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Primary sourcePhotographUnknown date

Rural Plains House, Hanover County, Virginia

Historic American Buildings Survey · Unknown date

A historic survey photograph of a brick house in Hanover County, Virginia, the region where Patrick Henry lived.

This photograph shows a house in Henry's home county, though no direct ownership link is confirmed.

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Black and white photograph of a two-story brick house with a gambrel roof, metal roofing, dormer windows, and a small front porch with steps. A large tree stands in the foreground on a grassy lawn.
Historic American Buildings Survey, Rural Plains, Hanover County, Virginia. Library of Congress.

About this source

What it is

This photograph was taken as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey, a government program that documents historic American architecture. It shows a two-story brick house with a gambrel roof in Hanover County, Virginia, now part of Richmond National Battlefield Park. The exact date of the photo is unknown.

Why it matters

Hanover County was Patrick Henry's home region, where he practiced law and entered politics. While the record does not confirm this exact house belonged to Henry, buildings like this help students picture the everyday world of 18th-century Virginia where he lived and worked.

Look closer

  • What details of the house's design suggest when it might have been built?
  • Why do government agencies like the Historic American Buildings Survey photograph old houses?
  • What can and can't a photograph of a building tell us about the people who lived there?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Patrick Henry on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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