{"nrhp_refnum":"88003208","name":"Mount Columbia","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Off VA 649, 2.7 mi. W of VA 605","address_restricted":false,"city":"Manquin","county":"King William County","state":"VA","lat":37.71499478700005,"lon":-77.1866079644782,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-01-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Mount Columbia is a two-story Federal brick plantation house in a rural area near Manquin, King William County, Virginia. The rear section dates to about 1792 and the front section was added about 1835; both are associated with the Bosher family.","why_significant":"The house is argued to show how rural Virginia architectural taste became more sophisticated in the early 19th century, as a simple 1790s dwelling gained a stylish Federal front block. The later section was probably influenced by the Virginia Executive Mansion, on which William Bosher's brother John worked. The property also likely holds undisturbed archaeological remains of plantation outbuildings.","narrative":"Mount Columbia is a two-part brick plantation house on a ridge in King William County, Virginia, with views toward the Pamunkey River. The rear section, a two-story side-passage-and-parlor house laid in Flemish bond, was built about 1792, probably by Gideon Bosher, on land that was part of the College of William and Mary's holdings. About 1835 his son William Bosher added a larger center-passage front block with a pedimented portico, Tuscan columns and panels between the floors of windows. These features resemble the Virginia Executive Mansion in Richmond, where William's brother John worked as a carpenter. The two sections form a T-shaped plan. The property also includes a one-and-a-half story brick kitchen, a family cemetery with an iron fence, and traces of a formal garden. The house was listed for its architecture. It shows a simple early dwelling evolving into a stylish, if late, example of Federal design, and the site likely holds undisturbed archaeological remains of outbuildings and quarters.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1790-1884","architect_builder":"Bosher, Gideon; Bosher, William","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Described as remarkably intact and in use as a single dwelling; the brick kitchen building is also used as a residence after being substantially rebuilt.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.987375-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/48/6814/41681448/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/88003208.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88003208/1d88517a37-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88003208/1d88517a37-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Columbia_entrance.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Columbia_entrance.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681448","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Columbia_(Manquin,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6920214"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/king-william-county/mount-columbia-88003208/"}