{"nrhp_refnum":"82001884","name":"Upper Shirley","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W of Charles City on SR 608","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charles City","county":"Charles City County","state":"VA","lat":37.34740265000005,"lon":-77.25623879999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-10-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Upper Shirley is a two-story stucco-covered brick plantation house on a slope above the James River, west of Charles City, Virginia. It was built in 1868-70 by A.H. Marks & Brothers of Petersburg and enlarged in 1890.","why_significant":"The house was built during Reconstruction for William Fitzhugh Carter, son of Hill Carter of Shirley, using bricks from an 18th-century building at Shirley. The original building contract survives, which is unusual documentation for a 19th-century Virginia residence. The 1890-91 enlargement under the Saunders family added modern conveniences rare in the rural county.","narrative":"Upper Shirley is a plantation house overlooking the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. Hill Carter had it built around 1868-70 for his son William Fitzhugh Carter, on land that was once part of Shirley Hundred Plantation. Builders A.H. Marks and Brothers of Petersburg constructed it with bricks salvaged from a large 18th-century building at nearby Shirley. The surviving building contract is one of few known for a 19th-century Virginia house. Edmund Saunders acquired the property in 1885, and about 1890-91 the house was enlarged to nearly twice its size, with the entrance moved to the east side and modern conveniences added, including early indoor plumbing for the county. A renovation beginning in 1953 added a north wing and a double-gallery porch salvaged from a house in Harrisonburg. The stucco-covered brick house has an English basement, a hipped metal roof, and a central hall plan. Outbuildings and terraced lawns remain on the nine-acre property.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"A.H. Marks and Brothers","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence, in excellent condition, and renovated beginning in 1953 after a decade of disrepair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.794379-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/12/6800/41680012/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/82001884.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001884/ad8beb4643-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001884/ad8beb4643-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UPPER_SHIRLEY,_CHARLES_CITY_COUNTY,_VA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ, M.D.</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:UPPER_SHIRLEY,_CHARLES_CITY_COUNTY,_VA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680012","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Shirley,_Virginia","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14713419"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/charles-city-county/upper-shirley-82001884/"}