Buckingham historic site demolished to ire of some

Upsetting some in the community, a landowner has demolished a historic Buckingham County building, saying it would have cost too much to repair the structure.

“The president of the first women’s college lived there,” said Fred DeMaio, the landowner. “Its not like it was the college.”

According to its nomination for the National Register of Historic Places, the president’s house was built circa 1852 to 1853 and was the only structure remaining of the original institute campus.

The Buckingham Female Collegiate Institute’s main building was razed in 1906.

The school had been incorporated by the General Assembly in 1837 as the first women’s college in Virginia. It functioned intermittently until the Civil War, according to the nomination. It was also listed on the Virginia Land-marks Registry.

“Officers of the school challenged the accepted notion that learned education was not suited to the female mind and sphere of action,” the nomination reads.

On both registries, it appeared as part of a larger historic district, including several surrounding buildings that played a role in the life of the college.

“Those are strictly honorary designations,” said Randy Jones, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Historical Resources. Neither designation prevents an owner from demolishing a listed structure.

The president’s house was located along Route 617, near Brown’s Chapel.

Martha Louis is president of Historic Buckingham Inc., a county historic society. She said she’s one of many local residents upset the structure has been torn down.

“I was horrified when I heard that he might tear it down,” she said.

She added, “It wasn’t necessary.”

DeMaio, who relocated his business, Tri-Boro Shelving, from Bucking-ham County to Prince Edward County after what he described as a “falling out” with the county’s leadership, said he had the building torn down after two huge oak branches fell on it. One smashed through the porch roof, another went through a window, tearing out brickwork, he said.

He said the property would only bring in about $600 a month as a residential rental, but would have cost about $150,000 to repair.

He said he offered it for free to at least two potential rescuers, if they’d move the building off his property. No one was willing to undertake that expense, he said.

“I wanted to give it away for nothing,” he said.

Louis said she didn’t think the disagreement was a locals-versus-the-Yankee affair, even though DeMaio is a New Yorker who now owns more than 1,000 acres in Buckingham County.

“Historic Buckingham has many members from — We call them Yankees. We have many members who contribute and know the value of preservation,” she said.

And DeMaio said he hopes the demolition won’t lead to strife.

“I know there’s a lot of sour grapes, but I can’t do anything about it,” he said.

DeMaio said that, as he was gutting the house, he found an old oil painting of the structure.

“If the historic society wants the painting, I would give it to them for free,” he said.