{"nrhp_refnum":"07000401","name":"Willowdale","other_names":["Dhr#001-0062","Smith Place","Gunther Farm","Willow Dale"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"18412 Willowdale Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Painter","county":"Accomack County","state":"VA","lat":37.55973019850006,"lon":-75.76132735795815,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-05-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Willowdale is a two-story, five-bay frame house with brick gable ends and attached service wing and kitchen, on a 16-acre parcel called \"the Point\" beside the Machipongo River near Painter, Accomack County, Virginia. It grew from a late seventeenth-century patent house, with the main block dated to about 1728.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is one of the few remaining dwellings of an early colonial settler and farmer, held continuously by the Smith family from the 1666 land patent. It is significant under Criterion A for early settlement and land use on Virginia's Eastern Shore. It is significant under Criterion C as an example of the \"big house, little house, colonnade, kitchen\" building type.","narrative":"Willowdale is a farmhouse on a 16-acre point of land beside the Machipongo River in Accomack County, Virginia. The two-story, five-bay frame house has a gambrel roof, brick gable ends laid in Flemish bond with glazed headers, and a brick foundation. Its north end began as a story-and-a-half patent house of the late seventeenth century. The main block was later enlarged, with a date of 1728 attributed to the south end, and a kitchen wing was added in the early nineteenth century. The colonnade between house and kitchen was enclosed late in the century. The stepped arrangement is typical of the \"big house, little house, colonnade, kitchen\" pattern of colonial Eastern Shore homes. The land was patented to the Smith family in 1666 and stayed in that family through generations, moving from a colonial homestead to a slave-labor plantation and then a post-Civil War farm. The listing recognizes its role in early settlement and its vernacular architecture. Today the house is deteriorated and under repair, though early moldings, plaster, paint and faux graining survive.","period_of_significance":"1666 - circa 1899","architect_builder":"Smith, John or George; Smith, Hewitt; Smith, George M.P.; Smith, Francis","architectural_style":"Colonial","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Deteriorated and in need of structural repair and a new roof; vandals have stolen floorboards, paneling and other fittings. The owner is undertaking preservation and reconstruction.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.005292-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/6792/41679217/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/07000401.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679217","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willowdale_(Painter,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903495"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/accomack-county/willowdale-07000401/"}