Historian: Middlesex lacks needed preservation guides

The Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society sponsored a program Sunday at Saluda’s Middlesex County Historic Courthouse, where county residents learned that preservation of local historical buildings and properties are strongly tied to the will of local government officials to be a part of it.

Architectural historian, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planner) Joanna C. McKnight of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, said there are counties and towns in Virginia that have local ordinances on the books that would have alerted the public that a property like Woodstock was earmarked for demolition. “Middlesex County does not have that protection,” she said.

The 1840 Hartfield mansion “Woodstock on the Piankatank,” sometimes referred to as the “Lincoln House,” and two other structures on the property were razed in March 2026 through a county approved demolition permit obtained on Oct. 23, 2025.