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Three local sites added to Va. Landmarks Register

Posted at 8:38 PM, Jan 08, 2013
and last updated 2013-01-08 20:38:23-05

There's a lot of history behind the walls of the old Hayden High School building in Franklin, Va.

Peggy Scott remembers it vividly.

"I remember walking down the hallways, running from class to class, going into the gym, having our exciting basketball games, so we've got lots of memories," Scott said.

She's not the only one who sees something special in the crumbling old building.

It's one of three local sites recently added to the Virginia Landmarks Register.

This one made the list for its social significance.

"When I attended, it was a segregated school," said Scott.

It was built at a time when that was a fiercely contested issue.

Though it's fallen apart over the years, that will be changing soon.

The building is planned to undergo a $10 million renovation in the next few months to make it a multi-use facility.  It will have a residential area for senior citizens, a day care, restaurant, banquet hall and museum.

"We can't wait until this building becomes alive again," said Scott, who is part of a group working towards that goal.

Though much older, Green Hill, a home in Virginia Beach, has fared much better through the years.

It was built in 1791.

It sits in a neighborhood off of Great Neck Road, but it was once part of a plantation.

"If you look at the big lot it's on and sort of close your [eyes], you can still imagine it being part of a plantation house out in the country," said Marcus Pollard, with the Commonwealth Preservation Group.

The home was added for its architecture and social history.  Built by a promiment founding family of what was then Princess Anne County, it's a Georgian-Federal style home.

The last local site added to the list - the Seaboard Air Line Railway building, also known as the Wainwright building.

It was also added because of its architecture.  It's the only large-scale, commercial example in the city of late Gothic Revival style.  It's also one of the few state-wide.

"Up in New York and Pennsylvania and northeastern areas, it's more common, but down here, Gothic Revival is a rare style except for churches," said Pollard.

All three sites are now under consideration for the National Register of Historic Places.