{"nrhp_refnum":"82003423","name":"Crouse, Elbert, Farmstead","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"S of Whitehead on Blue Ridge Parkway","address_restricted":false,"city":"Whitehead","county":"Alleghany County","state":"NC","lat":36.42967820700005,"lon":-81.15028096937614,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-07-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A subsistence farmstead on the crest of the Blue Ridge in southwestern Alleghany County, North Carolina, with a small log dwelling, outbuildings, orchard and about 139 acres of pasture.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the farm represents the small, self-sufficient family farms of remote western North Carolina mountains. Its log house shows the persistence of the log building tradition into the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The orchard and ornamental plantings reflect the household's food and income sources, and the site is said to offer information on Southern Appalachian folkways.","narrative":"Located on the crest of the Blue Ridge in southwestern Alleghany County, this 139-acre farm once supported a family of subsistence growers in a remote part of the western North Carolina mountains. The centerpiece is a small log dwelling with a two-room plan, square-hewn logs joined by half-dovetail notching, and a steeply pitched tin roof. Its construction date is uncertain, with accounts placing it around 1905 or as early as the 1870s. A frame barn, probably from the 1920s or 1930s, and a few other outbuildings survive alongside ruins. Bettie Wady Crouse planted an orchard and ornamental trees, including apples, peaches, black walnuts, and chestnuts, that gave the household food and income. The farm is regarded as an example of the log building tradition persisting into the twentieth century and of the self-sufficient mountain life that was largely gone by the time the site was studied. The Blue Ridge Parkway now borders the property.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900-","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C","D"],"status_note":"Deteriorated and altered; the farm is abandoned and its orchard has been untended for over a decade.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.508004-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/7189/47718910/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/82003423.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003423/6abc59a2dc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82003423/6abc59a2dc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Ridgerunner5k","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elbert_Crouse_Homestead_2011.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ridgerunner5k</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:Elbert_Crouse_Homestead_2011.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718910","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbert_Crouse_Farmstead","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17508408"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/alleghany-county/crouse-elbert-farmstead-82003423/"}