{"nrhp_refnum":"97000473","name":"Ward Family House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8018 Rominger Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sugar Grove","county":"Watauga County","state":"NC","lat":36.24742007200007,"lon":-81.82233033999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-05-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A late Victorian Queen Anne-style frame farmhouse on a 3.128-acre lot beside Rominger Road in western Watauga County, North Carolina, built about 1897. It was erected for Thomas Lucky Ward on land he received from his father.","why_significant":"The house is described as the best preserved and most elaborately finished Queen Anne-style frame house in rural Watauga County. Its asymmetrical T-shaped plan, novelty siding, shingle-faced ornamental gables, sawnwork spandrels and cupola are presented as a rare departure from conventional county farmhouse types of the period. The nomination argues it survives as an important example of the style in the county.","narrative":"Built about 1897 in western Watauga County, North Carolina, the Ward Family House is a frame farmhouse in the Queen Anne style, with a T-shaped plan, novelty German siding, and a cupola rising between brick chimneys. Thomas Lucky Ward began it on a 200-acre tract between Cove Creek and the Watauga River that his father deeded him in 1897. Its shingle-faced gables, sawnwork spandrels and turned-post front porch set it apart from the conventional log and plain frame farmhouses of the county at the time. The house is regarded as the most elaborately finished Queen Anne-style frame house in rural Watauga County, and the cupola is unique in the county. Ward died in 1900, and his widow and children occupied the house for decades. It was sold out of the family in 1974. The house is valued for its architectural ambition in a rural setting and for the rare survival of such detailing in a farmhouse of its date.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1897","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Queen Anne","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Occupied as a residence by its present owner; the document notes that the house stood vacant for periods in the 1950s to 1970s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.326679-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/7227/47722770/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/97000473.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000473/a4700dfd2a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000473/a4700dfd2a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Crimson henry","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:110covecreek16Jun15_2.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Crimson henry</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:110covecreek16Jun15_2.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722770","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Family_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24436311"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/watauga-county/ward-family-house-97000473/"}