{"nrhp_refnum":"94000761","name":"Mulberry Grove","other_names":["VDHR File No. 81-14"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 724 S side, 5000 ft. SE of jct. with VA 252","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brownsburg","county":"Rockbridge County","state":"VA","lat":37.92313616800007,"lon":-79.30569404463,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-07-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Mulberry Grove is a two-story brick and frame farmhouse on the south side of State Route 724 in northwestern Rockbridge County, Virginia, near Brownsburg. Its oldest section dates to about 1790, with additions made through about 1850.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is architecturally significant because it shows four distinct building periods between 1790 and 1850, reflecting changing Federal-style architecture in a farming area. Samuel Willson's additions from the late 1820s to the 1840s include a stair hall, a brick kitchen and a double-pile brick section with a molded-brick cornice. The house also reflects the culture of its Scotch-Irish, slave-holding farming community.","narrative":"Mulberry Grove is a farmhouse in northwestern Rockbridge County, Virginia, built in stages between about 1790 and 1850. The oldest part is a small frame-over-brick-nogging house of one room down and one up, probably built by Joseph Skeen. After buying the farm in 1824, Samuel Willson added a frame stair hall, a large brick kitchen with a loft, long walnut-posted porches, and in the 1840s a double-pile brick section with a molded-brick cornice and an ornate late-Federal mantel. The kitchen had no interior door to the main house, which reflects the slave-based household. Willson also tried raising mulberry trees for silk. Later owners changed the road orientation, added dormers in 1937, and built rear additions in 1965 and 1984. A log meat house and a double-pen log barn survive nearby. The house was listed for showing four building periods of Federal-style architecture on a farm that has operated for two centuries.","period_of_significance":"c. 1790-c. 1850","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Early Republic: Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Described as being in excellent condition and still the central farmhouse of a 600-acre working farm; it remains in use as a single dwelling.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.3387-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/78/6833/41683378/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/94000761.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000761/b03a0c0227-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000761/b03a0c0227-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mulberry_Grove_near_Brownsburg.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mulberry_Grove_near_Brownsburg.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683378","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry_Grove_(Brownsburg,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15260204"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/rockbridge-county/mulberry-grove-94000761/"}