Sturgis House, Occohannock Creek, Jamesville, Northampton County, Virginia

Significance: The Eastern Shore of Virginia was first explored by Captain John Smith in 1608. Colonization of the area was begun in 1616 by Englishmen interested in establishing salt and fishing industries. The County of Northampton was formed in 1632 from the lower part of Accomac County and it was from this southernmost tip of the peninsula that settlers moved northward along the Chesapeake Bay's eastern shoreline. The land on which Mattissippi now stands was granted to (Col.) Thomas Johnson in a patent for 1,000 acres in 1647. Colonel Johnson's will of December 1658 left "Mattassippy Neck where I now live upon" to his eldest son Obedience. The following January one William Ward deposed that "Wm Cosiar built a house at Colonel Thomas Johnson(s)." In 1709 Obedience Johnson left "the plantation called Mattissippi" to his son also named Obedience. It would appear from the above excerpts from the county records that there was a house on Mattissippi Plantation at least as early as 1658. It seems unlikely however, from the architectural evidence available that the present house could have been built prior to the last decade of the seventeenth century. Mattissippi is a classic example of the inside-end-chimney, "two-room Virginia plan." Built entirely of oversized, locally made brick, the house is used by Thomas T. Waterman in his book ,Dwellings of Colonial America, as typical of its type.
Survey number: HABS VA-547