{"nrhp_refnum":"03000445","name":"Selwyn","other_names":["042-0120"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"6279 Powhite Farm Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mechanicsville","county":"Hanover County","state":"VA","lat":37.582929288500054,"lon":-77.32037789251159,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Selwyn is a two-and-a-half-story frame I-house with a surviving frame dairy and several outbuildings, on a 59.7-acre farm near Cold Harbor in eastern Hanover County, Virginia. The original portion dates to about 1820, with an addition from the 1850s.","why_significant":"The house is argued to be the best example in Hanover County of the shift from Federal to Greek Revival style, with the earlier section left intact beside an 1850s addition. It is also significant for Civil War use as a Union and then Confederate headquarters and as a hospital in 1862, and again as a hospital at the 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor.","narrative":"Selwyn is a frame farmhouse on a ridge above the Chickahominy River in eastern Hanover County, Virginia, surrounded by open fields near the Cold Harbor, Gaines Mill and Beaver Dam Creek battlefields. Its original section, built about 1820, is Federal in style. An addition of the 1850s was finished in Greek Revival style, creating a center-passage I-house. Unlike many local houses, the earlier portion was not updated, so the two styles remain side by side in mantels, doors and trim. A mid-nineteenth-century dairy with a pyramidal roof also survives. The property also has a Civil War history. In 1862 Union forces used it as a signal station, field telegraph point and headquarters for General William F. Smith's division, and it later served as a Confederate headquarters. Wounded soldiers were treated there, and it was a hospital again during the 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor. Little of the house has been altered, giving it a high degree of integrity.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1820-1865","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early Republic: Federal; Mid-19th Century: Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling, with a surviving mid-nineteenth-century dairy and twentieth-century outbuildings used for agriculture.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:01.111177-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/81/6811/41681181/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/03000445.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000445/ca227bc8c7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000445/ca227bc8c7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Nickmorgan2","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Selwyn.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Nickmorgan2</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Selwyn.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681181","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selwyn_(Mechanicsville,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713188"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/hanover-county/selwyn-03000445/"}