Bacon's Castle

Bacon’s Castle is the oldest brick dwelling in North America and was built for Arthur Allen and his family in 1665. Originally known as Allen’s Brick House, it earned the moniker “Bacon’s Castle” in 1676 when several of Nathaniel Bacon’s men occupied the home for four months during the uprising that became known as Bacon’s Rebellion.

Bacon’s Castle is a rare example of High Jacobean architecture. The home features a reconstructed 17th-century English formal garden restored by the Garden Club of Virginia. Several outbuildings also survive, including an 1830 slave dwelling.

Preservation Virginia acquired Bacon’s Castle in the 1970’s at auction and meticulously researched, restored and furnished the house in the 1980’s.

African American History at Bacon’s Castle

The Black history connected to Bacon’s Castle “is incredibly rich. It is filled with stories of the families that were built under enslavement, the experiences of those who risked their lives to fight against the institution of slavery, and the people who created new lives and tight family units, which grew during the Reconstruction era and into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”