Preston, Virginia

Spencer is an unincorporated community in Henry County, Virginia, United States. It takes its name from its earliest settler, James Spencer Sr., who moved from Loudoun County to Henry County with his sons in the eighteenth century. Spencer's son ensign James Spencer, Jr. died of wounds suffered during the Revolutionary War. (On his death, his widow remarried Nathaniel Bassett.) Spencer was the founding site of the Spencer Bros. Tobacco Company, as well as the D.H. Spencer & Sons Tobacco, both begun by the Spencer family, with operations at Spencer, and later at Martinsville, Danville and elsewhere. The family-owned firm later became one of the nation's largest manufacturers of plug chewing tobacco with its well-known brand 'Calhoun' and others. The Spencer family built Grassdale Farm, their tobacco plantation, beginning in the eighteenth century. Grassdale, once called "The Homestead," is on the National Register of Historic Places.The Spencer family also controlled the Danville & Western Railroad (later merged into the Southern Railway), which stopped in the town, as well as a small collection of other buildings, including a post office, doctor's house and other appurtenances. The family later sold their tobacco company to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in one of the first consolidations in the industry. The firms of D. H. Spencer and Sons and Spencer Brothers agreed in December 1903 to form a corporation with Reynolds in return for stock in the enterprise. R. J. Reynolds had grown up in nearby Critz, Virginia, and he and the Spencers were bitter rivals. Grassdale Farm was once owned by Thomas Jefferson Penn, who built Chinqua-Penn Plantation outside Reidsville, North Carolina, where the Penn tobacco-manufacturing interests were located. The Spencer family and the Penn family are related (Jeff Penn's mother was Annie Spencer Penn, and the Spencer coat-of-arms appears above the entry at Chinqua-Penn.) 'Jeff' Penn sold Grassdale to his first cousin Margaret Dillard (née Spencer) Shackelford and her husband Dr. John Armstrong Shackelford, who subsequently restored the home.In addition to Grassdale Farm, the Spencer-Penn School and Aurora are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Margaret Spencer Shackelford's sister Mary Holt married Kennon C. Whittle, a justice of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, who lived at Belleview, built by their shared ancestor Major John Redd. A third sister, Blanche Spencer, married Julian H. Robertson Sr. of Salisbury, North Carolina, a textile company executive, private investor and philanthropist.Spencer is part of the Martinsville Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Grassdale Farm is a historic home located at Spencer, Henry County, Virginia. It was built about 1860, and is a two-story, center-passage-plan frame dwelling with Greek Revival and Greek Revival style influences. Two-story ells have been added to the rear of the main section, creating an overall "U" form. Also on the property are a variety of contributing buildings and outbuildings including a kitchen, smokehouse, cook's house, log dwelling, and office / caretaker's house dated to the 19th century; and a garage, playhouse, poultry house, two barns, greenhouse, Mack Watkin's House, granary and corn crib, and Spencer Store and Post Office dated to the 1940s-1950s. Grassdale Farm was once owned by Thomas Jefferson Penn, who built Chinqua-Penn Plantation outside Reidsville, North Carolina, where the Penn tobacco-manufacturing interests were located.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

The Spencer–Penn School is a historic school complex at 30 George Taylor Road in Spencer, Virginia. Its main building, a large brick Colonial Revival building, was built in 1926–27, and is the only surviving non-residential building in the community to be built before World War II. The campus also includes the school's first building, a frame structure built in 1911. The school served the area until 2004, when it was closed by the county school board. The campus is now home to the Spencer–Penn Centre, a non-profit education and special event center. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Marshall Field and Company Clubhouse, also known as Fieldcrest Lodge, is a historic clubhouse located at Fieldale, Henry County, Virginia. It was built in 1917, and is a two-story, Tudor Revival style building. It is constructed of native Henry County fieldstone, box beams, pebble dash stucco, and red terra cotta roof tile. Also on the property are a contributing carriage house, manager's house with a matching shed structure and a three-stall barn, and a regulation size tennis court. The clubhouse was built by Marshall Field and Company to house important figures visiting the Fieldcrest Mills.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. It is located in the Fieldale Historic District.

