The brick dwelling house at Springfield, a standard two-story Federal residence located in Hanover County, was built in 1820 for Lucy Grymes Nelson, widow of Thomas Nelson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and governor of Virginia. Though Mrs. Nelson was of the most patrician of Virginia families, her house is surprisingly unpretentious. Her lofty status, however, made Springfield a place of social importance, one served by thirty-seven slaves. Except for the replacement of some first-floor woodwork with Greek Revival trim, and one-story additions built on the side and rear in 1970, the house had been little changed. In front of the house is a circle of very old English boxwood with a large tree box in the center, said to be a remnant of a garden planted by Mrs. Nelson. Behind the house on the Springfield property is an original frame kitchen/laundry outbuilding and a frame smokehouse.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia