Farm Programs: An Appraisal of Services Rendered by Agencies of the United States Department of Agriculture; a Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965. Sections 9-end page 66 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State U.S. Department of Agriculture. Plans of Farm Building for Southern States, Miscellaneous Publication No. 278 (revised). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1940. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. “Albemarle Training School.” African American Historic Sites Database. Available at http://www.aahistoricsitesva.org/items/show/12 (accessed June 11, 2020). The Virginia Journal of Education 9.4 (December 1915) and 9.6 (February 1916). Wolford, Anne Kinsel. “An Analysis of the Effects of Race and Gender in Scoring Extension Agent Performance Standards.” Ph.D. dissertation, Doctor of Education, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, December 1985. ___________________________________________________________________________ Previous documentation on file (NPS): ____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested ____ previously listed in the National Register ____ previously determined eligible by the National Register ____ designated a National Historic Landmark ____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #____________ ____ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________ ____ recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ___________ Primary location of additional data: __X_ State Historic Preservation Office __X_ Other State agency (Library of Virginia) __X_ Federal agency (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD) __X_ Local government (Albemarle County court records, Charlottesville, VA) __X_ University (Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA) __X__ Other (Ivy Creek Foundation records (education building, Ivy Creek Natural Area, Charlottesville, VA) Name of repository: ___ Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): __DHR #002-1229______________ ______________________________________________________________________________ 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property ____152________ Sections 9-end page 67 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Use either the UTM system or latitude/longitude coordinates Latitude/Longitude Coordinates Datum if other than WGS84:__________ (enter coordinates to 6 decimal places) 1. Latitude: 38.090226 Longitude: -78.491618 2. Latitude: 38.092651 Longitude: -78.490002 3. Latitude: 38.095353 Longitude: -78.488995 4. Latitude: 38.095353 Longitude: -78.489394 5. Latitude: 38.095738 Longitude: -78.490567 6. Latitude: 38.095950 Longitude: -78.490979 7. Latitude: 38.095454 Longitude: -78.495032 8. Latitude: 38.095950 Longitude: -78.495.255 9. Latitude: 38.096058 Longitude: -78.494814 10. Latitude: 38.098120 Longitude: -78.497084 11. Latitude: 38.097991 Longitude: -78.497346 12. Latitude: 38.097399 Longitude: -78.496896 13. Latitude: 38.096888 Longitude: -78.499289 14. Latitude: 38.095762 Longitude: -78.499776 15. Latitude: 38.093631 Longitude: -78.498612 16. Latitude: 38.093283 Longitude: -78.498833 17. Latitude: 38.093176 Longitude: -78.498539 18. Latitude: 38.091832 Longitude: -78.499594 19. Latitude: 38.091452 Longitude: -78.498271 20. Latitude: 38.089282 Longitude: -78.499728 21. Latitude: 38.089075 Longitude: -78.497428 22. Latitude: 38.090505 Longitude: -78.496272 Sections 9-end page 68 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 23. Latitude: 38.087277 Longitude: -78.491165 24. Latitude: 38.087922 Longitude: -78.491204 25. Latitude: 38.088020 Longitude: -78.491368 26. Latitude: 38.088284 Longitude: -78.490836 Or UTM References Datum (indicated on USGS map): WGS84 NAD 1927 or NAD 1983 1. Zone: Easting: Northing: 2. Zone: Easting: Northing: 3. Zone: Easting: Northing: 4. Zone: Easting : Northing: Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property.) As proposed, River View Farm encompasses 152 acres comprised of the entirety of Albemarle County parcels 45-7 and 45-9 as well as portions of parcels 45-6, 45-7D, and 45- 8. The property is bounded as follows, Beginning at point (1) on Earlysville Road at the entry drive to Ivy Creek Natural Area where parcel 45-9 meets Earlysville Road, then in a northeasterly direction along the eastern boundary of parcel 45-9 following Earlysville Road for 324 meters to a point (2) at the intersection of Earlysville Road with Woodlands Road, a corner with parcel 45-7D; then in a northerly direction along the eastern boundary of parcel 45-7D following Woodlands Road for 243 meters to a point (3) at the shoreline of the South Rivanna Reservoir; then North 27-11-18 West 84 meters to a point (4) on or near the shoreline of South Rivanna Reservoir; then North 68-59-46 West crossing a peninsula of land 110 meters to a point (5) on the shoreline of the South Rivanna Reservoir; then along the shoreline of the South Rivanna Reservoir South 34-25-58 West 61 meters to a point (6) on the shoreline; then North 88-37-8 West crossing an inundated section of Martin’s Branch to the Ivy Creek Natural Area “peninsula” and along the northern boundary of parcel 45-7 for a total distance of 356 meters to a point (7) on the parcel boundary; then North 21-0-42 West for 58.5 meters to a point (8), now inundated, along the historic course of Ivy Creek; then North 71-21-16 East along the inundated historic course of Ivy Creek a distance of 40.5 meters to a point (9); then North 42-34-14 West 303.5 meters crossing the South Rivanna Reservoir to a point (10) near the shoreline of the Reservoir; then South 56-35-30 West 27 meters to a point (11) on the western boundary of parcel 45-6, also a boundary of the Ivy Creek Natural Area; then along the western boundary of the Ivy Creek Natural Area 77 Sections 9-end page 69 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State meters to a point (12); then continuing along the western boundary of the Ivy Creek Natural Area and crossing the South Rivanna Reservoir South 73-20-9 West for a distance of 217.5 meters to a point (13) near the south shoreline of the Reservoir, a corner in the western boundary of the Ivy Creek Natural Area; then continuing along the western boundary of the Natural Area South 17-17-59 West 132 meters to a point (14), a corner on the western boundary of the Natural Area; then South 24-53-35 East 258 meters to a point (15), a corner on the western boundary of the Natural Area and a corner between parcels 45-7 and 45-7A; then along the western boundary of the Natural Area South 25-6-38 West 44 meters to a point (16) on the western boundary of the Natural Area, a corner between parcels 45-7A and 45-8; then along the western boundary of the Natural Area South 68-41-10 East 28 meters to a point (17), a corner in the western boundary of the Natural Area; then continuing along the western boundary of the Natural Area South 30-16-46 West 175.5 meters to a point (18) in the western boundary in or near an abandoned powerline cut and easement; then leaving the western boundary of the Natural Area and paralleling the abandoned power line cut and easement South 71-33-36 East 123.5 meters to a point (19) in or near the abandoned power line cut and easement; then South 26-25-10 West to a point (20) near the course of an unnamed, intermittent tributary of Martin’s Branch; then following said unnamed intermittent stream South 85-1-23 East 203 meters to a point (21) at its confluence with Martin’s Branch along the southern boundary of the Ivy Creek Natural Area; then following Martin’s Branch North 31-1-54 East 188 meters and leaving the boundary of the Natural Area to a point (22) where an unnamed tributary stream joins Martin’s Branch from the east; then following the course of said unnamed tributary stream and continuing beyond its head South 52-53-50 East 575 meters to a point (23) on the southern boundary of the Ivy Creek Natural Area, a corner between parcels 45-8, 45-15, and 45-11Y; then leaving the southern boundary of the Natural Area North 4-17-12 West 72 meters to a point (24) on the eastern boundary of the Natural Area; then along the eastern boundary of the Natural Area North 54- 31-3 West 18 meters to a point (25), a corner in the eastern boundary of the Natural Area; then North 56-21-2 East 55 meters, following the eastern boundary of the Natural Area to a point (26) on Earlysville Road; then in a northerly direction along Earlysville Road and the eastern boundary of the Ivy Creek Natural Area 228 meters to (1), the beginning. The true and correct historic boundary is shown on the attached Location Map. Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected.) The historic boundaries of River View Farm correspond to all land owned historically by Hugh Carr and/or Mary and Conly Greer that lies within the present-day boundaries of the Ivy Creek Natural Area, a public park jointly owned by Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville. In addition to the residential core of River View farm occupied by the families of Hugh and Texie Mae Carr and Conly and Mary Carr Greer with its suite of extant buildings and the family cemetery, the property contains a range of agricultural landscape features such as relic fields, fence lines and stone walls, roadways, stone cairns and erosional check dams, and the site of at least one other dwelling. The property’s historic setting, as well as all known associated resources, are encompassed by the historic boundaries. ______________________________________________________________________________ Sections 9-end page 70 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State 11. Form Prepared By name/title: _Liz Sargent and Steve Thompson______________________________________ organization: _Ivy Creek Foundation_____________________________________________ street & number: _1855 Winston Road___________________________________________ city or town: Charlottesville_______________ state: _Virginia____ zip code:_22903______ e-mail_LizSargentHLA@gmail.com_______________________________ telephone:_434.249.0317________________________ date: _June 11, 2020___________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form:  Maps: A USGS map or equivalent (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.  Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Key all photographs to this map.  