{"nrhp_refnum":"80004186","name":"Thornton, Charles Irving, Tombstone","other_names":["Thornton Tombstone"],"category":"object","location":{"address":"W of Cumberland on Oak Hill Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cumberland","county":"Cumberland County","state":"VA","lat":37.49269190900003,"lon":-78.31324369599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-11-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Literature"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A marble child's headstone in the Thornton Family Cemetery, in the southernmost part of Cumberland State Forest off Oak Hill Road (Route 629), Cumberland County, Virginia. It marks the grave of Charles Irving Thornton, who died in 1842.","why_significant":"The stone carries an epitaph written by Charles Dickens during his 1842 American tour. It is described as the only tangible reminder of Dickens' visit to Virginia. Only one other Dickens epitaph is known, that of his sister-in-law, which makes this one unique among his American writings.","narrative":"A small marble headstone in a family burial ground in Cumberland County, Virginia, marks the grave of Charles Irving Thornton, an infant who died in March 1842 at about thirteen months old. The rounded-shoulder stone, set among giant boxwood, magnolias and periwinkle near the old Thornton homestead, now lies within Cumberland State Forest. Its inscription was written by Charles Dickens, who was visiting Richmond on his American tour when the child died. The family's physician, a Cumberland County native, asked the author for an epitaph, and Dickens replied by mail from Cincinnati in April. The stone is regarded as the only physical reminder of Dickens' visit to Virginia, and only one other epitaph by him is known. The cemetery also holds an obelisk for Little Kate, two Allen family markers, and unmarked graves that may be those of enslaved people. At last report the stone had broken from its base and awaited repair.","period_of_significance":"1842","architect_builder":"Carver unknown","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["B"],"status_note":"Condition listed as good, although the stone has broken from its base and was scheduled to be repaired. The cemetery is now part of Cumberland State Forest.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.274908-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/55/6803/41680355/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/80004186.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004186/603a26d445-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004186/603a26d445-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ser Amantio di Nicolao","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tombstone_of_Charles_Irving_Thornton_in_Cumberland_State_Forest.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ser Amantio di Nicolao</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:Tombstone_of_Charles_Irving_Thornton_in_Cumberland_State_Forest.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680355","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tombstone_of_Charles_Irving_Thornton","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5079300"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/cumberland-county/thornton-charles-irving-tombstone-80004186/"}