Abijah Thomas House

Abijah Thomas House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Virginia Landmarks Register
Picture taken on 12/7/07
Show map of Virginia Show map of the United States
Nearest city	SW of Marion on VA 657, Marion, Virginia
Coordinates	36°46′27″N81°34′13″W / 36.77417°N 81.57028°W / 36.77417; -81.57028
Built	1856
Architect	Thomas, Abijah
Architectural style	Octagon Mode
NRHP reference No.	80004225 [1]
VLR No.	086-0004
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 28, 1980
Designated VLR	September 16, 1980 [2]

The Abijah Thomas House is an historic octagon house located southwest of Marion, Virginia, United States, on VA 657. Built in 1856, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 28, 1980.

Architecture

The Abijah Thomas House is an octagon house, which is part of the trend of octagon architecture of 1850s America. ^[3] The building consists of seventeen rooms, ten closets, and a storage room. The exterior walls are made of brick, which were made by slaves on the property. ^[4] Interior design wise, the house features a rare example of painted ashlar upon plaster wall. Other interior touches include graining, marbleizing and stenciling. ^[3]

History

The house was completed in 1857, ^[5] for Abijah Thomas of Smyth County, ^[3] who was a property ^[3] and slave owner, and the owner of a textile plant. ^[5] The house and the property around it consisted of 400 acres, and was assessed at being worth $5,000 in 1857. ^[5]

Today

The house sat abandoned for many years and is currently owned by a local resident who seeks to renovate it back to its historical style. Ghosts have been reported as being seen on site, specifically in the home's storage room, called the "dark room," by locals. ^[4] Reports have claimed the appearance of abused slaves, including the sound of shackles moving and blood dripping down interior walls. ^[5] Despite local beliefs that slaves were abused within the "dark room," historian Mark Sturgill believes that stains on the floorboards of the storage room were caused by food spills from canned jars kept in the room, not from blood stains. ^[4]

Images

• 
  First floor plan taken from the original blueprints thought to have been used.
• 
  Second floor plan taken from the original blueprints thought to have been used.

Further reading

• Sturgill, Mack Howard (1990); Abijah Thomas & His Octagonal House, Published by M.H.Sturgill

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
3. Virginia. Dept. of Historic Resources (January 1, 2000). The Virginia Landmarks Register. University of Virginia Press. p. 493. ISBN   978-0-8139-1862-4 . Retrieved April 15, 2012.
4. Kimberly Barr Byrd; Debra J. Williams (April 13, 2005). Smyth County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 49. ISBN   978-0-7385-1756-8 . Retrieved April 15, 2012.
5. Jeff Bahr; Troy Taylor; Loren Coleman; Mark Sceurman; Mark Moran (June 1, 2007). Weird Virginia. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 60. ISBN   978-1-4027-3942-2 . Retrieved April 15, 2012.

External links

• Abijah Thomas House, Thomas Bridge Road, Marion, Smyth County, VA: 13 measured drawings at Historic American Buildings Survey