Additional items: (Check with the SHPO, TPO, or FPO for any additional items.) Photographs Submit clear and descriptive photographs. The size of each image must be 1600x1200 pixels (minimum), 3000x2000 preferred, at 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or larger. Key all photographs to the sketch map. Each photograph must be numbered and that number must correspond to the photograph number on the photo log. For simplicity, the name of the photographer, photo date, etc. may be listed once on the photograph log and doesn’t need to be labeled on every photograph. Photo Log Name of Property: River View Farm City or Vicinity: Charlottesville County: Albemarle State: Virginia Photographers: Liz Sargent, Tim Penich, Diana Foster, Dede Smith Sections 9-end page 71 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Date of Photographs: photographs were taken on October 12, 2017; October 17, 2018, January 5, 2019, September 2, 2019, February 3, 2020, March 14, 2020, April 3, 2020, June 4, 2020, and July 11, 2020. Description of Photograph(s) and number, include description of view indicating direction of camera: Photo 1 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0001 View: Principal (south facing) façade of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse, camera facing north. July 11, 2020. Photo 2 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0002 View: Principal (south facing) and side (east facing) facades of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse, camera facing northwest. October 12, 2017. Photo 3 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0003 View: West façade of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse (right), and rear façade of the Ham House, camera facing east. October 17, 2018. Photo 4 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0004 View: The rear (north facing) façade of the Carr-Greer Farmhouse, with the small garage abutting the north wall and the ham house to the east, camera facing south. July 11, 2018/ Photo 5 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0005 View: View of the main floor hall with the stair to the upstairs (right) and arched doorway leading from the formal parlor area to a rear enclosed porch, camera facing northeast. October 12, 2017. Photo 6 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0006 View: The east parlor on the main floor with a single window to the north of the chimney, the fireplace and mantle, and the double window on the principal façade (far right), camera facing northeast. October 12, 2017. Photo 7 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0007 View: The east front bedroom, including a single window and fireplace mantle, camera facing east, October 12, 2017. Photo 8 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0008 View: The principal (south facing) and east facades of the barn, camera facing northwest, February 3, 2020. Photo 9 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0009 View: The principal (south facing) and west facades of the three-bay garage, camera facing northeast, February 3, 2020. Sections 9-end page 72 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Photo 10 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0010 View: The principal (east facing) and south facades of the shed, camera facing northwest, June 4, 2020. Photo 11 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0011 View: The Carr-Greer family cemetery, camera facing northeast, November 1, 2018. Photo 12 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0012 View: The grave marker in the Carr-Greer family cemetery placed by Mary Carr Greer in honor of Hugh Carr, Texie Mae Carr, and Marshall Carr, camera facing east, January 5, 2019. Photo 13 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0013 View: The education building, camera facing southeast, January 5, 2019. Photo 14 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0014 View: The north field located northeast of the barn, camera facing northwest, April 3, 2020. Photo 15 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0015 View: The mortared stone wall the edges the Carr-Greer Farmhouse precinct, camera facing northwest, April 3, 2020. Photo 16 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0016 View: A stacked stone wall marking the edge of a farm field northwest of the farmhouse precinct, camera facing northeast, March 14, 2020. Photo 17 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0017 View: A stacked stone wall near Ivy Creek, camera facing west, March 30, 2020. Photo 18 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0018 View: A stacked stone spring box south of the tenant house site, camera facing northwest, March 14, 2020. Photo 19 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0019 View: Fencing associated with pasture near the barn associated with River View Farm, camera facing southwest, March 14, 2020. Photo 20 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0018 View: An unpaved trail associated with Ivy Creek Natural Area that follows a historic River View Farm road trace, camera facing northwest, September 2, 