{"nrhp_refnum":"72001395","name":"Roaring Spring","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"0.3 mi. E of VA 616","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gloucester","county":"Gloucester County","state":"VA","lat":37.43153431450003,"lon":-76.53000667095452,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-09-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Roaring Spring is a one-and-a-half-story gambrel-roofed colonial farmhouse in a park-like setting north of Gloucester Court House, Gloucester County, Virginia, built in two sections during the first half of the eighteenth century.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the most picturesque and handsomely sited eighteenth-century farmhouses in Gloucester County and an archetypal informal \"Old Virginia\" homestead added to over generations. Its paneled end wall in the east room, over twenty feet wide, is the widest of a series of similar walls in the region.","narrative":"Roaring Spring is a gambrel-roofed colonial farmhouse just north of Gloucester Court House in Gloucester County, Virginia. The one-and-a-half-story house was built in two sections, both dating to the first half of the eighteenth century, though the builder and exact date are unknown. It sits among broad lawns, shade trees, a box-bordered flower garden and a pond fed by the large spring that gave the place its name. Much of the exterior fabric was renewed, and a mid-nineteenth-century renovation left Greek Revival trim and a front door with sidelights. Inside, the east room holds a paneled end wall over twenty feet wide, with fluted pilasters, round-arched openings and fluted keystones, the widest of several comparable walls in the region. The house was recognized as an archetype of the informal Old Virginia homestead, altered over many generations. Documented ownership begins with Francis Thornton, who insured the property in 1802. After sitting unoccupied for some years, it was bought in 1901 by Richard Mott Janney and extensively renovated.","period_of_significance":"18th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial; informal gambrel-roofed Virginia farmhouse with Greek Revival alterations","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and maintained in excellent condition, though not formally restored; used as a private residence and occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.077119-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/6809/41680930/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/72001395.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001395/b94a64ecad-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001395/b94a64ecad-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roaring_Spring_entrance.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roaring_Spring_entrance.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680930","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Springs_(Gloucester,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713144"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/gloucester-county/roaring-spring-72001395/"}