{"nrhp_refnum":"83003300","name":"Sperryville Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"VA 522, 600, 1001, and 1002","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sperryville","county":"Rappahannock County","state":"VA","lat":38.65727481000005,"lon":-78.22623268297167,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A village historic district of over seventy mostly wood-frame residences, churches and stores in Sperryville, Rappahannock County, Virginia, along Routes 522, 600, 1001, 1002 and Split Street. Lots were first laid out by Francis Thornton, Jr. around 1818-1820.","why_significant":"The nomination argues Sperryville is an upper Piedmont crossroads town that has changed little since the 1920s. Growth after the Smoot tannery opened in 1867 produced many simple wooden houses, including workers' housing mixed with more stylish homes influenced by the Romantic Revivals. Few modern intrusions remain, and few villages like it survive in Virginia.","narrative":"Sperryville is a small crossroads village on a plain between the Thornton River and the northern Blue Ridge hills in Rappahannock County, Virginia. The historic district covers about 38 acres and more than seventy buildings, mostly one- and two-story wood-frame houses. Francis Thornton, Jr. laid out the first lots around 1818-1820, and the earliest surviving houses, with stone chimneys and double front entrances, stand along Route 1001. Growth stayed slow until the Smoot family of Alexandria opened a tannery in 1867. Many of the village's modest houses date from that era, including plain workers' dwellings and shotgun houses set beside larger homes with sawn trim. Three early 20th-century churches, a row of stores, bungalows and white picket fences add to the setting. After the tannery closed in 1918, little new building occurred, so the village keeps its turn-of-the-century character with few modern intrusions. Several houses now serve as antique shops.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Federal vernacular, Romantic Revival and Victorian influences, with early 20th-century bungalows and churches","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as having high integrity and virtually free of modern intrusions; houses remain in residential use and several have been adapted as antique shops.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.083286-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/25/6828/41682825/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/83003300.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003300/9f28d16ecc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83003300/9f28d16ecc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"The original uploader was Ser Amantio di Nicolao at English Wikipedia.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B%26B_in_Sperryville.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">The original uploader was Ser Amantio di Nicolao at English Wikipedia.</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:B%26B_in_Sperryville.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682825","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sperryville_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15278886"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/rappahannock-county/sperryville-historic-district-83003300/"}