For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 12/02/1969
NRHP Listing Date 02/26/1970
NPS property number 70000818
Delisted from VLR on 06/19/2008
Delisted from NPS on 06/10/2005
During the colonial period, the Eastern Shore builders gave architectural quality and fine detailing not only to their larger works but to smaller ones as well. An excellent illustration of this phenomenon is the tiny Somers house, now standing abandoned and deteriorating in a field on Northampton County’s Occohannock Neck. The glazed-header Flemish bond brickwork, careful proportions, and a re-fined interior paneled wall give this otherwise simple house all the dignity of a grand colonial mansion. The house dates after 1727, the year in which Thomas Smith gave the land to his grandson Leaven Smith, for whom the house was built. The Somers family owned it in the late 19th century.
The Somers House slowly crumbled and eventually was dismantled for its parts, probably in the 1990s. It was removed from the NRHP in 2005 and the VLR in 2008.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated December 12, 2018
