Maintenance requirements and county oversight
The News & Advance reported that the board's discussion focused on language intended to protect the manor house in the future. An earlier report on the proposed amendments described requirements for maintaining the building and allowing county inspections.
Under those proposed terms, Waukeshaw agreed to keep the house watertight and generally protected against weather and water intrusion, with a county representative permitted to inspect its condition. The company would also be required to make reasonable efforts to continue the golf course and related recreational uses. A sale would require prompt written notice to the county and an offer of a right of first refusal.
A county report said the county had agreed, for legal reasons, to drop the developer's obligation to establish a conservation easement. The owner could still choose to initiate one.
The house at the center of the discussion dates to the 1770s. According to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the late-Georgian farmhouse was built for Joseph Cabell. Sarah Winston Syme Henry, Patrick Henry's mother, later lived there, died there in 1784 and was buried in the Winton cemetery.
Winton is within the Clifford-New Glasgow Historic District. It was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register on Nov. 20, 1973, and to the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1974, under reference number 74002104.
The sale and the abandoned fairgrounds plan
The county and Waukeshaw signed the purchase and sale agreement on Dec. 31, 2018. The $800,000 sale covered roughly 287 acres of county-owned land along Virginia 151 in northern Amherst County's Clifford area. The original agreement divided the property, designating 70 acres for a fairgrounds site.
WSET's coverage of the company's 2018 purchase proposal described a 286-acre property and an $800,000 cash offer. At that stage, the plan called for giving the county a conservation easement over most of the acreage, along with approximately 70 acres for a fairground, park and events venue. Another 20 acres were to be reserved for a future retirement community. The manor house was to remain a maintained historic building that could serve as an events center.
By the board's July 21, 2026, meeting, the county no longer intended to hold the Amherst County Fair at Winton, according to a report presented to supervisors. That report also identified a significant hazard dam on the 70-acre tract as a county liability requiring inspections, studies and repairs.
Winton's golf course
The recreational property includes an 18-hole championship course designed by Ed Ault that opened in 1970, according to Amherst County Tourism. The par-71 course offers five sets of tees, with lengths ranging from 5,300 yards to more than 6,800 yards. Its course rating is 71.2, and its slope rating is 123.
