{"nrhp_refnum":"00000557","name":"Wythe County Poorhouse Farm","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 2, Peppers Ferry Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wytheville","county":"Wythe County","state":"VA","lat":36.98182323200007,"lon":-81.02812225999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-05-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Health/Medicine","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former county poor farm about four miles northeast of Wytheville, Wythe County, Virginia, established in 1858. The nominated 9.09-acre parcel holds an overseer's house (ca. 1890), eight brick pauper houses, and five outbuildings.","why_significant":"It is the only surviving poorhouse farm in Wythe County and possibly the best surviving one in southwest Virginia. It is significant for social history and health/medicine because the county provided shelter, food and medical care for the poor, and for the architecture of its pauper houses. The setting remains largely undisturbed.","narrative":"Wythe County bought 340 acres northeast of Wytheville in 1858 to replace its first poorhouse, which had operated from 1825 until 1858. The nominated 9.09 acres hold the core of that second poor farm: a ca. 1890 two-story frame overseer's house, eight brick pauper houses, a log smokehouse, a wash house, a chicken house, a shed and a springhouse. Each pauper house has two 16-by-16-foot rooms heated by a central chimney. Census records show the farm typically housed 20 to 30 residents, with 56 in 1870, and the county later contracted doctors to care for them. The farm operated until the county sold it in 1957. It is the only surviving poorhouse farm in Wythe County and may be the best of its kind in southwest Virginia, and its rural setting has changed little. Restoration has kept most original materials, and the site is open for visits.","period_of_significance":"1858-1949","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian Queen Anne","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Restored by its owners and open to the public for visitation at no charge; the overseer's house is in excellent condition. One pauper house has partly collapsed and the springhouse was ruined by an ice storm.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.196465-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/41/6842/41684241/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/00000557.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000557/5669a925ba-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000557/5669a925ba-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wythe_County_Poorhouse_Farm.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wythe_County_Poorhouse_Farm.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41684241","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wythe_County_Poorhouse_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903838"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/wythe-county/wythe-county-poorhouse-farm-00000557/"}