Cold Spring Farm
Also known as: Morton, Peter and Louisa, Farmstead
Why it's listed
Brick farmhouse on the northeast edge of McConnellsburg, Fulton County, with a stone springhouse and stone slaughterhouse on a 21-acre remnant of a larger farm. Peter Morton, a county commissioner and later associate judge, made the bricks himself at a kiln on an adjacent lot and completed the two-story house in 1900-01, with a date incised in one brick. The house combines Queen Anne and Colonial Revival features, including a cross gable with a Palladian window, a wraparound porch and chestnut woodwork with a massive staircase. Under his son George, the farm became a retail dairy, with milk bottled in the springhouse, which received a gambrel roof and a bay window in 1920. The slaughterhouse, which retains butchering equipment, supported a meat business run with a brother-in-law. The farm supplied milk to McConnellsburg until 1941, when competition ended its operation. The property is significant for documenting the shift to specialized farm production after 1900, when the Lincoln Highway boosted local trade.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the farm made a successful transition from subsistence and local market farming to specialized meat and milk production for local retail sale, tied to the Lincoln Highway and the growth of farm commerce in McConnellsburg. The house is presented as an intact example of a transitional blend of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles, and the outbuildings as earlier 19th-century remnants altered in the early 1900s.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 00000966, listed August 10, 2000. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 323 Lions Park Dr., McConnellsburg, Todd |
|---|---|
| County | Fulton County |
| Listed | August 10, 2000 |
| Reference number | 00000966 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1900-ca. 1941 |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian Queen Anne and Colonial Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Agriculture, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The buildings were vacant for some time and vandalized; rehabilitation work is in progress, with the house being converted to a bed and breakfast inn. |
| Acreage | 21.1 |
| Coordinates | 39.93719, -77.98775 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 00000966.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5142351
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.