{"nrhp_refnum":"76002114","name":"Middlesex County Courthouse","other_names":["Old Middlesex County Courthouse","Middlesex County Woman's Clu"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Off VA 602","address_restricted":false,"city":"Urbanna","county":"Middlesex County","state":"VA","lat":37.63611336800005,"lon":-76.57570135899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-11-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Former colonial county courthouse on Virginia Street in the old seaport town of Urbanna, Middlesex County, Virginia. Construction began in 1745, and the brick building has since been altered into a Gothic-style chapel and clubhouse.","why_significant":"It survives as one of Virginia's eleven colonial courthouses, though only its patched brick walls are original. It served as the county courthouse for about a century and hosted events such as a 1771 trial of Baptist ministers and pre-Revolution freeholder resolutions. It later served as a chapel and then a women's club, reflecting changing uses of the building.","narrative":"Built from 1745 as the courthouse for Middlesex County, this brick building stands on the main street of the colonial port of Urbanna. Only its patched eighteenth-century walls, about 75 by 27 feet, remain original. For roughly a century it hosted county business, a 1771 trial of six Baptist ministers, a 1774 meeting of freeholders protesting taxation without representation, and wartime sessions of the local Committee of Safety. When the county seat moved to Saluda, the building was sold in 1852 and converted into an interdenominational chapel with Gothic-style windows and details. Confederate troops used it as barracks during the Civil War. Additions around 1910 included entrance vestibules and an apse with a 1911 painting of the Magi. Later an Episcopal chapel, it was deeded in 1948 to the Middlesex County Woman's Club, which still uses it for community and private gatherings. It is recognized as one of Virginia's eleven surviving colonial courthouses.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Gothic Revival (Gothic-style alterations to an eighteenth-century brick courthouse)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Kept in generally good repair and used regularly for local activities and meetings; serves as headquarters of the Middlesex County Woman's Club.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.449416-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/64/6819/41681964/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/76002114.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002114/cf1a7626cd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002114/cf1a7626cd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Mojo Hand","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Middlesex_County_Courthouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mojo Hand</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:Old_Middlesex_County_Courthouse.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100005837","name":"Occupacia-Rappahannock Rural Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/occupacia-rappahannock-rural-historic-district-100005837/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681964","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesex_County_Courthouse_(Urbanna,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6841908"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/middlesex-county/middlesex-county-courthouse-76002114/"}