By Natalie Lee
Westmont sits to the northwest of the intersection of William Street and Route 1 and to the east of Oak Hill Cemetery. Darius J. Boulware, who owned the land that became Westmont, was born in Massaponax, Virginia where he lived on a farm with his father, John, and his mother, Ada. After briefly attending Locust Dale Academy in present-day Madison County, Virginia, he joined his father in the family feed business.[1] In 1907, he married Sue Lightfoot, who he most likely met while attending school. Her family were farmers in Locust Dale. Boulware’s father died in 1920, and Boulware continued to run the family business, under the name Boulware and Son Co. [2]
Boulware purposely bought land in Spotsylvania County with the goal of building the Westmont subdivision. In 1930, Boulware bought over 29 acres from Maurice B. Rowe Sr., who was a prominent Fredericksburg figure.[3]
Figure 1 to the right: Westmont Subdivision Plat Map.*
Boulware had platted and planned to sell lots at Westmont, but he unexpectedly passed away in May 1933. He and his spouse only sold one lot together to J. Garret King Jr., who was a dentist in Fredericksburg.[4] Sue Boulware took over Westmont but only sold one other lot in 1937 to the Freeman Brothers. John F. Freeman, and George C. Freeman, who were business owners in the Fredericksburg community.[5] Most of the parcels were not sold until the 1950s.
Figure 2 to the right: D.J. Boulware Obituary, 1933. Courtesy of newspapers.com.
Unlike other developers Boulware restricted Westmont in a unique way. When he sold his first lot to King, he inserted a list of restrictive covenants, including a racial one, and a plat map. That list of covenants applied to the entire subdivision, not just the lot sold to King. Westmont’s racial restriction was set to last until January 1, 1980, nearly 50 years after the lots were sold.[6] Other covenants that affected Westmont were tied to maintaining property values for middle-class families. These restrictions included the following covenants: “residential purposes only;” “no dwellings, or residences, except for out buildings shall be erected;” and “no pig pen or hog pen” on the premises. [7]
Today, Westmont consists of large residential homes secluded from Route 1. Each house is unique because it was bought by individual buyers and not developers. It also still has large lots compared to other subdivisions in Fredericksburg.
[1] “D.J. Boulware Dies Suddenly,” The Free Lance-Star, May 23, 1933. Accessed April 4, 2025. https://www.newspapers.com/.
[2] Find-a-grave, “John McAlla Boulware,” Accessed April 16, 2025, http://www.ancestry.com/.
[3] Deed book 105, Page 155 (1930), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[4] “1930 Fredericksburg Census, Enumeration District 107-2,” Accessed April 10, 2025, http://www.ancestry.com/.
[5] Deed book 117, Page 469 (1937), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[6] Deed book 108, Page 471 (1932), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[7] Deed book 108, Page 471 (1932), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
*Deed book 108, Page 471 (1932), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.