Van Swearingen-Shepherd House

Last updated
Van Swearingen-Shepherd House
Bellevue, Shepherdstown WV.jpg
USA West Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nearest city Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Coordinates 39°26′21.9″N77°48′16.5″W / 39.439417°N 77.804583°W / 39.439417; -77.804583
Built1773
Architectural styleColonial Revival
NRHP reference No. 83003241
Added to NRHPAugust 18, 1983 [1]

The Van Swearingen-Shepherd House, also known as Bellevue, is a Colonial Revival mansion in Shepherdstown, West Virginia that is home to the descendants of Captain Thomas Shepherd, founder of Shepherdstown. The house, situated on a bluff overlooking the Potomac River, was built in 1773 by Thomas Van Swearingen as a single-story stone house. His son, also named Thomas Van Swearingen, was a US Representative. The Shepherd family acquired the house in 1900, when Henry Shepherd III bought the house as a wedding present for his bride Minnie Reinhart, whose grandfather was Thomas Van Swearingen. That year, the Shepherds gave a dinner party on the lawn for William Jennings Bryan during his second presidential campaign. The house remains in the hands of the Shepherd family.

The original stone house has been extensively altered, with brick Victorian-era alterations exchanged for the present Colonial Revival style with a tetrastyle Ionic portico. [2] The second story was added in the late 19th century, and all windows were converted to an arched pattern. In the early 20th century the Ionic portico was added by architect Stuart H. Edmonds. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hickory Hill (Thomson, Georgia)</span> United States historic place

Hickory Hill, also known sometimes as the Thomas E. Watson House, is a historic house museum at 502 Hickory Hill Drive in Thomson, Georgia. A National Historic Landmark, it was a home of Georgia Populist Party co-founder Thomas E. Watson (1856-1922). The main house was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1976 (#76002144) and the whole site was added to the NRHP in 1979 (#79003110).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Lake Hotel, also known as Lake Yellowstone Hotel is one of a series of hotels built to accommodate visitors to Yellowstone National Park in the late 19th and early 20th century. Built in 1891, it is the oldest operating hotel in the park. It was re-designed and substantially expanded by Robert Reamer, architect of the Old Faithful Inn in 1903. In contrast to the Old Faithful Inn and many other western park facilities, the Lake Hotel is a relatively plain clapboarded Colonial Revival structure with three large Ionic porticoes facing Yellowstone Lake. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elmwood (Shepherdstown, West Virginia)</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Elmwood is a Federal style house near Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Located on land claimed in 1732 by Edward Lucas II, it was built in 1797 by his son, Edward Lucas III. During the Civil War the house was used as a field hospital. It remained in the Lucas family until 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beverley (West Virginia)</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Beverley, also known as Bullskin, is a farm near Charles Town, West Virginia that has been a working agricultural unit since 1750. The narrow lane that leads from U.S. Route 340 to the Beverley complex was, in the 18th and 19th centuries a toll road. The main house was built about 1800 by Beverley Whiting on the site of a c. 1760 stone house. The house is Georgian influenced Federal style, with a later Greek Revival portico. A number of outbuildings dating to the original 1760 house accompany the main house.

Glenburnie is an historic farm complex located between Shepherdstown, West Virginia and Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia. The house was built by James Glenn in 1802, completing the barn two years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan's Grove</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Morgan's Grove is a rural historic district near Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The area is noted for its abundant springs. Several historic houses and farms are in the district, including:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falling Spring-Morgan's Grove</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Falling Spring at Morgan's Grove is part of a related complex of buildings and lands associated with the Morgan family and other prominent members of the Shepherdstown, West Virginia, community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan-Bedinger-Dandridge House</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

The Morgan-Bedinger-Dandridge House — first known as Poplar Grove, then Rosebrake or Rose Brake — is part of a group of structures affiliated with the Morgan's Grove rural historic district near Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The property was known as "Poplar Grove" until 1877.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepherd's Mill</span> United States historic place

Shepherd's Mill is a gristmill in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, located on Town Run just as it descends to the Potomac River. The mill was built some time prior to 1739 by Thomas Shepherd, Sr. (1705-1776) — founder and namesake of the town — as a two-story structure. The original millwheel was probably a wood overshot wheel. The present 40-foot-diameter (12 m) Fitz Water Wheel Company steel overshot wheel was built in 1894; with the addition of a third story in the late 19th century, the mill is more representative of that era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rumsey Hall (Shepherdstown, West Virginia)</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Rumsey Hall, also known as the Entler Hotel, is an historic building in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The building is located in the center of the Shepherdstown Historic District and is a composite of six separate phases of construction. The earliest portion was built in 1786, and was the home belonging to Christian Cookus. This section burned in 1912. This section was separated by a narrow passage from the core of the hotel property, first started in the 1790s by owner Daniel Bedinger. This Federal style structure was expanded to the corner sometime before 1809, with a further addition along Princess Street by 1815. A kitchen and a carriage house completed the complex. Significant interior features remain. In 1809 a store was opened in the corner building, operated by James Brown. At about the same time, the Globe Tavern opened, offering overnight accommodations. In 1815, Bedinger sold the property to James Brown and Edward Lucas for $6,000. In 1820 it was again sold, to Thomas Crown of Washington, D.C., for $4000. By this time the tavern was managed by Thomas James and the hotel by Daniel Entler. In 1823, Daniel Entler became the manager of the entire property. The Entlers managed the properties until 1873, when they moved to Piedmont, West Virginia, while retaining ownership of the hotel.

