Accomac Historic District
Also known as: See Also:Bank Building; Debtors' Prison; St. James Church
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Why it's listed
Accomac is a compact county-seat town on Virginia's Eastern Shore, and its historic district covers about 130 acres and roughly 150 buildings. Most are white-painted frame houses of one or two stories, set along narrow, irregular streets, with commercial buildings along Front Street and a courthouse complex near Jail Road. The settlement grew around a tavern where court was first held in the 1670s. A 1786 petition to the Virginia Assembly led to the establishment of the town of Drummondtown, later renamed Accomac in 1893. The district includes Federal, Greek Revival, Victorian and Colonial Revival buildings, among them a Romanesque Revival courthouse of 1899, the Debtors' Prison of 1783 and St. James Episcopal Church of 1838. The town was listed because of its architecture and its long role as a government and commercial center. Steady economic conditions, continuity of family ownership and the rerouting of Route 13 around the town in the early 1960s helped preserve its nineteenth-century character.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district is significant for its well-preserved architecture and for more than three hundred years as a government center for the Eastern Shore. It contains early to mid-19th-century regional building types, builder and architect-designed houses, and a late Victorian courthouse complex. Stable local economy, family ownership and the rerouting of U.S. Route 13 around town helped preserve its character.
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 82004529, listed July 21, 1982. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Business Rte. 13, Accomac |
|---|---|
| County | Accomack County |
| Listed | July 21, 1982 |
| Reference number | 82004529 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architectural style | Mixed: Federal, Greek Revival, Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne, Second Empire, Colonial Revival and vernacular frame houses |
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Military, Exploration/Settlement, Politics/Government, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Condition marked good, altered, original site; the district is largely occupied, with mixed residential, commercial, government, religious and educational uses. |
| Acreage | 130 |
| Coordinates | 37.72039, -75.66825 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
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 82004529.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14691867
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.