Bacon's Castle
Bacon's Castle | |
Greek revival | |
Website | preservationvirginia.org/historic-sites/bacons-castle |
---|---|
NRHP reference No. | 66000849 |
VLR No. | 090-0001 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | 1966[2] |
Designated NHL | October 9, 1960[3] |
Designated VLR | September 9, 1969[1] |
Bacon's Castle, also variously known as "Allen's Brick House" or the "Arthur Allen House" is located in Surry County, Virginia, United States, and is the oldest documented brick dwelling in what is now the United States.[4] Built in 1665, it is noted as an extremely rare example of Jacobean architecture in the New World.
The house became known as "Bacon's Castle" because it was occupied as a fort or "castle" by the followers of
Today Bacon's Castle is an historic house museum and historic site open for guest visitation. Bacon's Castle is an official Preservation Virginia historic site and operates under its 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit status.
History
Soon after Surry County was formed in the English
About mid-September, 1676, a number of the rebel followers of frontiersman
Royal Governor Sir William Berkeley began to conquer the isolated posts one by one, some by force and some by persuasion. On December 29, a loyal force aboard the vessel Young Prince, captured an unidentified "fort" which many historians have identified as Bacon's Castle. After withstanding a brief siege early in January, 1677, the loyalists used the "fort" as a base of operations for the last engagements of the rebellion, which ended before the month was out.[5]
The Allen family's brick home became known as "Bacon's Castle" because it was occupied as a fort or "castle" by the followers of
During the
Ginna's brother, James DeWitt Hankins, was a law student at the
At the request of Virginia Hankins, Sidney Lanier wrote "In Memoriam" for her brother who had been his friend.[8]
Like other
William Allen Warren, purchased the estate in 1880 and sold it to his son Charles Allen Warren in 1909. When Charles died in 1931 the estate passed through inheritance to his son Walker Pegram Warren who had been born in the mansion. Walker Warren and his wife used Bacon's Castle as a second home until their deaths in an automobile accident in 1973. The Warrens had no children and, the mansion and outbuildings and 40 acres of the plantation were acquired from their estate by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. The remaining 1,130 acres of the plantation were acquired by Virginia State Senator Garland Gray and later passed through inheritance to his son Elmon T. Gray and remain devoted to agriculture.
Preservation and later operations
Bacon's Castle was acquired by Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) in the 1970s and restored. Preservation activities continue while guests visit the Site. Bacon's Castle now operates as a house museum and historic site with 40-acres of outbuildings and dependencies including barns, slave and tenant quarters, smokehouses, and a rare example of a 17th-century English formal garden.
In 2015, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation received a $257,996 grant from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation to help the group purchase a conservation easement on 1,260 acres of privately owned farmland surrounding Bacon's Castle. The easement ensures the land will be permanently protected from residential and commercial development.[9]
Architecture
Bacon's Castle is a rare example of American
Between the mid to late-nineteenth century, Bacon's Castle underwent several modifications. An original one story service wing was replaced by a taller
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Bacon's Castle, 2014
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Bacon's Castle, perspective showing chimneys. 2014
See also
- Old Brick Church (Bacon's Castle, Virginia)
- List of the oldest buildings in Virginia
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Virginia
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Surry County, Virginia
Notes
- ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
- ^ "Bacon's Castle". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- ^ Preserving Virginia 1889-1989: Centennial Pictorial. Virginia: The Art Band. 1989. p. 12.
- ^ a b c d National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Bacon's Castle, p. 2.
- ^ Starke, Aubrey Harrison (1964) [1933]. Sidney Lanier: A Biographical and Critical Study. pp. 48–52.
- ^ "Daily Press: Hampton Roads News, Virginia News & Videos".
- ^ a b "Bacon's Castle - the Letters of Virginia Hankins and Sidney Lanier » Preservation Virginia". Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "Surry, Sussex projects receive grants".
- ^ "Bacon's Castle". Preservation Virginia. Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
- ISBN 0-394-73969-8.
- ISBN 1-85648-637-0.
References
- Wertenbaker, Thomas J. (1914). Virginia under the Stuarts, 1607-1688. New Jersey: Princeton University.
- Morrison, Hugh (1952). Early American Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Kimball, Fiske (1922). Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic. New York: New York, C. Scribner's Sons.
External links
- Bacon's Castle webpage on the Preservation Virginia website
- Bacon's Castle Facebook webpage
- National Park Service, a brief history of Bacon's Castle
- Bacon's Castle, State Route 617, Surry, Surry County, VA: 46 photos, 3 color transparencies, 22 measured drawings, 8 data pages, and 2 photo caption pages at Historic American Buildings Survey