Grassdale Farm
Also known as: VDHR file no. 44-0010
Why it's listed
Grassdale Farm occupies about ninety acres at the center of Spencer, in southwestern Henry County, Virginia. Its principal building is a two-story, center-passage frame house of Greek Revival character with Italianate bracketed cornices, reaching its present form by about 1880 and given Colonial Revival interior detail in 1949. Around it stand a frame kitchen, a brick smokehouse, a cook's house, a caretaker's house that began as a farm office, and a square-notched log dwelling that family tradition says first served as a slave house. Farther away are late 1940s barns, a granary and a tenant house built for Mack Watkins. A 1948 brick store and post office stands near the main road. The farm is associated with the Spencer family. David H. Spencer held large landholdings and forty-two slaves in 1860 and ran a tobacco factory with a partner. After his 1869 bankruptcy, his son David W. Spencer took over the business and bought back the home tract by 1874.
Significance in brief: The farm preserves a main house of Greek Revival character with Italianate influence, along with domestic outbuildings, a possible former slave dwelling and mid-20th-century farm buildings. It is also tied to the Spencer family, whose members were landowners and tobacco manufacturers in Spencer. The 1948 Spencer Store and Post Office is part of the nominated property.
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 02000587, listed May 30, 2002. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 187 Spencer Penn Rd., Spencer |
|---|---|
| County | Henry County |
| Listed | May 30, 2002 |
| Reference number | 02000587 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival; Italianate; Colonial Revival |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Acreage | 90 |
| Coordinates | 36.61601, -80.01042 (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.
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 02000587.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14712382
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.