Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 03/14/2001
NRHP Listing Date 09/15/2002
DHR Virginia Board of Historic Resources Easement
NRHP Reference Number 02001005
The Dover Slave Quarter Complex in Goochland County is one of Virginia’s few surviving groupings of slave quarters. The five-building complex was erected after 1843 when Ellen Bruce, who owned the property, married James M. Morson and began construction of the Dover mansion. Though there were once many dwellings for enslaved African Americans in the state, this building type is now almost extinct. The Dover group’s wide-arc layout is unique in Virginia. Originally identical one-story brick structures with high-hipped roofs, each building contained two rooms served by a central chimney. The center building was enlarged; the motivation for this arrangement is thought to have been aesthetic. The Dover Slave Quarter Complex was positioned to form a picturesque incident in the landscape within the viewshed of the Dover mansion. The use of slave dwellings as features of a designed landscape, while very rare, was not unheard of for major antebellum plantations.
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
Updated: April 26, 2022