2019. Photo 21 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0018 Sections 9-end page 73 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State View: A paved trail associated with Ivy Creek Natural Area that follows a historic River View Farm road, camera facing north, March 14, 2020. Photo 22 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0020 View: The Ivy Creek Natural Area identity sign located along Earlysville Road, camera facing northwest, March 14, 2020. Photo 23 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0021 View: The visitor parking area at Ivy Creek Natural Area, camera facing northwest, March 14, 2020. Photo 24 of 24: VA_Albemarle County_River View Farm_0021 View: One of the painted stones edged by bulbs that mark the historic driveway into River View Farm, camera facing east, April 3, 2020. Historic Images Historic Image 1. Hugh Carr, circa 1883. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 2. Texie Mae Hawkins Carr, circa 1883. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 3. Diagram indicating the growing community of African American farmers and businessmen living within the neighboring areas of Hydraulic Mills, Union Ridge, Webbland, Georgetown, Cartersburg, and Allentown during the latter part of the nineteenth century. (Steve Thompson) Historic Image 4. The building constructed to replace the Union Ridge Graded School, which burned in 1895, circa 1900. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) Historic Image 5. Hugh Carr, circa 1900. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 6. Three of the Carr sisters (front) and a cousin (back), circa 1914, in front of the farmhouse. Carr sisters, from left to right, Virginia, Hazel, and Mary. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 7. Marshall Carr, circa 1914, in front of the farmhouse. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 8. The Greers, their daughter Evangeline, and one of their grandchildren (not identified), circa 1930s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 9. Mary and Conly Greer and an unidentified visitor, in front of the farmhouse, circa 1930. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Sections 9-end page 74 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Historic Image 10. View northwest toward the house, circa 1930. (Special Collection, University of Virginia Library) Historic Image 11. View north toward the farmhouse and a picket fence framing the dwelling precinct, circa 1930s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 12. Aerial photograph of River View Farm, 1937, showing the configuration of fields, orchards, the dwelling precinct prior to construction of the barn, and the relationship to the road to Hydraulic Mill. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 13. Drawing of a Dairy Barn by the Agricultural Engineering Department at Virginia Tech and published in the 1936 statewide extension report. The drawing is very similar to the barn built at River View Farm. (National Archives and Records Administration) Historic Image 14. The dairy barn, built in 1937-1938. Date unknown. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) Historic Image 15. Hinton Jones and Evangeline Greer, circa 1938, in front of the farmhouse around the time of their marriage. By this time, the porch had been replaced with the current concrete floor and Tuscan columns, but stucco had not yet been applied to the clapboard siding. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 16. Mary Carr Greer and granddaughter Theodosia Jones, circa 1940s, who lived with the Greers for several years. The photograph shows the house following the application of stucco to the exterior. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 17. Albemarle Training School, where Mary Carr Greer served as principal between 1930 and 1950, photograph from 1948. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) Historic Image 18. Bird’s eye aerial photograph of River View Farm, including the kitchen garden, circa 1950s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 19. View of the house from Earlysville Road, circa 1970s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 20. View toward the house from the kitchen garden, circa 1970s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) Historic Image 21. Aerial view of River View Farm, circa 1970s. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) Sections 9-end page 75 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 River View Farm Albemarle County, VA Name of Property County and State Historic Image 22. Aerial view of River View Farm, circa 1970s. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 100 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Office of Planning and Performance Management. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1849 C. Street, NW, Washington, DC. Sections 9-end page 76 ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 1 Historic Images Historic Image 1. Hugh Carr, circa 1883. