{"nrhp_refnum":"07000235","name":"Mechum River Farm","other_names":["VDHR Id#002-1632"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1207 Burchs Creek Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlottesville","county":"Albemarle County","state":"VA","lat":38.008457817500044,"lon":-78.71876227003929,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-03-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story Gothic Revival farmhouse with outbuildings and a cemetery on about 21 acres in western Albemarle County, Virginia, begun around 1820 and expanded around 1850.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is locally significant for architecture. A small vernacular hall-parlor house was updated around 1850, most likely by brick mason John C. Burch, into a Gothic Revival farmhouse. It shows how architectural pattern books influenced even modest rural owners in western Albemarle County.","narrative":"Mechum River Farm is a farmhouse and outbuilding complex on roughly twenty-one acres of hay pasture in western Albemarle County, Virginia. The main house began around 1820 as a modest one-story, two-room dwelling. Around 1850 the roof was raised, a central cross gable and portico were added, and a center-passage plan with a stair and parlor replaced the original layout. The work is most likely attributed to John C. Burch, a professional brick mason, who may have drawn on pattern books by Alexander Jackson Davis and Andrew Jackson Downing. The result is a weatherboard Gothic Revival house with decorative bargeboard, octagonal porch columns and a pointed-arch gable window. A rear addition followed around 1920. Surrounding the house are a summer kitchen, smokehouse, barn, chicken coop, privy and other outbuildings, plus a cemetery on a small knoll. The property was listed for its architecture, illustrating how modest rural owners updated older homes in fashionable styles.","period_of_significance":"c. 1820 to c. 1920","architect_builder":"John C. Burch (alterations around 1850, most likely)","architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century: Gothic Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling, with agricultural outbuildings used for storage and a cemetery on the grounds.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.455932-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/79/6792/41679279/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/07000235.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000235/f95a0a9289-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000235/f95a0a9289-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Pds92068","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mechum_River_Farm_-_Front,_Side_View_Showing_Summer_Kitchen_to_right.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pds92068</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:Mechum_River_Farm_-_Front,_Side_View_Showing_Summer_Kitchen_to_right.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679279","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechum_River_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712823"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/albemarle-county/mechum-river-farm-07000235/"}