Richmond Hamilton Farm

Richmond Hamilton Farm is a preserved family farmstead on the upper New River's broad bottomlands, along River Road between Hinton and Sandstone Falls. It's a worthwhile history stop if you want a sense of who lived here before the railroad arrived. Give yourself a little time to look at how the farmhouse and outbuildings fit together. This is a walk around the grounds; access inside the buildings isn't confirmed.

From I-64, take exit 139 toward Hinton, cross the New River, then turn onto River Road. The farm is about two miles down on the left, at a break in a stone wall. There's a parking lot and vault toilet by the entrance, then a walk to the buildings. The site is listed as wheelchair accessible, though the walking route's surface and slope aren't described.

The farmhouse and its outbuildings show the layout of a working family farmstead. One hand-hewn chestnut-log barn was destroyed in a 2024 fire. Older descriptions still count two barns, so the current building total isn't confirmed.

Before the railroad, families produced most of what they needed: food, shelter, water and clothing. A farmstead could include cornfields, garden plots and apple trees, with horses or mules for plowing and wagons, cows and chickens for dairy and eggs, and sheep for wool. Trading mattered too: a family might exchange a hog, eggs or apples for coffee, lead shot or gunpowder, or give corn to a miller in return for meal.

This stretch was known as Richmond's Bottom. William Richmond, a Revolutionary War veteran, received a land grant here in 1796, near the falls then called Richmond's Falls. The farm's last residents were a railroad worker and his family, who kept it going part time for extra income. Today the site fits naturally into the ten-mile River Road drive toward Sandstone Falls.