{"nrhp_refnum":"70000798","name":"Rock Castle","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SR 600","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rock Castle","county":"Goochland County","state":"VA","lat":37.63388416850006,"lon":-77.98571039243956,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-09-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Rock Castle is an estate of farmland and woodland on a high bluff above the upper James River in Goochland County, Virginia. The nominated house, now called the Queen Anne Cottage, is a small frame dwelling patented land from 1718 and built around 1740 by Tarleton Fleming.","why_significant":"The nomination argues for architectural significance in the 18th-century house, which was found beneath a later Italianate front and then moved and restored. It also records ties to the Fleming, Randolph and Rutherfoord families and a 1781 incident involving Banastre Tarleton.","narrative":"Rock Castle is an estate of farmland and woodland on a bluff above the upper James River in Goochland County, Virginia. The land was patented in 1718 by Charles Fleming, and the original house, built around 1740 by his son Tarleton Fleming, was standing by 1732 according to William Byrd II's account. It is a small, five-bay, story-and-a-half frame house with clipped gable ends, two end chimneys, modillion cornices and fully paneled rooms on the first floor. In 1781 Banastre Tarleton set fire to it after seeing his family coat of arms displayed above the parlor fireplace; servants put the fire out with little damage. John Rutherfoord bought the property in 1843, and his son added an Italianate front and laid out the garden. When a new Norman manor-style house was planned in 1935, workers found the original house inside the villa. Herbert Claiborne directed its restoration and its move to a new location. It is now called the Queen Anne Cottage.","period_of_significance":"18th Century","architect_builder":"Built by Tarleton Fleming; restoration, moving and the new house directed by Herbert Claiborne","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence; condition listed as good, altered and moved. The house was moved several hundred feet from its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.858345-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/6809/41680975/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/70000798.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000798/6c042e764e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000798/6c042e764e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rock_Castle_estate_entrance.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rock_Castle_estate_entrance.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"69000270","name":"Belmead (Additional Documentation)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/belmead-additional-documentation-69000270/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680975","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Castle_(estate)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713148"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/goochland-county/rock-castle-70000798/"}