{"nrhp_refnum":"12000018","name":"Updyke, Junius Marcellus, Farm","other_names":["VDHR No. 010-5027"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4859 E. Bluegrass Trail","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bland","county":"Bland County","state":"VA","lat":37.13281748800003,"lon":-81.02347510288013,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-02-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 362-acre farm on East Bluegrass Trail near Bland, Bland County, Virginia, with a ca. 1910 farmhouse, a smokehouse, a granary, other farm outbuildings and a small family cemetery. It was built for Junius Marcellus Updyke.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the farm is locally significant under Criterion C for its unusual and bold use of Classical Revival elements in a Victorian-era dwelling. It also cites an intact collection of early 20th century agricultural outbuildings, including a rare two-story smokehouse and a seldom-seen granary type in Virginia.","narrative":"Set on a rise above Walker Creek Valley in Bland County, Virginia, the Updyke Farm covers about 362 acres between Big Walker Mountain and Brushy Mountain. Junius Marcellus Updyke, a merchant turned farmer, assembled the land in 1891 and 1908 and had the farmhouse built around 1910. The two-story I-house combines Folk Victorian form with Ionic columns, pent roofs beneath the gables, pressed-tin fish-scale roofing and richly trimmed interiors. Around it stand a smokehouse, granary, chicken house, storage shed, a mid-century barn and a small cemetery with graves dating from 1912 to 1997. The two-story smokehouse is described as rare in Bland County, and the granary as an uncommon building type in Virginia. The farm was recognized for its architecture, with a period of significance running from about 1910 to about 1955. It is considered locally significant for its blend of Classical Revival details on a Victorian-era house and for its largely intact early twentieth-century farm buildings.","period_of_significance":"c. 1910-c. 1955","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Folk Victorian","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The house, outbuildings and cemetery are all rated contributing. The house and a guest house remain in domestic use, and the farm still has a working barn with cattle pens.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.485281-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/92/6797/41679792/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/12000018.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000018/51d2640bed-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000018/51d2640bed-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Junius_Marcellus_Updyke_Farmhouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Junius_Marcellus_Updyke_Farmhouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679792","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junius_Marcellus_Updyke_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712652"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/bland-county/updyke-junius-marcellus-farm-12000018/"}