{"nrhp_refnum":"72001384","name":"Fancy Farm","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"On VA 43, N of jct. with VA 682","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bedford","county":"Bedford (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.39821765900004,"lon":-79.55655029946045,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-01-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Fancy Farm is a two-story, five-bay brick plantation house near Bedford, Bedford County, Virginia, built in the 1780s by Andrew Donald. It sits on a 15-acre remnant of a former plantation of over a thousand acres.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the finest Late Georgian houses in Virginia, notable for its quality in what was nearly frontier territory. Its drawing room is described as one of the most beautiful and sophisticated rooms of its period in the Commonwealth. The house also has Civil War associations as Union General David Hunter's headquarters in 1864.","narrative":"Fancy Farm is a brick plantation house on a small hill behind Kelso Mill near Bedford, Virginia, with a view of the Peaks of Otter. Andrew Donald, a Scottish-born merchant who inherited a fortune from his father, built it in the 1780s. The two-story, five-bay house is laid in Flemish bond and has a modillion cornice, jack arches and a doorway with Ionic pilasters and serpentine tracery in the transom. Inside, the drawing room has a full entablature on fluted Ionic pilasters and an Adamesque mantel, and the stair hall has an unusual half-story arrangement and a flying stair. The property was once over a thousand acres and now covers 15. The Kelso family owned it for eighty-eight years, and in 1864 Union General David Hunter used it as headquarters. A restoration from 1969 to 1971 was directed by architect J. Everette Fauber. A brick storehouse, a frame kitchen and a frame quarters survive in poor condition.","period_of_significance":"18th Century","architect_builder":"Andrew Donald (builder); restoration 1969-1971 by architect J. Everette Fauber of Lynchburg","architectural_style":"Late Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Excellent condition and unaltered after a 1969-1971 restoration; used as a private residence. Remaining outbuildings are in poor or ruinous condition, with renovation planned.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.393138-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/6797/41679744/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/72001384.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001384/7b5fbd332a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001384/7b5fbd332a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FANCY_FARM,_BEDFORD_COUNTY,_VA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FANCY_FARM,_BEDFORD_COUNTY,_VA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679744","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fancy_Farm_(Bedford,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712308"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/bedford/fancy-farm-72001384/"}