{"nrhp_refnum":"79003089","name":"Elm Grove","other_names":["Williams-Rick House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE of Courtland on VA 646","address_restricted":false,"city":"Courtland","county":"Southampton County","state":"VA","lat":36.74424933700004,"lon":-77.02766732699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-07-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A vernacular frame farm complex northeast of Courtland in Southampton County, Virginia, begun in the late 18th century and enlarged in the early and mid-19th century, with surviving outbuildings including a log smokehouse.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Elm Grove is an important vernacular domestic complex, representing small dwellings of the early Republic in southern Virginia. Its 19th-century additions and outbuildings, especially the rare multi-pit log smokehouse, illustrate two hundred years of rural life in Southampton County.","narrative":"Elm Grove is a farm complex northeast of Courtland in Southampton County, Virginia. The main house began in the late 18th century as a one-room, one-story building with a lean-to, probably built for the Williams family. Around 1820 a two-story north wing created the present six-bay, central-passage plan, and a second story was added over the original room in the mid-19th century. An office wing was added about 1884. Interior woodwork is high in quality but restrained, with recessed-panel wainscoting, Doric mantels and surviving graining. Several early outbuildings remain, including a frame office later used as a school, a dairy, and a round-log smokehouse with four smokepits, the only known early multiple-pit example in Virginia. The property also records its use as a girls' school at mid-century under Dr. Robert Murray. Together, the house and outbuildings document changing rural domestic life in the area over two centuries.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular domestic architecture (early Republic)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied private residence with agricultural use at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.006039-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/97/6836/41683697/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/79003089.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003089/69adf347b3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003089/69adf347b3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Mojo Hand","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elm_Grover_VA.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:Elm_Grover_VA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683697","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elm_Grove_(Courtland,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15216480"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/southampton-county/elm-grove-79003089/"}