Dover Hall | |
Nrhp Type: | hd |
Nocat: | yes |
Designated Other1: | Virginia Landmarks Register |
Designated Other1 Date: | June 17, 1998[1] |
Designated Other1 Number: | 037-0078 |
Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
Coordinates: | 37.6067°N -77.7442°W |
Architecture: | Italianate, Colonial Revival |
Added: | April 14, 2000 |
Refnum: | 00000311 |
Ben Dover, also known as Ben Dover Farm, is a historic home and plantation complex, recognized as a national historic district, located near Manakin-Sabot in Goochland County, Virginia, United States. The district encompasses 13 contributing buildings, 8 contributing sites, and 10 contributing structures.
The main dwelling was built in 1853 as a villa or the Big House of the plantation, in an Italianate style. When renovated in 1930, it was transformed when given a Colonial Revival facade to mask decades of deterioration and poor patchwork.
Contributing buildings, many of later construction, include tenant houses, a converted servants quarters (former slave quarters), a garage, a number of barns and sheds, a bowling alley, a smokehouse, and a stable. Contributing structures include three water towers, two well houses, animal feeders, a chicken coop, a silo and a swimming pool. The eight sites include stone foundations or sites of buildings no longer standing. Among these sites are two ruinous barns, a bridge ruin, an old road trace, and remains of landscape terracing. Together they represent the evolution of the Virginia plantation from the mid-19th century to the present day farm.[2]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.