County Past
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Roanoke County, Virginia

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
61historic places
—earliest paper
1838formed
96,929pop. 2020
49cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 61 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1973. Most listings are in or near Roanoke (Independent City), Salem, Vinton.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Virginia is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Roanoke titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

35 of 61 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

61 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Anderson-Doosing FarmCatawbaDistrict2009
Apartment Building on Windsor Avenue and Brunswick St.Roanoke (Independent City)Building2010
Belle AireSalemBuilding1975
Belmont Methodist-Episcopal ChurchRoanoke (Independent City)Building2011
Boxley BuildingRoanoke (Independent City)Building1984
Buena VistaRoanoke (Independent City)Building1974
Burrell Memorial HospitalRoanoke (Independent City)Building2003
Byrd, William, High School Historic DistrictVintonDistrict2017
Campbell Avenue ComplexRoanoke (Independent City)Building1991
Carlin's Amoco StationRoanoke (Independent City)Building2012
City of Roanoke Fire Station No. 5Roanoke (Independent City)Building2011
Colonial National BankRoanoke (Independent City)Building1983
Cook, Roland E., Elementary SchoolVintonBuilding2016
Crystal Spring Steam Pumping StationRoanoke (Independent City)Structure1980
Fire Station No. 1Roanoke (Independent City)Building1973
First National BankRoanoke (Independent City)Building1982
Gainsboro Branch of the Roanoke City Public LibraryRoanoke (Independent City)Building1996
Gainsboro Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District2005
Gish MillVintonBuilding2021
Grandin Road Commercial Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District2002
Harrison SchoolRoanoke (Independent City)Building1982
Harshbarger HouseRoanoke (Independent City)Building1992
Henry, Patrick, HotelRoanoke (Independent City)Building1991
Hollins College QuadrangleHollinsBuilding1974
Hotel RoanokeRoanoke (Independent City)Building1996
HuntingdonRoanoke (Independent City)Building1991
Johnsville MeetinghouseCatawbaBuilding1998
McVitty HomeSalemBuilding2003
Melrose-Rugby Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District2013
Mount Moriah Baptist Church And CemeteryRoanoke (Independent City)Building1994
Mountain ViewRoanoke (Independent City)Building1980
Norfolk & Western Railway Freight StationRoanoke (Independent City)Building2012
Norfolk and Western Railway Company Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District1999
Old Roanoke County CourthouseSalemBuilding1987
Pleasant GroveSalemBuilding2003
Riverland Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District2013
Roanoke ApartmentsRoanoke (Independent City)Building2006
Roanoke City Firehouse No. 6Roanoke (Independent City)Building1991
Roanoke City Health CenterRoanoke (Independent City)Building2016
Roanoke City Market Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District1983
Roanoke City Market Historic District (Boundary Increase)Roanoke (Independent City)District2002
Roanoke Downtown Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District2002
Roanoke Downtown Historic District (Boundary Increase)Roanoke (Independent City)District2007
Roanoke Downtown Historic District (Boundary Increase)Roanoke (Independent City)District2013
Roanoke River and Railroad Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District2013
Roanoke StarRoanoke (Independent City)Structure1999
Roanoke Warehouse Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District1983
Rogers, Tayloe, HouseRoanoke (Independent City)Building2012
Salem Avenue-Roanoke Automotive Commercial Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District2007
Salem Avenue-Roanoke Automotive Commercial Historic District (Boundary Increase II)Roanoke (Independent City)District2014
Salem Avenue-Roanoke Automotive Commercial Historic District (Boundary Increase)Roanoke (Independent City)District2008
Southwest Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District1985
Southwest Historic District (Boundary Increase)Roanoke (Independent City)District2020
St. Andrew's Roman Catholic ChurchRoanoke (Independent City)Building1973
St. John's Episcopal ChurchRoanoke (Independent City)Building1991
Starkey SchoolRoanoke CountyBuilding2002
The Coffee PotRoanoke (Independent City)Building1996
Villa HeightsRoanoke (Independent City)Building2018
Vinton Downtown Historic DistrictVintonDistrict2024
Virginian Railway Passenger StationRoanoke (Independent City)Building2003
Wasena Historic DistrictRoanoke (Independent City)District2012

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Roanoke was formed in 1838 (1838-05-01) from Botetourt.

ROANOKE created from BOTETOURT.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Roanoke County population from 1840 to 2020 (Census historical series).

97k51k5,4991840188019201930196020002020
18401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
5,4998,04813,10515,83722,39542,89741,48661,69372,94585,77896,929

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

49 cemeteries and 2 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 49 of 49 listed
NameLatLon
Alls Cemetery37.33235-80.25532
Amos Cemetery37.18513-79.95114
Amos Cemetery37.16763-79.9767
Bandy Cemetery37.20485-79.9092
Bandy Cemetery37.24208-79.88864
Beard Cemetery37.33684-80.24619
Blue Ridge Cemetery37.26458-79.85837
Brilheart Cemetery37.33985-80.22976
Butts Cemetery37.28855-80.13012
Cain Cemetery37.31572-80.09137
Catawba Cemetery37.39179-80.08865
Cocke Cemetery37.35477-79.93547
Craighead Cemetery37.12846-80.17559
Custer Cemetery37.3579-80.18365
Duckwiler Cemetery37.24735-80.1392
Ferguson Family Cemetery37.21985-80.0742
Gearhart Cemetery37.23249-79.91537
Givens Cemetery37.25371-80.17416
Hall Cemetery37.34762-80.18671
Hartman Family Cemetery37.17397-79.94333
Henry Cemetery37.20568-80.05059
Hogan Cemetery37.24291-79.8892
James E Day Cemetery37.23485-79.98753
Johns Cemetery37.31873-80.24421
King Cemetery37.12735-80.16004
Kingery Cemetery37.17319-79.94087
Kittinger Cemetery37.18874-80.06309
Laurel Ridge Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery37.21624-80.0292
Lawrence Cemetery37.14457-80.12643
Lewis Cemetery37.15624-80.10976
Lockett - Garst Cemetery37.22939-79.99258
Martin Memorial Cemetery37.20746-79.94796
Miller Chapel Cemetery37.20303-79.95699
Moore - Bain Cemetery37.29874-80.22504
Morgan Cemetery37.39151-80.08782
Mount Pleasant Cemetery37.22997-79.90444
Mount View Cemetery37.28178-79.87871
Muse Cemetery37.21939-80.03611
Obenchain Cemetery37.34555-79.97534
Oylers Cemetery37.15374-79.95476
Reynolds - Beamer Cemetery37.24429-80.11726
Richard Carver Cemetery37.32553-79.94832
Ruddell Cemetery37.28735-79.87976
Shilling Cemetery37.14213-80.10979
Simpson Cemetery37.12207-80.15782
Spessard Cemetery37.33715-80.18139
Tombstone Cemetery37.34021-79.94206
Turner - Richardson Cemetery37.20123-79.9213
Woods Cemetery37.21197-80.06884
Historical populated places — 2 of 2
NameLatLon
Botetourt Springs37.35375-79.93643
Moomaw37.37458-80.14588

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Roanoke County, Virginia

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.