{"nrhp_refnum":"15000906","name":"Reed, Walter, Birthplace (Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation)","other_names":["Vdhr 036-0080"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4021 Hickory Fork Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gloucester","county":"Gloucester County","state":"VA","lat":37.38846200000006,"lon":-76.58818699999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2015-12-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Architecture","Commerce","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Conservation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-story frame cottage near Belroi, southwest of Gloucester, Gloucester County, Virginia, built in the first half of the nineteenth century and the birthplace of Dr. Walter Reed.","why_significant":"The house is tied to Dr. Walter Reed, who proved that mosquitoes transmit yellow fever, and was born there in 1851 while his father served as a Methodist minister. It is also argued to represent the small vernacular rural dwelling once common in Tidewater Virginia, a type that has largely disappeared.","narrative":"Near the tiny settlement of Belroi in Gloucester County, Virginia, a modest one-story frame cottage marks the birthplace of Dr. Walter Reed, the physician who showed that mosquitoes carry yellow fever. His father, a Methodist minister on the Gloucester Circuit, brought the family to the house in the early 1850s because the parsonage was not yet finished. The three-bay house has white weatherboarding, a gable roof, six-over-six sash windows and short brick piers, with a shed addition at the rear. Restoration by the Medical Society of Virginia in 1927 removed a later side room and returned the chimney to its original exterior position using brick from a nearby house. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities received the property in 1968 and re-roofed it in 1970. Beyond its Reed connection, the cottage represents the small rural dwellings that were once common in Tidewater Virginia but have nearly vanished.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early nineteenth-century small vernacular rural dwelling (Tidewater Virginia)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition and restored in 1927 and 1970; owned by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and listed as occupied.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.061513-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/28/6809/41680928/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/73002017.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/15000906/c26d9adc42-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/15000906/c26d9adc42-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Mytwocents (talk) 05:55, 31 May 2008 (UTC)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walterreedbirthplace.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mytwocents (talk) 05:55, 31 May 2008 (UTC)</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:Walterreedbirthplace.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":null,"wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Reed_Birthplace","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713492"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/gloucester-county/reed-walter-birthplace-boundary-increase-and-additional-documentation-15000906/"}