{"nrhp_refnum":"72001385","name":"New London Academy","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Near jct. of VA 297 and VA 211","address_restricted":false,"city":"Forest","county":"Bedford (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.30771987850005,"lon":-79.30516357242843,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-04-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"New London Academy is a school campus near Forest, Bedford County, Virginia, on its original 1796-1798 site along Route 297. It includes a circa 1837-39 brick academy building and an early frame kitchen now used as a museum.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the academy as a microcosm of Virginia schooling from the Jeffersonian era to the present. It was chartered by the General Assembly in 1795 and is described as the only public school in Virginia operating under a legislative charter. It has adapted from a classical boys' school to a co-educational, public and agricultural high school community institution.","narrative":"New London Academy is a school campus near Forest in Bedford County, Virginia, still operating on the site it has occupied since about 1797. Its surviving early buildings are a brick academy constructed around 1837-39, with interior end chimneys, a low hipped roof and Flemish bond brickwork, and a frame kitchen with a central chimney that now serves as a museum. Later windows and other changes have altered the original three-bay symmetry. Chartered by the General Assembly in 1795 and partly funded by a state-authorized lottery, the academy began as a classical school for boys that was regarded as among the most useful in the state. After the Civil War it became co-educational, joined the public school system in the 1880s, trained teachers, and in 1910 became a District Agricultural High School. Boarding ended in 1929, and the high school division left in 1964. It is described as the only public school in Virginia operating under a General Assembly charter.","period_of_significance":"1837-39","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Continues in operation as a school on its original site; condition marked good and altered; the brick building remains in use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.70923-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/68/6797/41679768/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/72001385.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001385/700ab3065d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001385/700ab3065d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_London_Academy_from_southeast.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_London_Academy_from_southeast.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679768","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_Academy_(Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712956"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/bedford/new-london-academy-72001385/"}