{"nrhp_refnum":"06000707","name":"Nance-Major House and Store","other_names":["018-0078"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"10811 Courthouse Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charles City","county":"Charles City County","state":"VA","lat":37.34457227900006,"lon":-77.07283354191298,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-08-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A house and general store complex at 10811 Courthouse Road in Charles City, Charles City County, Virginia, facing the circa 1750 county courthouse. The house dates to about 1869 and the store to about 1872, with several outbuildings.","why_significant":"The store served as a commercial, social and quasi-governmental hub beside the courthouse from 1874 to 1963, handling credit, money orders, post office and welfare-type services. The Greek Revival house has design elements unusual in the county, and the store is a well-preserved, increasingly rare example of a late-nineteenth-century rural general store.","narrative":"Facing the old Charles City courthouse across a narrow road, this complex pairs a frame house of about 1869 with a two-story general store built around 1872. The house, built by Benjamin Albert Nance, is a gable-fronted dwelling with Greek Revival details unusual in the county, a two-story porch and a side-hall plan. Several outbuildings stand behind, including a smokehouse, grain barn, tool shed and garage. The store operated from 1874 until 1963 and was considered the best known and most prosperous in the county. Beyond selling dry goods, tools and farm supplies, it cashed checks, issued money orders, supplied food on credit to needy residents for the county, housed the post office and a public telephone, and sold caskets. Locals gathered on its porch to watch auctions and other courthouse events. Inside, original shelving, a pot-bellied stove and stock from 1963 survive, giving the property a high degree of integrity.","period_of_significance":"1869-1956","architect_builder":"Benjamin Albert Nance; Edward and Julia Nance-Major","architectural_style":"Mid-19th century Greek Revival (dwelling); Mid-19th century vernacular (store)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The house remains a residence; the store closed in 1963 and its current function is listed as vacant, with shelves still stocked with mid-twentieth-century merchandise.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.681856-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/35/6800/41680035/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/06000707.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000707/3c560453ba-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000707/3c560453ba-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NANCE-MAJOR_HOUSE_AND_STORE,_CHARLES_COTY_COUNTY,_VA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NANCE-MAJOR_HOUSE_AND_STORE,_CHARLES_COTY_COUNTY,_VA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680035","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nance-Major_House_and_Store","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712937"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/charles-city-county/nance-major-house-and-store-06000707/"}