Holladay House - The Holladay Family

The Holladay Family

The McDonald family acquired the property in 1883, and lived there until 1899. Then Dr. Lewis Holladay (1868-1946) purchased the home. At that time, only the brick portion of the house existed, and the Holladays made several additions to the building while they lived there—the two most notable in 1910 and 1917, when the frame structure on the rear of the house was completed. The home remained in the Holladay family for 101 years, which is why the house bears their name.

Dr. Holladay served the citizens of Orange County, Virginia as their physician for nearly five decades. Prominently located at the crossroads in the Town of Orange, The Doctor Holladay House (as it was then called) was a familiar landmark in town. Educated at Hampden-Sydney College and the University of Virginia, Dr. Holladay was Dean of Physicians for Orange County throughout his medical career. In 1911, he was appointed a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners, where he served until his death. He was the Orange County Coroner, and the company surgeon for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. In addition to his medical career, Dr. Holladay served the town as Director of the National Bank of Orange, and as the ruling elder of Orange Presbyterian Church.

In the 1920s, the Holladays also constructed two new houses and a small schoolhouse on the property. The house on the west side still stands, but the house on the east side was torn down in the 1950s and a new house was built. The schoolhouse is no longer extant.