Historic South East Street

Historic South East Street began as Back Street 250 years ago, parallel to Main Street in a small Piedmont town actively tied to the American Revolution. But it wasn’t until 1835 that the street took on its current name, beginning to establish itself as place of architectural eclecticism that would witness more than its share of Civil War history. Many of Culpeper’s most prominent people lived there then, as well as now, including doctors, mayors, merchants, farmers and the Hill family of Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill fame.

Through fierce fighting and mass encampments on its edges, forced occupations of its stately homes and bloodshed between brothers nursed in makeshift hospitals, South East Street emerged from the war remarkably intact, retaining a sense of domestic rhythm in walking distance to a bustling downtown, but with a rural edge.

For its sizable collection of gorgeously large original estates, broad examples of town life and storied past of survival, the South East Street Historic District was recently named to the Virginia Landmarks Register and is now on its way — finally — to the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.

Substantial integrity
“It must be a miracle,” said longtime South East Street resident Rose Marie Martin, who along with neighbors helped initiate the National Register process in 1990. She referred to the district’s ability to hold on to its homes through the ages. “We must have had some guardian angels looking over East Street.”

Longtime South East Street scholar Genevieve Keller of Charlottesville thoroughly laid out the case for nomination in a 53-page application.

“The district possesses substantial integrity,” she said, “retaining much of its original 19th and early 20th century character and, in spite of proximity to the central business district, evokes the feeling of its rural past.”

Unanimously approved by the state review and historic resources boards June 18 in Richmond, the district spans South East Street from Stevens to Page streets and one block west onto East Asher and East Chandler Streets. It includes 76 contributing structures as well barns, a stable, detached kitchens and an icehouse.

The district’s period of significance, as identified by Keller, is 1835 to 1955, and though contiguous to the town’s Culpeper Historic District, listed to the National Register in 1996, South East Street was not part of that original listing.

The Hills
“It represents the broad trends of domestic life in Culpeper from its pre-Civil War economic growth … (to) the prosperous but settled town life” of the 1900s, Keller writes, pointing to such happenings as the railroad’s advent in 1853, Civil War encampments and burials a decade later, and the post-war economic recovery of the late 1800s.

South East Street features grandiose houses set back from the tree-shaded road, with ornate porches and vast backyards still replete with gardens.

The earliest houses in the historic district date from the 1830s to 1840s, according to Keller, the oldest being an Episcopal rectory from 1835. During the Civil War, town residents are said to have taken refuge in the rectory’s deep stone cellar during occasional shellings by Union troops.

The old Hill House at the northern edge of the district, built 1840, served as a Civil War hospital. Robert E. Lee’s son, W.F. Rooney Lee, convalesced there after being injured at the Battle of Brandy Station.

In 1857, A.P. Hill’s brother, E.B., built the Hill Mansion nearby, an elaborate Italianate abode referred to locally as, “the meeting place of generals,” Keller writes. When Lee visited his wounded son at hospital, he was entertained in the Hill Mansion along with Confederate generals J.E.B. Stuart and A.P. Hill.

The Hill Mansion is the South East Street Historic District’s only home individually listed on the National Register and quite an architectural gem to behold, “an imposing Culpeper landmark,” Keller says.

Politicians galore
The Martins House, circa 1860, is a straightforward, three-bay front façade and one-time home to the late T.I. Martin, longtime mayor of Culpeper for whom the county’s regional airport is named.

Rose Marie Martin, his daughter in law, laughing, said that when she moved to Culpeper in 1950, she thought, “You had to have white hair and live on East Street to be on Town Council.”

A slightly graying Pranas Rimeikis, today’s mayor, lives nearby on South East in a circa 1920 American four square.

His house has a large backyard that has produced physical evidence of the town’s long-ago Civil War encampments.

A neighbor is Steve Walker, Culpeper County supervisor, who lives with his wife, Kathi, and family at Fountain Hall Bed & Breakfast — one of the largest houses on the street with 15 rooms. It was built circa 1860 and, though substantially enlarged in a 1920 rehab, the home retains many notable features like Greek Revival woodwork and a spacious wide central hall and stairs, Keller writes.

A 25-year resident of South East Street, Walker pointed out that the recent historic district designation does not restrict residents in any way. Instead, it is a national accolade bestowed in recognition of ongoing preservation efforts on the street.

“It recognizes the historical impact of not just East Street, but surrounding streets as well,” Walker said. The street features a diverse range of architectural styles like much of downtown, he added, but it works.

“All mixed together, but creating Culpeper,” Walker said.

Small-town feel
Crimora Waite (1906-1991), yet another prominent East Street resident, did her part contributing to Culpeper. County librarian and daughter of Confederate Major Charles Waite, she ran a kindergarten out of her stunning 1885 Victorian at the corner of East Chandler Street.

Keller described it as “the most distinctive and ornamental postbellum house in the district.” With its pointed arches, elaborate Victorian ornamentation and terracotta chimney stacks, “It visually dominates the intersection.”

Rich and Jackie Kaiser have lived in the Waite House since 1992 and from the beginning have been keenly interested and active in preserving the neighborhood, like many of the street’s modern occupants. The couple runs a stained glass business out of the home, which remains all-original, including no air conditioning.

“We call it the most barebones house we have ever seen,” said Jackie Kaiser, “because nothing was changed. No lowered ceilings, no paneling on the walls — nothing was touched. More than anything, this house has a mysteriousness about it that makes it unique.”

As South East Street makes it way to the National Register later this year, Kaiser hoped the district would continue to blossom and improve while retaining its history. “We want to keep that small-town feel, but with respect for the houses that are here.”