The Poplar Springs dwelling house in Charles City County was once the center of a 312-acre plantation owned by Joseph Vaiden. It was situated on the busy Old Main Road that formerly connected the Charles City county seat to Williamsburg. The Vaidens established a settlement here called Vaiden’s Crossroads, one of several crossroads communities serving both travelers and the county’s inland population. The original section, built in 1809 by Joseph Vaiden’s son Jacob, was a single-pile, side-passage-plan dwelling, which, though tiny, was not unusual for middling landholders. Jacob Vaiden’s son Robert enlarged the house in 1840-1844, making it a symmetrical three-bay dwelling. He also added a story-and-a-half wing. The interior retains simple painted woodwork and six-panel doors with H-L hinges, brass knobs, and iron box locks. Two bricks on the west chimney, inscribed “IV 1809” and “RJV 1840,” document the dates of the two parts of Poplar Springs.