Bacon's Castle

With its cruciform shape, triple chimneys and curvilinear gables, Bacon's Castle is a rare surviving example of Jacobean architecture in America.

Built in 1665, the house was home to a prosperous planter, Arthur Allen. Allen also planted an adjacent to his house for the use of his family and household. The House passed to Major Arthur Allen at his fathers death. A supporter of the House of Burgesses, Allen was driven from his house in 1676. The house had many owners throughout the eighteenth century. John Henry Hankins purchased the Castle in 1844 and later built a Greek Revival addition.

Later in 1880, Charles Warren lived in the house until his death in 1972. Through a purchase agreement, the APVA bought the house and began research and restoration effort. The APVA opened Bacon's Castle in 1983 to the public.

Visitors today can step back to the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century through the doors of Bacon's Castle. Using the Allen's inventories from 1711 and 1755, furnishings have been selected to interpret daily life. Much of the early and original massive hand hewn beams are evident on the upper floors of the home. On the first floor, the raised panel woodwork in the downstairs chamberand great hall reflect the early eighteenth-century renovations of Elizabeth Bray, wife of Arthur Allen III.