Downtown Mathews could soon be designated a historic district. A smattering of downtown property owners attended a Virginia Department of Historic Resources public information hearing on the matter in the historic courthouse on May 9.

The VDHR board will meet to consider this and other nominations at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 15, at Mathews Memorial Library, Main Street, Mathews.

Elizabeth Hoge Lipford, architectural historian for the department’s Eastern Regional Preservation Office, and Dave Brown of DATA Investigations, the company that prepared the nomination for the listing, shared information and answered questions from those present. They were introduced by Forrest Morgan of the Mathews County Historical Society, which received grant funding for background work that supports the nomination.

Lipford explained that the nomination will be considered for placement on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, which is administered b...