A well-known home in the Elon area, the Dillard Mansion, is targeted for use as a photography venue, special events attraction for weddings and a short-term tourist rental of a dwelling.
The Amherst County Planning Commission on May 18 voted to recommend approval of a special exception request from Mark and Pamela Turner, the applicants and owner, to use the Dillard Property at 2770 Elon Road for those uses.
According to the Amherst County Museum and Historical Society, the home constructed from 1940 to 1942 was called “The Shelter” by the builder and original owner, David Hugh Dillard, and his wife.
The Campbell County native was widely known as a Lynchburg industrialist, businessman and philanthropist who died in January 1970 at age 80. He was brother to the late Queena Dillard Stovall, a well-known folk artist who lived in Elon.
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The mansion was Dillard’s dream home and designed to be a virtually fire-proof stone fortress, according to Amherst New Era-Progress archives. The stone was brought down the mountain and cut by stone cutters who lived around the Elon area, a March 1981 article in the New Era-Progress states. After Dillard’s wife died in 1975, the home was sold and has had several owners over the next four decades.
Paul Kilgore, a local Realtor and former Amherst mayor, said he recently sold the property to the Turners and is excited about the planned uses.
“They want to share it with people,” Kilgore said. “It is the landmark in Amherst County. For them to open it to other people is pretty special, I think.”
The property is zoned Agricultural Residential, A-1, and Pamela Turner plans to use two different locations on the site for special events and photography venue. An area also is included on the concept plan to accommodate parking for the proposed special events.
“This site is one of the most well-known structures in the county and this will showcase it and the beauty of the county,” the application for the permit states.
Conditions for the permit include requiring guests to not park on any neighboring lots o any right-of-way outside the property unless given written permission and a parking attendant shall direct traffic during events with attendance greater than 75 people, according to county documents.
The permit request now heads to the Amherst County Board of Supervisors for review.
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