Solar Hill Historic District

About this place

20th-century residential neighbourhood

The Solar Hill Historic District encompasses an architecturally significant early 20th century residential neighborhood near the center of Bristol, Virginia. The district covers an area of about 27 acres (11 ha), bounded on the north by the Norfolk and Southern Railroad and Scott Street, on the west by West Street, on the east by Johnson Street, and on the south by Cumberland Street. Solar Hill is a knob of land overlooking the downtown area, and is where the house of the King family, one the area's early settlers, is located. The Kings owned most of what is now Bristol until 1852, when the central portion of the town was laid out, but retained ownership of the Solar Hill area until after the American Civil War. The hill became known as "Solar Hill" when it was used as an official observation point of a solar eclipse in 1869.