Nomination Form
A strikingly handsome specimen of an eastern Virginia gentry homestead, Little Town was built in 1811 for James C. Bailey, the county clerk. An 1820 tax assessment gave Little Town the highest value of any house in Sussex County. The Flemish-bond brickwork and fine joinery of the windows, cornice, and pedimented porch are marks of a building of quality. A folk painting of the national seal on the parlor chimneypiece has led to the claim that Bailey used the room for court sessions. More likely, the seal represented the owner’s patriotic fervor. Elsewhere on the interior of Little Town are sections of original graining and marbleizing. The dining room mantel has a delicately molded frame decorated with reliefs of exotic animals—two camels, a rhinoceros, and an elephant. The house and surrounding farm remain in the ownership of the builder’s family.
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
Nomination Form
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
