Northern Neck Now

On the Northumberland County property formerly known as Roadview, the earliest section of The Anchorage was built in the second or third quarter of the 18th century, probably for Abraham Shears, grandson of the property’s original patentee. The a two-part, three-bay, gambrel-roof structure is typical of the many vernacular colonial dwellings that once dotted the Northern Neck, of which only a handful remain. A defining feature is the massive, double-shouldered brick chimney. The house was remodeled around 1800, when Federal mantels and other then-fashionable trim were added. In 1856 William C. Kent enlarged the house with a two-story wing in a country Greek Revival idiom. On the grounds are a 18th-century corncrib and a family cemetery dating from the Kent family ownership. The Anchorage is situated on Mill Creek, a tidal tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Anchorage