Almshouse Farm at Machipongo is a complex of five contributing buildings dating from 1725 to the early 20th century. The 17-acre Northampton County site was used continuously as an almshouse farm between 1803 and 1952. The oldest structure, a brick farmhouse built around 1725 with a wood-frame section added later, predates the property’s use as a poorhouse. A simple vernacular Greek Revival two-story building (foreground above) was constructed about 1840 as the almshouse with eight rooms on the first floor and 13 “guestrooms” on the second floor. In 1910, a single-story frame building (background above) with 10 guestrooms was built to serve as a poorhouse for African Americans. There are also two contributing sheds on the Almshouse Farm at Machipongo property. While most almshouses were closed throughout the state by the 1920s, Northampton County’s remained open until 1952.