{"nrhp_refnum":"84003526","name":"Madden's Tavern","other_names":["Maddenville Farm"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 610","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lignum","county":"Culpeper County","state":"VA","lat":38.432562716000064,"lon":-77.82090062899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-08-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation","Black"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A story-and-a-half log tavern built around 1840 by Willis Madden, a free Black man, about one mile north of Lignum in eastern Culpeper County, Virginia. It has a hall-and-parlor plan, stone end chimneys and later additions, and now serves as a private residence.","why_significant":"It is one of the few small antebellum rural taverns surviving in Piedmont Virginia. It is the only known Black-owned and operated tavern in the Virginia Piedmont before the Civil War, serving white travellers and teamsters on the Fredericksburg trade route. The building is presented as evidence of early rural Black entrepreneurship in Virginia.","narrative":"Madden's Tavern is a story-and-a-half log building near Lignum in eastern Culpeper County, Virginia, built around 1840 by Willis Madden, a free Black man. Laid out on a hall-and-parlor plan with stone end chimneys, it housed the family on one side and a public room and guest loft on the other. Madden, who worked as a blacksmith, distiller, cobbler and teamster, bought the land in 1835 and ran the tavern at a busy crossroads on the Fredericksburg trade route, along with a campground, store and smithy. It is described as the only known Black-owned and operated tavern in the Virginia Piedmont before the Civil War, and one of few small antebellum rural taverns left in the region. The railroad's arrival in the early 1850s reduced trade, and Union troops damaged the property in 1863-64. The family kept using the building as a dwelling, adding wings and dormers in the early and mid-20th century. The property remains with Madden's descendants.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899; 1900-","architect_builder":"Builder/Architect listed as Unknown (built by Willis Madden)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in good condition as a private residence, with early and mid-20th-century alterations and additions; original outbuildings no longer exist.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.337332-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/23/6803/41680323/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/84003526.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003526/c47057d9d0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003526/c47057d9d0-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madden%27s_Tavern_distant.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madden%27s_Tavern_distant.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680323","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madden%27s_Tavern","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6726594"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/culpeper-county/maddens-tavern-84003526/"}