{"nrhp_refnum":"80004199","name":"Billups House","other_names":["Milford"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E of Moon","address_restricted":false,"city":"Moon","county":"Mathews County","state":"VA","lat":37.441056361500046,"lon":-76.28622793018329,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Milford, also called the Billups House, is a story-and-a-half wooden dwelling on a brick basement near Billups Creek, east of Moon in Mathews County, Virginia. It was probably built about 1770-1790, with a two-story wing added in 1950.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an outstanding example of the homes of the well-to-do country gentry of late eighteenth-century Tidewater Virginia. It is notable for its exceptional interior woodwork and its fine state of preservation. The land has stayed in the Billups family since the mid-seventeenth century.","narrative":"Milford is a story-and-a-half wooden house with a Flemish-bond brick basement, set beside a tidal creek on the coastal plain of Mathews County. Probably built between about 1770 and 1790, it keeps its original nine-over-nine sash, three gabled dormers on each roof slope, a box cornice and interior end chimneys. Early weatherboarding survives under later asbestos shingles. Inside, the west parlor has a fully paneled end wall, fluted Doric pilasters and an original seven-panel overmantel, and the passage holds an open-string stair with colonnette balusters. A two-story wing added in 1950 joins the east end by a hyphen. The house was built on land held by the Billups family since George Billups received a grant in 1653. Capt. John Billups or his son Lt. John Billups likely built it between 1774 and 1783. It has passed down through direct descent, and its woodwork and preservation make it an outstanding example of gentry housing in late eighteenth-century Tidewater Virginia.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular Georgian; variant of the central-passage, double-pile Georgian plan","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and in a good state of preservation; the form checks it as occupied and a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.711837-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/79/6818/41681879/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/80004199.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004199/2335741df4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004199/2335741df4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Billups_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Billups_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681879","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billups_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712028"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/mathews-county/billups-house-80004199/"}