Built 1748 (1748) NRHP Reference # 73002056 Designated VLR June 19, 1973 Area 4 ha | Built by Harrison, Daniel VLR # 206-0001 Opened 1748 Added to NRHP 24 July 1973 | |
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Location NE of Dayton on VA 42, Dayton, Virginia Similar The Heritage Museum, Valley Turnpike Museum, Miller‑Kite House, Virginia Quilt Museum, Grand Caverns | ||
Daniel Harrison House, also known as Fort Harrison, is a historic home located near Dayton, Rockingham County, Virginia. It was built in 1748, and is a two-story, three bay limestone dwelling with a brick extension added in the early 1800s. It has a steep gable roof and wide chimney caps. It was originally surrounded by a palisade and stories of an underground passage to the nearby spring. During the French and Indian War, the legislature of Virginia designed the house "Fort Harrison." The house is one of the oldest in the Shenandoah Valley, and is closely associated with the early history of Rockingham County.
Captain Daniel Harrison was one of the first to use the plentiful supply of limestone for building. His stone house is referred to in one of his first deeds dated February 28, 1749 in Rockingham County Deed Book 2, p. 586 - "Daniel Harrison, Gent. to Arthur Johnson, 190 acres; 10 acres; Cook's Creek–Harrison's stonehouse". Captain Harrison was appointed along with brother John and Robert Cravens as overseer by the Court of Orange County in 1745 to lay out and clear the old Indian Road – "The Long Grey Trail" – through what is now Rockingham County. This was destined to be the most traveled highway in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1751 Daniel became Under Sheriff of Augusta County
Fort Harrison is open to the public on Friday and Saturday in the summer and by appointment.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.