{"nrhp_refnum":"78003024","name":"Bewdley","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of St. Stephens Church on Mattaponi River","address_restricted":false,"city":"St. Stephens Church","county":"King and Queen County","state":"VA","lat":37.75449292050007,"lon":-77.06457436323169,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-11-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Bewdley is a large, two-story, L-shaped brick plantation house on the north bank of the Mattaponi River in rural King and Queen County, Virginia, built in the third quarter of the 18th century, probably by the Marriott family.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the outstanding late-Colonial plantation houses of Tidewater Virginia, noted for its formal mass, brickwork and L-plan. Its unfinished interior ties it to the Speaker John Robinson financial scandal, a major political event of pre-Revolutionary Virginia. The boundary also takes in open field with possible archaeological remains of early farm structures.","narrative":"Set on the banks of the Mattaponi River in rural King and Queen County, Bewdley is a large two-story, L-shaped brick plantation house begun in the third quarter of the 18th century, probably by Obadiah Marriott. Its walls are laid in Flemish bond with rubbed and gauged segmental window heads, and an early 19th-century pedimented portico on four Tuscan columns shelters the entrance. Marriott was a debtor to Speaker John Robinson's estate, and the financial blow that followed the Robinson scandal apparently halted construction. A 1767 newspaper notice offered the house for sale as one that could be finished at small expense. Little 18th-century trim survives, and the main stair and much interior finish date from the early 19th century, after decades of incomplete work. The plan, with a central passage and an ell, resembles other large Tidewater houses of the period. The listed area also covers open field where early farm structures may have stood.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied private residence in good condition, with brick walls and an early 19th-century portico; the property is described as occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.208764-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/1/6814/41681401/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/78003024.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78003024/3837560fab-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78003024/3837560fab-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:K%26Q,_Bewdley.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:K%26Q,_Bewdley.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681401","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bewdley_(St._Stephens_Church,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712025"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/king-and-queen-county/bewdley-78003024/"}