Machipongo, Virginia

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Entering Machipongo US-13 and Machipongo Drive - panoramio.jpg
Entering Machipongo

Machipongo is an unincorporated community in Northampton County, Virginia, United States.

The Almshouse Farm at Machipongo was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. [1] At the same time took place the grand opening of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Barrier Islands Center (BIC) founded in 1996 and housed in the Almshouse Farm. The mission of this cultural center, museum, meeting and event place is to preserve and perpetuate the culture and history of Virginia's barrier islands through education and the collection and interpretation of artifacts. The museum holds more than 7,500 artifacts and showcases a permanent exhibition. [2]

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Almshouse Farm at Machipongo United States historic place

Almshouse Farm at Machipongo, now known as the Barrier Islands Center, is a historic almshouse for Northampton County residents. Residents, also known as "inmates", included those sent for unpaid debts but also included homeless people, the mentally ill, orphans and those with diseases like tuberculosis and smallpox. "Inmates" were generally directed by the court to live at the almshouse. The Almshouse Farm served as the site for the Northampton County poorhouse for almost 150 years, from 1804 until 1952. African-Americans were housed in a separate building on the property located at Machipongo, Northampton County, Virginia. The oldest of the three main buildings was built about 1725, and is a 1 1/2-half story structure built in two parts, one brick and one frame, and probably predates the almshouse use of the property. The main building was built about 1840, and is a frame, two-story building in the vernacular Greek Revival style. It housed residents of the almshouse farm. A building dated to 1910, is a one-story frame building in a form resembling that of one-story frame school buildings from the same period and was specifically constructed to separately house African-American residents. There were 10 rooms for the black poor, and no in-house plumbing. This building was renovated in 2013 and now serves as the BIC Education Building. Also on the property are two contributing small, frame, late-19 or early 20th-century outbuildings. The Northampton County Almshouse Farm was in continuous operation between 1803 and 1952.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Official Eastern Shore of Virginia Barrier Island Center website

Coordinates: 37°24′21″N75°54′06″W / 37.40583°N 75.90167°W / 37.40583; -75.90167