Newport and Clover Hollow are located in Giles County, Virginia. They form part of the Greater Newport Rural Historic District, which is located in the Eastern District of Giles County. Listed in the National Registrar of Historic Places in 2000, the Greater Newport Rural Historic District includes five distinct sections: Sinking Creek, Spruce Run, Clover Hollow, Plowscrew, and Mountain Lake. The historic district is agricultural and rural in character, consisting mostly of nineteenth and early-twentieth century farmsteads. Overall, the district includes approximately 21,085 acres.

Closely associated with the effort to designate this area as a rural historic district was the struggle by community members against AEP's proposed powerline. In March 1990, the contestation over proposed powerline routes was initiated when the energy company Apco -- which would change its name to AEP during the course of the powerline battle -- announced its plans to build a transmission line from West Virginia to Cloverdale. The estimated date for its completion was 1998. Following this announcement, opposition arose from communities along the proposed route. In Giles County, Virginia, concerned community members joined together to create the organization Citizens Organized to Protect the Environment (COPE), which fought against the proposed powerline. For more detailed information on the powerline struggle and establishment of the Greater Newport Rural Historical District see the following:

Carlisle, Fred. "Insiders, Outsiders, and the Struggle for Community," Appalachian Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Spring 1999), 240-251.

Carlisle, Fred. "The Past in the Present: The Greater Newport Rural Historic District," Appalachian Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Fall 2004), 50-66.

Sources Consulted:

"Greater Newport Rural Historic District, Giles County, Virginia," http://www.cr.nps.gov/NR/publications/bulletins/01workshop/newport.htm