{"nrhp_refnum":"75002021","name":"Rural Plains","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"6 mi. N of Mechanicsville off VA 606","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mechanicsville","county":"Hanover County","state":"VA","lat":37.65565338250005,"lon":-77.34709318180461,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-06-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Rural Plains is a five-bay, story-and-a-half brick farmhouse with a gambrel roof, built in the mid-eighteenth century in the Rural Point section of Hanover County, Virginia, about six miles from Mechanicsville.","why_significant":"The nomination cites its mid-eighteenth-century Flemish bond brickwork as a fine example of a substantial, non-academic rural Virginia farmhouse. It also notes nine generations of ownership by the Shelton family. Tradition holds that Sarah Shelton married Patrick Henry in the parlor in 1754.","narrative":"Rural Plains is a brick farmhouse in the Rural Point area of Hanover County, Virginia, standing in a grove above Totopotomoy Creek. Built in the mid-eighteenth century, it is a five-bay, story-and-a-half house with a gambrel roof, Flemish bond brickwork with glazed headers, and rubbed brick around the windows and doors. Inside, a central passage divides a double-pile plan with corner fireplaces. A major remodeling in the second quarter of the nineteenth century added high-quality Greek Revival trim, including a grained parlor door with locks marked \"Carpenters Patentees.\" The land was granted to the first John Shelton in the 1670s, though the brickwork and gambrel roof point to a construction date no earlier than about 1750. Members of the Shelton family have lived here for nine generations, one of the longest continuous family tenures in Virginia. Tradition also holds that Sarah Shelton married Patrick Henry in the parlor in 1754. The property covers about 125 acres.","period_of_significance":"18th and 19th centuries","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and altered; in use as a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.727991-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/6811/41681185/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/75002021.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75002021/e9a6683563-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75002021/e9a6683563-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Robshenk","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shelton_House_-_Shenk.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Robshenk</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:Shelton_House_-_Shenk.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000836","name":"Richmond National Battlefield Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/richmond-national-battlefield-park-66000836/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681185","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Plains","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7380540"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/hanover-county/rural-plains-75002021/"}