Hans Meadow

1849 (1800 Depot Street NE)

Hans Meadow was the original name for this area, after the estate of John Craig, an early settler in Southwest Virginia. Craig first built a log house on this site circa 1754. Craig moved to Abingdon, Virginia after his son was killed here by local Indians in the 1770s. Though John Craig sold much of his property, his son James Craig continued to live here and operated a tavern. It was James who donated 175 acres of the Hans Meadow property to establish the town of Christiansburg in 1792. The first log courthouse for Montgomery County was built near Craig’s house. The current brick Hans Meadow house was built in 1849, replacing the original log structure. Famous visitors include Andrew Jackson, who stayed in the original house, and folk artist Lewis Miller, who frequented Christiansburg and stayed here when he was not staying in the Charles Miller House with his nephew. Lewis Miller, a native of York, Pennsylvania, died in 1882, possibly in this house, and is buried in the Craig Cemetery. The house was expanded in the early twentieth century to its current appearance.

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