{"nrhp_refnum":"85003131","name":"Locust Grove","other_names":["Goodwin Farm"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Locust Grove Farm, VA 736","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rapidan","county":"Culpeper County","state":"VA","lat":38.317131275000065,"lon":-78.04534238107249,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Locust Grove is a 1½-story log and frame farmhouse on a 130.5-acre farm along the Rapidan River near Rapidan, Culpeper County, Virginia. Its original one-room plank unit dates to the 1760s or 70s, and it was expanded until about 1840.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a rare example of a middle-class farmer's house of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Its original unit is among the oldest documented buildings of its size in Piedmont Virginia. Its phased growth shows how farm families gradually improved their living conditions. Unusual features include full-dovetail plank walls, a central-chimney plan and a recessed segmental-arched entry.","narrative":"Locust Grove is a modest farmhouse on the Rapidan River in southwestern Culpeper County, Virginia. Its core is a 16-by-20-foot room of squared pine planks joined with full-dovetail corners, probably built in the 1760s or 70s by William Willis. Over roughly seventy years the house gained a frame addition on the chimney end, lean-tos on three sides and finished loft rooms, producing a central-chimney, two-room main block. Later changes included a post-Civil War Greek Revival doorway and early 20th-century dormers, and a careful restoration in the 1970s retained early floors, mantels, doors and exposed log walls. Isaac Willis lived in the house from 1774 to 1867. Tax records show he held fifteen or more enslaved people and ranked among the wealthiest taxpayers in the county, yet he kept a modest dwelling. The house is valued for its rare early plank construction and for showing how a prosperous Piedmont farm household lived.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799; 1800-1899","architect_builder":"Unknown; probably built by William Willis; restoration architect Milton Grigg examined the entry in 1978","architectural_style":"Federal period Piedmont farmhouse; log and frame vernacular with Federal interior detailing","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence and farm; restored and enlarged in the late 1970s, with work completed in 1979.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.160238-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/99/6802/41680299/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/85003131.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003131/312b8b6f7b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003131/312b8b6f7b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cecouchman","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Locust_Grove_0015.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cecouchman</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:Locust_Grove_0015.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680299","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust_Grove_(Rapidan,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712730"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/culpeper-county/locust-grove-85003131/"}