{"nrhp_refnum":"80004229","name":"Rich Neck Farm","other_names":["Richneck Plantation","Rich Neck"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"E of Surry","address_restricted":false,"city":"Surry","county":"Surry County","state":"VA","lat":37.12594832600007,"lon":-76.75112571099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-05-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Rich Neck Farm is a plantation complex east of Surry, Virginia, about a mile from the James River. It centers on a story-and-a-half brick gambrel-roofed house, probably built soon after 1802, with two granaries and several outbuildings.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Rich Neck gives a vivid picture of life on a prosperous but unpretentious early-nineteenth-century plantation in Southside Virginia. The house revives pre-Georgian forms such as parapeted gables, shed dormers and a houndstooth cornice, and keeps much original detail. The two granaries use an antiquated framing system and a side-opening English barn form that is unusual in the region. The property was also long tied to the Ruffin family.","narrative":"Rich Neck Farm is a plantation complex on flat farmland east of Surry, Virginia, about a mile from the James River. A long straight drive leads to a story-and-a-half brick house with a gambrel roof, parapeted gables, shed dormers and a houndstooth brick cornice. The house has a central-passage, double-pile plan, and much of its original sash, doors, hinges, locks and simple woodwork survives. Two granaries flank the drive, built as side-opening English barns with an old-fashioned tilted false plate roof frame. Smaller outbuildings stand behind the house. The land was granted in 1636, and the Ruffin family owned it from before 1675 until 1865. The present house was probably built under William E. B. Ruffin, who inherited it as a minor in 1802. It was listed because the house and granaries are well preserved examples of old building forms that persisted in early-nineteenth-century Southside Virginia.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early nineteenth-century house reviving pre-Georgian forms","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is marked good and unaltered on the original site. The present use is listed as agricultural, with the note \"house empty\".","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.020474-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/91/6838/41683891/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/80004229.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004229/4da2be736e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004229/4da2be736e-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rich_Neck_Farm_building_and_combine.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rich_Neck_Farm_building_and_combine.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683891","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Neck_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15272488"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/surry-county/rich-neck-farm-80004229/"}