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS F Form 10-900-a OMB Approval N No. 1024-0018 (8-86) Uniteed States Depa artment of thee Interior Natioonal Park Serv vice Naational Register R of Histo oric Places Con ntinuatio on Sheet River View F Farm, Albemarrle County, VA A Section numberr HI Page 2 Histooric Image 2. 2 Texie Maee Hawkins Carr, C circa 18 883. (Ivy Creeek Foundattion archivess) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 3 Historic Image 3. Diagram indicating the growing community of African American farmers and businessmen living within the neighboring areas of Hydraulic Mills, Union Ridge, Webbland, Georgetown, Cartersburg, and Allentown during the latter part of the nineteenth century. (Steve Thompson) Historic Image 4. The building constructed to replace the Union Ridge Graded School, which burned in 1895, circa 1900. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 4 Historic Image 5. Hugh Carr, circa 1900. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 5 Historic Image 6. Three of the Carr sisters (front) and a cousin (back), circa 1914, in front of the farmhouse. Carr sisters, from left to right, Virginia, Hazel, and Mary. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 6 Historic Image 7. Marshall Carr, circa 1914, in front of the farmhouse. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 7 Historic Image 8. The Greers, their daughter Evangeline, and one of their grandchildren (not identified), circa 1930s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 8 Historic Image 9. Mary and Conly Greer and an unidentified visitor, in front of the farmhouse, circa 1930. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 9 Historic Image 10. View northwest toward the house, circa 1930. (Special Collection, University of Virginia Library) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 10 Historic Image 11. View north toward the farmhouse and a picket fence framing the dwelling precinct, circa 1930s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 11 Historic Image 12. Aerial photograph of River View Farm, 1937, showing the configuration of fields, orchards, the dwelling precinct prior to construction of the barn, and the relationship to the road to Hydraulic Mill. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 12 Historic Image 13. Drawing of a Dairy Barn by the Agricultural Engineering Department at Virginia Tech and published in the 1936 statewide extension report. The drawing is very similar to the barn built at River View Farm. (National Archives and Records Administration) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 13 Historic Image 14. The dairy barn, built in 1937-1938. Date unknown. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 14 Historic Image 15. Hinton Jones and Evangeline Greer, circa 1938, in front of the farmhouse around the time of their marriage. By this time, the porch had been replaced with the current concrete floor and Tuscan columns, but stucco had not yet been applied to the clapboard siding. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 15 Historic Image 16. Mary Carr Greer and granddaughter Theodosia Jones, circa 1940s, who lived with the Greers for several years. The photograph shows the house following the application of stucco to the exterior. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 16 Historic Image 17. Albemarle Training School, where Mary Carr Greer served as principal between 1930 and 1950, photograph from 1948. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) ENPS F Form 10-900-a OMB Approval N No. 1024-0018 (8-86) Uniteed States Depa artment of thee Interior Natioonal Park Serv vice Naational Register R of Histo oric Places Con ntinuatio on Sheet River View F Farm, Albemarrle County, VA A Section numberr HI Page 17 Histooric Image 18. 1 Bird’s ey ye aerial photograph of River R View F arm, includding the kitchhen garden, circa 1950s. (Ivy Creek Foun ndation archiives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 18 Historic Image 19. View of the house from Earlysville Road, circa 1970s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 19 Historic Image 20. View toward the house from the kitchen garden, circa 1970s. (Ivy Creek Foundation archives) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 20 Historic Image 21. Aerial view of River View Farm, circa 1970s. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) ENPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet River View Farm, Albemarle County, VA Section number HI Page 21 Historic Image 22. Aerial view of River View Farm, circa 1970s. (Special Collections, University of Virginia Library) River View Farm National Register of Historic Places nomination Albemarle County, Virginia LOCATION MAP August 2020 River View Farm National Register of Historic Places nomination Albemarle County, Virginia SKETCH MAP (full property) August 2020 River View Farm National Register of Historic Places nomination Albemarle County, Virginia SKETCH MAP (enlargement, farmhouse precinct) August 2020 River View Farm National Register of Historic Places nomination Albemarle County, Virginia PHOTO KEY (full property) August 2020 River View Farm National Register of Historic Places nomination Albemarle County, Virginia PHOTO KEY (enlargement, farmhouse precinct) August 2020