{"nrhp_refnum":"74002127","name":"Tree Hill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 5","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richmond","county":"Henrico County","state":"VA","lat":37.496346296500036,"lon":-77.41315296689626,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-10-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Tree Hill is a plantation house on Virginia Route 5 in the Richmond vicinity of Henrico County, begun in the late eighteenth century as a frame farmhouse and enlarged into a Greek Revival plantation seat by the mid-nineteenth century. About 320 acres of open land are included.","why_significant":"The nomination cites the house as the home of two prominent Henrico families, the Seldens and the Roanes, and as a place connected to the preliminary surrender of Richmond to Union forces in 1865. It also stresses the house's growth through additions and its commanding view of the James River bottom lands and the Richmond skyline. The open acreage is described as the urban area's last rural backdrop and as important to the scenic integrity of the Route 5 plantation corridor.","narrative":"Tree Hill is a plantation house on a bluff above the James River bottom lands, just outside Richmond in Henrico County. It began in the late eighteenth century as a two-story frame farmhouse with a side-hall plan. Additions turned it into a center-hall house with one-story wings, and by the mid-nineteenth century into a double-pile Greek Revival plantation seat. A modern two-story portico was added later. Foundations show the sequence of building, and a 1796 insurance policy for Miles Selden describes an early form of the house. Two early outbuildings survive, a frame kitchen and a smokehouse. Miles Seldon bought the property in 1778, and it later passed to William Roane and then to the Stearns family. In April 1865 the land served as a camp for Union troops soon to occupy Richmond. The nominated 320 acres preserve open land visible from downtown Richmond, which the nomination describes as the first of the historic plantations along Route 5 toward Williamsburg.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition and occupied as a private residence; the Burlee family maintains it as a working farm.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.667696-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/42/6812/41681242/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/74002127.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002127/95fe4efe65-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002127/95fe4efe65-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TREE_HILL,_RICHMOND_VICINITY,_HENRICO_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:TREE_HILL,_RICHMOND_VICINITY,_HENRICO_COUNTY,_VA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681242","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_Hill_(Richmond,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713377"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/henrico-county/tree-hill-74002127/"}