- Van Swearingen-Shepherd House
Infobox_nrhp | name =Van Swearingen-Shepherd House
nrhp_type =
caption =
nearest_city=Shepherdstown, West Virginia
lat_degrees = 39
lat_minutes = 26
lat_seconds = 28
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 77
long_minutes = 48
long_seconds = 14
long_direction = W
locmapin = West Virginia
area =
built =1773
architect=
architecture= Colonial Revival
added =August 18 ,1983 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Private
refnum=83003241The Van Swearingen-Shepherd House, also known as Bellevue, is a
Colonial Revival mansion inShepherdstown, West Virginia that is home to the descendants of Captain Thomas Shepherd, founder of Shepherdstown. The house, situated on a bluff overlooking thePotomac River , was built in 1773 by Thomas Van Swearingen as a single-story stone house. His son, also namedThomas Van Swearingen , was aUS 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 forWilliam Jennings Bryan during his second presidential campaign. The house remains in the hands of the Shepherd family.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.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/83003241.pdf National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Van Swearingen-Shepherd House] |4.25 MB|date=May 16, 1983 |author=Rodney S. Collins and Michael J. Pauley|publisher=National Park Service]References
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