Nelson House

Georgian mansion built ca. 1730 by "Secretary" Thomas Nelson, home of Governor Thomas Nelson Jr. who commanded Virginia militia at the Yorktown siege. Legend holds that Nelson ordered French artillery to fire on his own house, believing Cornwallis was using it as headquarters — though the documentary evidence is disputed. Cannonball damage visible in the walls today is consistent with period accounts. Nelson was a signer of the Declaration of Independence who spent his personal fortune supporting the American cause, dying bankrupt. The house is one of the finest surviving 18th-century structures in Virginia.