{"nrhp_refnum":"79003090","name":"Brown's Ferry","other_names":["Mahone House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E of Drakes Corner off VA 684","address_restricted":false,"city":"Drakes Corner","county":"Southampton County","state":"VA","lat":36.610492288000046,"lon":-77.00090375399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-06-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Brown's Ferry (also called Mahone House) is a large Federal-style brick house built about 1812-1817 in open farmland near Drakes Corner, Southampton County, Virginia, with surviving farm outbuildings.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the largest and most important Federal houses in Southampton County, with notable brickwork, interior woodwork and painted finishes, and a floor plan unique in the area. It is also known as the birthplace of William Mahone (1826-1895), a Confederate general, railroad executive and Readjuster political leader.","narrative":"Brown's Ferry is a two-story, five-bay brick house built about 1812-1817 on open farmland near the Nottoway River in southern Southampton County, Virginia. It is described as the most distinguished Federal house in the county and one of its few early brick houses. The walls use Flemish bond on the front and rear and American bond on the gable ends, and the front doorway has a semicircular lunette. Inside, the plan is unusual: two large parlors sit one behind the other on the north side, with two smaller rooms divided by a stairwell on the south. Mantels, wainscoting, grained doors and marbleized baseboards survive. A frame smokehouse, a log crib and a pole barn remain nearby. The property is also remembered as the traditional birthplace of William Mahone, born in 1826, who became a Confederate major general, a railroad president and a leader of the Readjusters in Virginia politics. Its architecture and that association support its recognition.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Form lists the property as private and unoccupied; the outbuildings are partly ruinous and one chimney has collapsed. The land is no longer farmed.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.710148-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/3/6837/41683703/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/79003090.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003090/83ebf55be3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79003090/83ebf55be3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Ser Amantio di Nicolao","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brown%27s_Ferry_with_zoom.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ser Amantio di Nicolao</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:Brown%27s_Ferry_with_zoom.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683703","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown%27s_Ferry_(Drakes_Corner,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15205164"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/southampton-county/browns-ferry-79003090/"}