{"nrhp_refnum":"69000223","name":"Poplar Forest (Additional Documentation)","other_names":["Vdhr Id 009-0027"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"S of jct. of Rtes. 661 and 460","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lynchburg","county":"Bedford (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.34796673500006,"lon":-79.27072949602072,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1969-11-12","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1971-11-11","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Agriculture","Ethnic Heritage-Black","Landscape Architecture","Politics/Government","Archeology-Historic Non-Aboriginal"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Poplar Forest is a one-story octagonal brick house on a high basement, with Tuscan porticoes, built by Thomas Jefferson on his Bedford County plantation near Lynchburg, Virginia, between 1806 and 1819. The nominated area covers about 950 acres.","why_significant":"The house was Jefferson's personal retreat and is described as one of his most important architectural designs, expressing his taste for compact, geometric forms and second only to Monticello. A fire in 1845 and the rebuilding that followed removed the original decoration, skylight and balustrade, which the form says significantly reduced its importance.","narrative":"Poplar Forest is a brick, one-story, octagonal house on a high basement in Bedford County, near Lynchburg, Virginia. Thomas Jefferson designed it as a rural retreat from the social pressures of Monticello, and construction ran from 1806 to 1819. He visited several times a year, often staying about a month. Inside, four elongated octagonal rooms surround a square central hall that was once lit from above. Tuscan porticoes mark the entrance and rear fronts, and two octagonal privies are hidden by artificial mounds in the grounds. A kitchen and smokehouse still stand, though the office wing has left no trace above ground. A fire in 1845 gutted the house. Repairs followed at once, but the original decoration was not restored, and the skylight and balustrade were omitted. The nomination ranks it among Jefferson's most important designs while acknowledging that the fire and rebuilding reduced its standing.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":"Thomas Jefferson (designer and builder)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as fair and altered; the original interior plan is intact, though only the walls, chimneys and possibly the columns survive from before the 1845 fire. The form marks it occupied and a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.719532-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/66/6797/41679766/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/69000223.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000223/fb52860f03-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000223/fb52860f03-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Warfieldian","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PoplarForest.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Warfieldian</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:PoplarForest.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679766","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poplar_Forest","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3306253"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/bedford/poplar-forest-additional-documentation-69000223/"}