{"nrhp_refnum":"71001040","name":"Berkeley","other_names":["Benjamin Harrison V Birthplace","Berkeley Plantation"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8 mi. W of Charles City","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charles City","county":"Charles City County","state":"VA","lat":37.31697984400006,"lon":-77.17931099943696,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-11-11","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1971-11-11","areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Berkeley is a James River plantation house in Charles City County, Virginia, built in 1726 for Benjamin Harrison IV, with two 1840s brick dependencies and about 850 acres of surrounding land.","why_significant":"The nomination cites the house as an early Georgian plantation residence whose gable ends are among the earliest American attempts at full pediments. It also stresses the site's long history: the Berkeley Hundred settlement, the Harrison family, and three wartime occupations or raids. Records kept for Berkeley Hundred are described as a major source on early Virginia agriculture.","narrative":"Berkeley is a brick plantation house on a rise above terraces leading to the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. Benjamin Harrison IV built it in 1726 as a two-story, double-pile house five bays wide, with Flemish bond walls, gauged brick arches and tall ridge chimneys. Its gable ends carry cornices that imitate pediments, regarded as one of the earliest American efforts at full pediments. Two brick dependencies from the 1840s flank the house. The property descends from Berkeley Hundred, a company plantation attacked in the 1622 Massacre, later pillaged by Benedict Arnold in 1781 and occupied by the Army of the Potomac in 1862. Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived here. Restoration in 1937-38 removed a large nineteenth-century porch and returned the house to its eighteenth-century appearance. Open fields and woodlands preserve much of the historic setting, and the first floor and basement are open to visitors.","period_of_significance":"18th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored in 1937-38 and described as in excellent condition. The first floor and basement are open to visitors and the upper floors are used as a residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.197716-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/6800/41680016/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/71001040.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71001040/450f22ef63-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71001040/450f22ef63-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jet Lowe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berkeley_plantation_harrison_home.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jet Lowe</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berkeley_plantation_harrison_home.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680016","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Plantation","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3391534"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/charles-city-county/berkeley-71001040/"}