{"nrhp_refnum":"74002124","name":"Sycamore Tavern","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W of U.S. 33","address_restricted":false,"city":"Montpelier","county":"Hanover County","state":"VA","lat":37.822824884000056,"lon":-77.68732679399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-07-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Literature","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story, frame, hall-and-parlor former tavern on the southwest side of Route 33 in Montpelier, Hanover County, Virginia, built in the late eighteenth century.","why_significant":"The building served as an ordinary or tavern, recorded by 1804, and was the fourth stagecoach stop on the road from Charlottesville to Richmond. In the early twentieth century author Thomas Nelson Page founded a library there in memory of his wife. It is also a typical vernacular building of the early Federal period in Tidewater and Piedmont Virginia.","narrative":"Sycamore Tavern is a modest one-and-a-half-story frame building on Route 33, the old Mountain Road, in Montpelier, Hanover County. Built in the late eighteenth century, it operated as an ordinary or tavern, with its use recorded by 1804. It was the fourth stagecoach stop on the route from Charlottesville to Richmond, and horses were changed there at the start of the journey. Around 1850 Reverend Silas Shelburn acquired it and ran it as an inn, and it was later owned by the Wickham and Braugh families. In the early twentieth century, author Thomas Nelson Page established a library in the building in memory of his wife, Florence Lathrop Page. The library continues to serve much of the county. The building has a three-bay facade, a shed porch, weatherboard siding, and a hall-and-parlor plan typical of early Federal vernacular architecture in Virginia.","period_of_significance":"18th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular Piedmont Virginia hall-and-parlor house, early Federal period","criteria":[],"status_note":"Structurally sound but in need of a few minor repairs; occupied and used as the Florence L. Page Memorial Library.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.411624-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/77/6811/41681177/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/74002124.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002124/a09325fc22-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002124/a09325fc22-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Anne Eve","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tavern_on_Mountain_Road.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Anne Eve</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tavern_on_Mountain_Road.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"02000517","name":"Montpelier Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/montpelier-historic-district-02000517/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681177","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_Tavern","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713280"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/hanover-county/sycamore-tavern-74002124/"}