Longwood House is a historic home located at

Farmville ''FarmVille'' is a series of agriculture-simulation social network games developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to '' Happy Farm'' and ''Farm Town''. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plo ...

Prince Edward County, Virginia Prince Edward County is located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 21,849. Its county seat is Farmville, Virginia, Farmville. History Formation an ...

, and functions as the home of the president of

Longwood University Longwood University is a public university in Farmville, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1839 as Farmville Female Seminary and colloquially known as Longwood or Longwood College, it is the third-oldest public university in Virginia and one of ...

. It is a -story, three-bay, frame dwelling with a gable roof. It features

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style woodwork and

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

porch. Longwood House has a central passage, double-pile plan. It has a two-story wing added about 1839, and a second wing added in the 1920s, when the property was purchased by

. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> The house is located next to the university golf course, and since 2006, athletic fields used by the Longwood Lancers.

History

The site of the home was originally owned by Scottish immigrant Peter Johnston, having purchased it in 1765. The property was later sold to Abraham B. Venable in 1811; following his death shortly thereafter in the Richmond Theatre fire, it was inherited by a relative, Samuel. The current house was built about 1815, and enlarged and remodeled about 1839. The site was the birthplace of two well-known

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

officers: Johnston's grandson

Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American military officer who served in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia declared secession from ...

in 1807, and Samuel Venable's grandson, Charles S. Venable, in 1827. Longwood House was purchased by what was then the State Teachers College at Farmville in 1929. Twenty years later, the school renamed itself Longwood College after the house; the school then changed its name to Longwood University in 2002. It has been used as the home of the university president since 1969. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1984.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Greek Revival houses in Virginia Houses completed in 1815 Houses in Prince Edward County, Virginia Joseph E. Johnston Longwood University National Register of Historic Places in Prince Edward County, Virginia {{PrinceEdwardCountyVA-NRHP-stub