Historic Lexington Foundation
Lexington, Buena Vista, and Rockbridge County, Virginia
Public Places
HOPKINS GREEN
The Paxton family of Lexington (specifically, brothers Matthew W. Jr. and Robert Owen) deeded Hopkins Green to Historic Lexington Foundation in 1985 through a gift-and-purchase plan, and HLF—thanks to hundreds of gifts from the public—turned it into a handsome, tranquil park. The Foundation then deeded the park to the city, which maintains it.
STONEWALL JACKSON HOUSE
The house at 8 East Washington Street, built about 1801, was bought by Thomas J. and Anna Jackson in 1858, when he was a civilian and professor of natural and experimental philosophy at Virginia Military Institute. It was the only home Jackson ever owned. In 1861he left what he called the most beautiful place he had ever seen and never returned, dying in battle two years later.
From 1907 to 1954, the house was Lexington's hospital; many older residents today were born there. In 1974 the Foundation acquired it and fully restored it to its 19th-century appearance. HLF turned it over to the Stonewall Jackson Foundation, which in turn conferred it to VMI, which today operates it as a museum.
JORDAN'S POINT
Beginning in the late1700s, Jordan's Point was the commercial and industrial hub of the area. Mills, forges and foundries rose up, served by docks, a canal and eventually the railroad. The Miller's House, built about 1811, survives, and in 2001 Historic Lexington Foundation purchased it and deeded it to the city, after which the state carried out a restoration project and turned it into a transportation museum.
