Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/19/1973
NRHP Listing Date 08/14/1973
NRHP Reference Number 73002039
With its brick construction, jerkinhead roof, and center-passage plan, Deer Chase typifies the medium-sized colonial plantation house of Virginia’s Tidewater region. Although modest in appearance, the Middlesex County house is generously proportioned compared to the rude wooden cottages that housed most colonial farmers. Captain Oswald Cary was granted 460 acres on the Piankatank River in 1685; the present house was likely built several decades later by a Cary descendant. Fire gutted the interior in the early 19th century; hence, the present woodwork dates from that time. The repairs also resulted in the number of bays on the façade being changed from five to three. An 1885 plat shows as many as seventeen outbuildings and farm buildings as well as a formal garden. Of these, a frame schoolhouse and the foundations of an office remain. Deer Chase preserves its rural setting near the banks of the Piankatank.
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: March 30, 2023