Fieldale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 879 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Martinsville Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Rock Run School was built as a one-room school house in the late 19th century. Today it is regarded as offering a strong insight into the state of black education in the years between the U.S. Civil War and Brown vs. Board of Education. This Henry County, Virginia school soon added another room, and operated as an educational institution until the mid-1950s, when it was consolidated into a larger segregated school. Similar to most other black schools, Rock Run School was painfully underfunded throughout its history, stunting the development and materials available to the school. The application of the registry gives this summation: "The Rock Run School served the African American community of Rock Run in rural Henry County, Virginia from the post-Civil War Reconstruction Period of the early 1880s through the mid-20th century. It is a highly significant vestige of the educational history of Southside Virginia, the rural south, and the black population of late 19th-mid-20th century Henry County. Although in overall poor condition, the school has not been altered over the years or damaged in any substantial way. As such, its historic integrity is remarkable, and its potential for restoration appears promising. It is a rare and irreplaceable surviving example of an educational institution that served African Americans, because it represents several phases in the evolution of African American education in Virginia.""Frank Agnew, a student at Rock Run School in the 1940s, restored the school with funds from the Harvest Foundation."Unlike most log rural schoolhouses of the time, the Rock Run School was constructed as a frame building. Although the means of construction Rock Run are unknown, it is most likely that the parents and students themselves helped build the school, contributing supplies and labor because of the lack of government funding.

Fieldale Historic District is a national historic district located at Fieldale, Henry County, Virginia. The district encompasses 329 contributing buildings and 2 contributing structures in the town of Fieldale. The majority of the buildings were built after 1916-1917 by the Marshall Field and Company as workers housing for the Fieldcrest Mills. Other notable buildings and structures include the Fieldcrest Mills Complex with the upper mill, lower mill, gatehouse, warehouse, water infiltration plant, and welder's shop; Danville & Western Station; Route 701 Bridge; Bank of Fieldale/Post Office; Fieldale Café (Fieldale Grocery; former Theater/Drug Store; Ramona's Dress Shop/Wilson's Grocery Store; Fieldale Elementary School (1924); Fieldale High School (1941); Fieldale Community Center (1937); Fieldale Hotel, and Fieldale Baptist Church. The former gas station building that houses Peggy's Antiques (044-5173-0186) was built by the Lustron Manufacturing Company. Also located in the district and separately listed are the Marshall Field and Company Clubhouse and Virginia Home.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Virginia Home is a historic boarding house located at Fieldale, Henry County, Virginia, United States. It was built in 1920, and is a two-story, seven-bay, frame structure with a hipped roof and a full, two-story porch. Also on the property are a contributing cook's house, a wash house, and a one-story cottage for the staff of the Virginia Home. The Virginia Home was built by Marshall Field and Company as a boarding house for workers at the Fieldcrest Mills.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. It is located in the Fieldale Historic District.

Bassett High School is a comprehensive public high school in Bassett, Virginia, USA. The school currently enrolls about 1,100 students in grades 9–12. It is one of two public high schools operated by Henry County Schools. Opened in 1978, the school is located approximately two miles south of the Bassett community in Henry County, Virginia. Campbell Court Elementary, Carver Elementary, Meadowview Elementary, Sanville Elementary, and Stanleytown Elementary feed into Fieldale-Collinsville Middle School, which feeds into Bassett High School.

Eltham Manor is a historic estate located near Bassett, Henry County, Virginia. It was built in 1936 by William McKinley Bassett, and is a Colonial Revival brick dwelling. The manor is named for the Burwell Bassett family home, "Eltham Plantation", in Eltham, Virginia, that burned in 1879. It consists of a 2+1⁄2-story, five-bay, central section flanked by two-story wings, connected by cured hyphens to a two-story garage and servant's quarters at the north end and a one-story open-air pavilion at the south end. The front facade features a Doric order portico with smooth two-story columns. Also on the property are a contributing barn (c. 1936) and lake (c. 1936).It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Stoneleigh, the former abode of Governor Thomas B. Stanley, began its construction in 1929 and it was completed in 1932. It was built in the Tudor Revival-style and crafted out of stone from the nearby Smith River. Stanley inhabited this 25-room mansion until his death in 1970, after which his children took ownership. They donated the house to Ferrum College in 1980 In 1993 Bill and Barbara Topa had plans on making Stoneleigh into a four-star lodging and dining facility when they purchased the home in 1993. The Topas' plan did not get completed, and in 1998 Kevin and Whitney Witasick bought Stoneleigh for 800,000. The couple's ownership of the estate was cut short when Mr. Witasack was charged with tax evasion, tax perjury, and failing to file a tax return when he lied about using the home for business purposes. In 2010, Stoneleigh was again sold but this time to Citimortgage, a New York mortgage company, for 1.12 million dollars. When Citimortgage purchased the grounds, a North Carolina liability company filed a lawsuit against the New York company, claiming they breached contracts with the company to buy the Estate. The estate went up for auction on September 27, 2014. It is now privately owned but operated as a bed and breakfast, and can be rented in its entirety.

Edgewood is a historic home located at Stanleytown, Henry County, Virginia. It was built about 1830, and consists of a projecting two-story, three-bay, pedimented, Greek-temple-form central mass and two-story flanking wings, in the Greek Revival style. The house features three semi-integral end chimneys, and a one-story front porch.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.