Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 03/19/1997
NRHP Listing Date 05/23/1997
DHR's Virginia Board of Historic Resources easement
NRHP Reference Number 97000491
The two-room-plan Claughton-Wright House is a rare surviving example of a diminutive dwelling type that was once a common element of the Tidewater Virginia landscape. Nearly all such small, well-built, and expensively finished dwellings of prosperous but unpretentious planters have either disappeared or have been engulfed in later enlargements. The Northumberland County house was constructed ca. 1787 by William Claughton, owner of some 422 acres and an officer in the local militia. Claughton’s daughter Kitty and her husband James Wright remodeled the interior ca. 1827. Little changed since then, many of the 18th- and early-19th-century details survive. A striking feature is the massive brick chimney with its glazed-header Flemish bond and tiled weatherings. The Claughton-Wright House long stood abandoned but has undergone a careful restoration. The archaeological sites of various outbuildings likely remain nearby.
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: July 27, 2021
