Northern Neck Now

The Montross Historic District extends in a linear fashion along Route 3/Kings Highway in the town of Montross, just east of the Westmoreland County boundary with neighboring Richmond County. Established as the Westmoreland County seat of government in the 1680s, the heart of the district consists of the early-20th-century courthouse and court green, which stand on the site of the former colonial-era courthouse, erected in ca. 1685. The courthouse was first built in 1900 and remodeled in 1936, while the former jail was constructed in 1911. The Inn at Montross/Spence’s Tavern, which dates to the 19th century, is the oldest building in the district. Important landscape elements include the former courthouse square, which is the site of several military memorial markers, and the “Virginia Presidents’ Garden” designed in ca. 1940 by noted landscape architect Charles Freeman Gillette of Richmond. The Montross Historic District represents the development of this town from a small, but vibrant, court house village to an important commercial and transportation hub on Virginia’s Northern Neck.

Montross Historic District