The site of a Roanoke County farm that dates back to the 1830s is now covered with excavators clearing land for a housing development.
For decades, Poage Farm stood out along U.S. Route 221 as a working farm, marking the region's agricultural history even as the area around it grew into an outskirt of the Roanoke metro area.
But these days, the farm and its historic buildings are gone, scraped down to bare earth. Dust is flying as site contractor Bowman Excavating uses heavy machinery to lay utility lines and make way for 118 single-family homes. ABoone Real Estate is developing the 15-acre site.
"We think that adding residential housing which is needed everywhere regionally and is frankly needed everywhere nationally, is ultimately good for the community," says Court Rosen, ABoone Real Estate's director of development.
The land had been farmed for generations, but Roanoke County schools purchased the property in 2008, intending to build a school there. That plan fell through and it sold the land to ABoone in 2024.
Initially the developer planned to build a mixed-use project that included a restaurant. But after neighborhood opposition threatened to sink a proposal to rezone the land, ABoone withdrew the plan and announced it would build single-family housing instead – which did not require rezoning. Now, crews are putting in the infrastructure to support it.
"Under today's regulations and standards, we have to put in a lot of water, a lot of sewer line," Rosen says. "All of that's underground, you'll never see it again, but when people put on their faucet, they expect it to work."
Those water and sewer lines will eventually be extended farther down U.S. 221 to support Back Creek Elementary School and other neighborhoods.
A nearby neighbor says she's currently avoiding the noisy development, and still has concerns about what the project will do to nearby roads.
Rosen projects the new homes will start at prices between $350,000 and $400,000, but says that could change given the shifting cost of construction.
