The Nat Turner Insurrection, America’s bloodiest and most famous armed uprising by enslaved people, ended at Belmont, the Southampton County home of Dr. Samuel Blunt, on August 23, 1831. Turner, an enslaved Black man, believed he was divinely selected to lead his people out of bondage and drew about eighty followers to go on a slave rebellion through Southampton County. Turner was eventually captured on October 30 and hanged on November 11, 1831. The short but violent rebellion so alarmed the South that a much stricter regimen was soon instituted against enslaved and free African Americans alike, leading to further hardening of attitudes between the North and South. Belmont’s dwelling house, a typical homeplace of a Southside plantation, was built in the late 18th century for George Carey, and was acquired by the Blunt family in the early 19th century. The house at Belmont was rehabilitated in the late 20th century.
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