{"nrhp_refnum":"09001049","name":"Willson House","other_names":["Tuckaway","Wee Dornoch"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"367 VA 673","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"Rockbridge County","state":"VA","lat":37.79868654300006,"lon":-79.50645255287814,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-12-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Conservation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Georgian/Federal Flemish-bond brick plantation house built in 1812 on a 14.36-acre parcel near Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia, with a smoke house, garage, stable and incinerator.","why_significant":"The house is considered a refined and well-preserved example of a Georgian/Federal Rockbridge County plantation house, with a pedimented portico, shaped stone steps, scored stucco lintels, molded brick cornices and Federal mantels. It is also associated with Ruth Anderson McCulloch, a principal founder of the Rockbridge Historical Society, which grew out of a meeting held at the house in 1939.","narrative":"Built in 1812 for Robert and Elizabeth Willson, this two-story brick plantation house sits partway up a low ridge southeast of Lexington, in a landscape of pasture, woods and rock outcroppings. Its Flemish-bond walls rest on a limestone foundation, and a pedimented porch reached by carefully shaped sandstone steps marks the five-bay front. Molded brick cornices and scored stucco window lintels add refinement, while inside, a center passage, paneled wainscots and Georgian/Federal mantels survive. A brick smoke house, an early twentieth-century garage and later farm structures stand nearby. The property is valued both as a well-preserved example of a local Georgian/Federal plantation house and for its link to Ruth Anderson McCulloch, who lived there from 1922 to 1939 and called it Wee Dornoch. In July 1939 she gathered local residents at the house, a meeting that led to the founding of the Rockbridge Historical Society.","period_of_significance":"1812-1939","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian, Federal","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Still in use as a single dwelling, with a stable and other outbuildings on the property.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.916541-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/6834/41683410/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/09001049.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09001049/3754f584be-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09001049/3754f584be-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willson_House,_Rockbridge_County.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willson_House,_Rockbridge_County.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683410","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willson_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903502"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/rockbridge-county/willson-house-09001049/"}