Oak Grove is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the Washington District of

Westmoreland County, Virginia Westmoreland County is a County (United States), county located in the Northern Neck of the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population sits at 18,477. Its county seat is Montross, Virginia, Montross ...

. The community, on the historic Northern Neck of Virginia (the peninsula between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers), was a

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

stop in the early days of the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

It is close to the birthplaces of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

and

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American Founding Father of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. He was the last Founding Father to serve as presiden ...

. The community also lies in a region of historic architecture, with notable buildings including Wirtland at Oak Grove, a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

house 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 ...

. Ingleside, Roxbury, and St. Peter's Episcopal Church are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Oak Grove is the site of Audley, the Critcher family plantation, notable residents of which have included United States Representative

John Critcher John Critcher (March 11, 1820 – September 27, 1901) was a U.S. Representative from Virginia. Early and family life Born at Oak Grove, Westmoreland County, Virginia on March 11, 1820 to John Critcher and his wife, the former Sally Winter Covi ...

and his daughter Catharine, a painter. Audley was also home to the Lyon sisters, Elizabeth and Lulie, both of whom were later to marry

Claude A. Swanson Claude Augustus Swanson (March 31, 1862July 7, 1939) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from Virginia. He served as U.S. Representative (1893–1906), Governor of Virginia (1906–1910), and U.S. Senator from Virginia (1910–1933) ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Westmoreland County, Virginia Unincorporated communities in Virginia {{WestmorelandCountyVA-geo-stub