The Grove, the John Preston House, of Walnut Grove Plantation, Washington County, Virginia, is eligible for the National Historic Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmark Register under Criterion A for its association with the early development of Washington County and Southwestern Virginia and its association with the Preston family of Southwestern Virginia. It is also eligible under Criterion C in the area of architecture for the Greek Revival and Italianate style and character of the house.
The Grove is the second residence built on the Walnut Grove Plantation. It was built by Colonel John Preston, the son of Colonel Robert Preston, the first surveyor of Washington County and one of the first influential citizens of Washington County and Southwestern Virginia. Colonel Robert Preston, a cousin of Colonel William Preston of Smithfield, Montgomery County, Virginia, came to Washington County in 1777 and became the Surveyor of the newly formed Washington County. It was during this period that he obtained a land patent of seven hundred and seventy-acres of land west of the Town of Abingdon. He named this tract Walnut Grove.
John Preston was born at Walnut Grove on July 8, 1781. He graduated from Dickenson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1799, and studied law under St George Tucker at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1801-1802. He married Margaret Brown Preston, the youngest child of Colonel William Preston of Smithfield Plantation and cousin to John, on October 5, 1802. After their marriage, the couple returned to Washington County. John Preston served as a captain during the War of 1812 and later became the colonel of the 105th Regiment of the Virginia Militia. He was appointed justice of Washington County on January 17, 1804, and became the presiding judge of Washington County in 1820, a position he held for thirty-two years.
John and Margaret Preston had fourteen children—five daughters and nine sons. Two of their sons gained notoriety in their own right. Colonel Thomas Marshall Preston served on the staff of Confederate General Albert Sydney Johnston and was killed in the Battle of Shiloh. Walter Eugene Preston settled in Phillips County, Arkansas, and serves a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1848-1851.
Before retiring as the judge of Washington County, John Preston built The Grove as his retirement home in 1850. He gave his father’s home, Walnut Grove, to his son, Robert F. Preston. From 1852 to his death in 1864, John Preston concentrated on the farming operations of Walnut Grove.
During the Civil War, Walnut Grove was the site of a skirmish between Confederate and Federal troops. On September 25, 1863, Federal troops coming from