Van Swearingen-Shepherd House

The Van Swearingen-Shepherd House, also known as Bellevue, is a Colonial Revival mansion in Shepherdstown, West Virginia that is home to the descendants of Captain Thomas Shepherd, founder of Shepherdstown. The house, situated on a bluff overlooking the Potomac River, was built in 1773 by Thomas Van Swearingen as a single-story stone house. His son, also named Thomas Van Swearingen, was a US Representative. The Shepherd family acquired the house in 1900, when Henry Shepherd III bought the house as a wedding present for his bride Minnie Reinhart, whose grandfather was Thomas Van Swearingen. That year, the Shepherds gave a dinner party on the lawn for William Jennings Bryan during his second presidential campaign. The house remains in the hands of the Shepherd family.

Van Swearingen-Shepherd House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Nearest city	Shepherdstown, West Virginia
Coordinates	39°26′21.9″N 77°48′16.5″W
Built	1773
Architectural style	Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No.	83003241
Added to NRHP	August 18, 1983[1]

The original stone house has been extensively altered, with brick Victorian-era alterations exchanged for the present Colonial Revival style with a tetrastyle Ionic portico.^[2] The second story was added in the late 19th century, and all windows were converted to an arched pattern. In the early 20th century the Ionic portico was added by architect Stuart H. Edmonds.^[3]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. Rodney S. Collins and Michael J. Pauley (May 16, 1983). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Van Swearingen-Shepherd House" (PDF). National Park Service.
3. Chambers, S. Allen Jr. (2004). Buildings of West Virginia. Oxford University Press. p. 555. ISBN 0-19-516548-9.