Meriwether House, Smokehouse/Dairy, Keswick, Albemarle County, Virginia

This documentation was completed for a class at the University of Virginia & subsequently donated to the HABS collection.
Significance: The structure is maintained and utilized by the Barnes family as a workshop and storage area. It originally accommodated a smokehouse in one-half of the space and a well-ventilated dairy in the other. The site was settled by Nicholas Meriwether in the early eighteenth century. By 1747, Meriwether had a one-story dwelling built on the property. After Francis Kinloch Nelson married Margaret Douglas Meriwether of Cloverfields in 1845, a new house was erected on the grounds. This two-story farmhouse, constructed in 1847-48, was designed in a manner after the Greek Revival-style. Nelson, in addition to the dwelling he replaced, found "all the buildings for farming purposes wanting." If the building was standing at that time, then it is likely that the smokehouse/dairy dependency was one of those structures he though lacking. In 1849, Nelson spent $2500 improving Cloverfields; the pre-1805 smokehouse/dairy could have been upgraded at that time.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N953
Survey number: HABS VA-1358-A
Building/structure dates: before 1805 Initial Construction