In its present form, North Bend is among Charles City County’s few examples of builder’s Greek Revival. The original portion was built in 1819 for John Minge, member of one of the county’s landed families. In 1843 North Bend was acquired by Thomas H. Wilcox, who in 1853-55 transformed the vernacular dwelling into a double-pile Greek Revival-style plantation house, using decorative details based on designs in Asher Benjamin’s architectural pattern books. Some of the woodwork retains original painted wood graining and marbleizing. Although updated with the remodeling, the five-bay, hipped-roof scheme maintained a traditional Georgian format. In 1865 North Bend was used as headquarters of Union Gen. Philip Sheridan before his 30,000 men crossed the James River to join the siege of Petersburg. Included on the North Bend plantation are several interesting farm buildings, including an early dairy and 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