{"nrhp_refnum":"71000988","name":"Rippon Lodge","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"0.8 mi. N of jct. of U.S. 1 and VA 642","address_restricted":false,"city":"Woodbridge","county":"Prince William County","state":"VA","lat":38.614794460500065,"lon":-77.2788747391943,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-07-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Rippon Lodge is a one-and-a-half-story frame house on a roughly 140-acre tract near Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia. The original block dates from the first half of the eighteenth century, and it was built by Richard Blackburn.","why_significant":"The nomination cites its surviving early eighteenth-century framing, chimneys, siding and paneled interior rooms, and its site above the Potomac plain. It also stresses the Blackburn family, whose members served as planters, builders and colonial and Commonwealth leaders, and who are described as models of Virginia's eighteenth-century gentry leadership.","narrative":"Rippon Lodge is a frame house of one and a half stories on a hilltop overlooking the Potomac plain near Woodbridge, Virginia. Richard Blackburn, an English-born planter and builder, bought the tract in 1737 and built the original house. He also built the first Falls Church, owned a grist mill, and helped found towns including Dumfries. The house has been enlarged several times, including a west end addition possibly in the late eighteenth century and two wings and a full-length porch in 1924. Even so, the original framing, two brick corner chimneys, parts of the basement masonry and much beaded siding survive, and two rooms keep their eighteenth-century pine paneling. The property is also valued for its association with the Blackburn family, who served in colonial and state government. A descendant restored it to the family in 1924, and another descendant, a polar explorer, acquired it in 1952.","period_of_significance":"18th and 20th Century","architect_builder":"Richard Blackburn (builder and original owner)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, altered, on its original site, and occupied as a private residence. It was restored in 1924 and has had many additions.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.141724-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/6827/41682731/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/71000988.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000988/aa12e02f40-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000988/aa12e02f40-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"WhiteKMJK","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rippon_Lodge_Today.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">WhiteKMJK</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rippon_Lodge_Today.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682731","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rippon_Lodge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7335740"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/prince-william-county/rippon-lodge-71000988/"}