Fruit Hill, also known as the Robinson-Andrews-Hoxton House, is a Greek Revival house near Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The original two-story stone house on the property was probably built by Henry Cookus circa 1766. This house was built over a watercourse, assuring a reliable supply of water on what was then the frontier. The main Greek Revival house was built in the 1830s by Archibald Robinson, and the house remains in the hands of the family. The interior of the house includes a three-story open staircase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold Spring (Shepherdstown, West Virginia)</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Cold Spring is a house near Shepherdstown, West Virginia, childhood home to two United States Representatives. The house was built by Edward Lucas III and his son, Robert in 1793.

Boidstones Place, also called Greenbrakes and Fountain Rock, was built in 1766 by Thomas Boydston near Shepherdstown, West Virginia on land he was granted by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. In a dispute with Fairfax and Joist Hite over lands he had acquired along the Terrapin Neck on the Potomac River, Boydston lost most of his lands, which were acquired by Abraham Shepherd. The property formed a portion of the Shepherd's holdings along Shepherd Grade, which were primarily devoted breeding race horses. Some of the property was annexed to the adjoining Wild Goose property, owned by R.D. Shepherd, who had a racetrack there. In 1851 R.D. Shepherd gave Boidstones to his nephew and namesake R. D. Shepherd, Jr. who built the main Greek Revival section of the house. The property was sold out of the Shepherd family in 1886, but was returned to the Shepherds in 1916 for use as a summer place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beall-Air</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Beall-Air, also known as the Colonel Lewis William Washington House, is a two-story stuccoed brick house in classical revival style near Halltown, West Virginia. It was the home of Colonel Lewis William Washington, great-great nephew of President George Washington and hostage in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Rockland, also known as Verdier Plantation, Schley Farm and Knode House, was built by James Verdier between 1771 and 1785 near Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Verdier was a Huguenot, the son of a French silk weaver, who married Lady Susanna Monei and came to North America to escape religious persecution. In America he became a tanner, with tanneries in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Sharpsburg, Maryland and Shepherdstown. His children founded Verdiersville, Virginia after his death. The older portion of the house is stone masonry. A brick Victorian style addition was built in 1897.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepherdstown Historic District</span> Historic district in West Virginia, United States

The Shepherdstown Historic District comprises the historic core of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The town is the oldest in West Virginia, founded in 1762 as Mecklenburg. No structures are known to exist from the time before the town became known as Shepherdstown. The historic district is concentrated along German Street, the main street, with 386 contributing resources and 69 non-contributing elements. The chief representative period is the late 18th century, with many Federal style brick houses. German Street is also furnished with 19th-century "street furniture" such as metal fences, mounting blocks, wooden pumps and mature trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson County Courthouse (West Virginia)</span> Courthouse in Charles Town, West Virginia

The Jefferson County Courthouse is a historic building in Charles Town, West Virginia, USA. The building is historically notable as the site of two trials for treason: that of John Brown in 1859, and those of unionizing coal miners from Mingo County, West Virginia, a consequence of the Battle of Blair Mountain, whose trials were moved from the southern part of the state in 1922 as a result of a change of venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William H. H. Graham House</span> Historic house in Indiana, United States

William H. H. Graham House, also known as the Stephenson Mansion, is a historic home located in the Irvington Historic District, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. It was built in 1889, and is a 2+12-story, four-bay Colonial Revival style frame dwelling. The house features a front portico supported by four, two-story Ionic order columns added in 1923, and a two-story bay window. In the 1920s it was the home of D. C. Stephenson, head of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent–Valentine House</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

The Kent–Valentine House is a historic home in Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1845 from plans by Isaiah Rogers of Boston. It is a three-story, five bay, stuccoed brick mansion with a two-story wing at the rear of the west side. It features a two-story, three-bay portico with Roman Ionic columns and balustrade. In 1904, the house was enlarged to its present five bay width and the interior redesigned in the Colonial Revival style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wild Goose Farm</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Wild Goose Farm is a 173-acre (70 ha) farm complex near Shepherdstown, West Virginia, established in the early 19th century. The farm includes a large, irregularly-arranged main house, a Pennsylvania-style bank barn, a tenant house, and outbuildings including a spring house, smoke house, ice house, corn crib, water tower and a decorative pavilion.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. Rodney S. Collins and Michael J. Pauley (May 16, 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Van Swearingen-Shepherd House" (PDF). National Park Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Chambers, S. Allen Jr. (2004). Buildings of West Virginia. Oxford University Press. p. 555. ISBN   0-19-516548-9.