A Brief History of Dunlora 

In 1730, King George II granted land along the Rivanna River, near where its North and South forks meet, to Major Thomas Carr (1678-1738) of King William County for "services to the Crown". These land holdings, which increased to over 5,000 acres, came to be known as "Dunlora", a Celtic name meaning "hill of the roaring stream". Title to the land passed to Major Carr's son, John (1706-1778), then to his grandson, Samuel Carr (1745-1777). Samuel Carr's brother, Dabney Carr, married Thomas Jefferson's sister, Martha. Samuel Carr had no direct heirs and so left his estate to his nephew and namesake, son of his brother Dabney and Martha Jefferson (and nephew of Thomas Jefferson), Colonel Samuel Jefferson Carr (1771-1855). The younger Samuel Carr was twice-married, first to his cousin Ellen Carr, and then to Marie Dabney. After his death the Dabney line acquired Dunlora.

The elder Samual Carr probably built the first house at Dunlora just south of the fork of the Rivanna River, which burned in the early 1820's. His heir, Colonel Samuel Carr, had a brick house built here in 1828 by Thomas R. Blackburn and William B. Phillips. This house had an exposed cellar, an exterior stair to a piano nobile portico, and a hipped roof with belvedere (see photo). In 1846 the property passed to a descendant, William S. Dabney, who willed the western part of the Dunlora property to his former slaves at the end of the Civil War. The tract thus became known as the Free State. Dunlora was raided by Sheridan's soldiers during the Civil War, but escaped severe damage thanks to their compassion for the old and dying William S. Dabney.

One of William S. Dabney's daughters married a member of the Moon family of Church Hill near Scottsville. Dunlora thence descended within that family to the present owners of Dunlora farm, although actual names have changed along the way due to marriage.

The 1828 Dunlora house was burned by an arsonist in 1916, then renovated by architect Eugene Bradbury, who altered the entrance and lowered it to the first floor ground level, constructed another one-story portico with paired columns, and reconstructed the widow's walk. These renovations provide a construction truer to the original house.*

In August 1989, Capital Management & Development Corporation, in limited partnership with TBF Branchlands, Inc., acquired 257 acres of the original Dunlora estate for development of single family home sites. The original concept of selling lots, on which buyers would contract to build their own houses, was slow to gain acceptance. In October, 1992, the development was therefore sold to Republic Homes Investment Corporation, later to become Robert Hauser Homes.

While Robert Hauser Homes was the primary builder, other home contractors such as Wade Homes, Van Der Linde Homes, R. L. Beyer, and other individuals bought lots for home construction. By 2001, essentially all of the planned 275 homes in the original Dunlora tract had been completed and occupied.

Stonehaus Development Corp., a division of Robert Hauser Homes, next began to acquire land between Dunlora and Free State Road. By early 2002, initial sections of the Rivercrest and Rivercreek neighborhoods were nearing completion. Also in 2002, the club house and swimming pool were expanded and remodeled to accomodate the additional residents. Total size of Dunlora is anticipated to be approximately 440 homes when development is completed in 2004.

*Some of this information was obtained from "The Architecture of Jefferson County, Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia" by K. Edward Lay, University Press of Virginia, 2000.