Timberneck, on a broad peninsula bordered by creeks flowing into the York River, was a Mann family homestead in the 17th and 18th centuries. The property was purchased ca. 1793 by John Catlett from John Page of Rosewell. The present house at Timberneck is a rambling post-Revolutionary farmhouse built for the Catletts. The two-part, two-story weatherboarded structure has well-preserved appointments including a fine stair and much original hardware. Although the later section was built in the mid-19th century, the details of the earlier portion, including the modillion cornice and pedimented porch, were repeated. With its rural setting, early smokehouse, rare 19th-century picket fence, old trees, and commanding view of the York, Timberneck is a substantially undisturbed Tidewater plantation in an area of Gloucester County undergoing suburban development.

The Timberneck Boundary Increase encompasses 31.88 acres and, in addition to the previously listed single dwelling and early 19th-century smokehouse, includes a late 19th- to early 20th-century well house, a 19th-century cemetery of the Catlett family, and an archaeological site. The archaeological site boundary encircles several archaeological loci, as well as the Mann and Page family cemeteries. The expanded boundary of Timberneck also includes 10 non-contributing resources—buildings, structures, and objects that are all part of the Machicomoco State Park infrastructure, which is located to the west of the Catlett house. The setting of Timberneck farm retains much of its open, agricultural viewshed. The integrity of the house, outbuildings, cemeteries, and surrounding archaeological sites convey a strong sense of the 19th- and early 20th-century domestic and agrarian landscape. As a historic cultural resource, the property provides ample opportunity to study the farm’s establishment and maintenance over several centuries by the Catlett family and enslaved African Americans who lived and worked on the site.
[VLR Approved: 3/17/2022; NRHP Approval: Pending]