Nelson Homestead, also known as the Elisha Riggin House, is a historic home located at

Crisfield Crisfield is a city in Somerset County, Maryland, United States, located on the Tangier Sound, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. The population was 2,515 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Salisbury, Maryland-Delaware Metropolitan Statisti ...

, Somerset County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

. It is a "telescope" style frame house built circa 1836 by Crisfield shipbuilder Elisha Riggin on a 145.5 acre farm overlooking Johnson Creek. The Riggins are one of the

Colonial families of Maryland The Colonial families of Maryland were the leading families in the Province of Maryland. Several also had interests in the Colony of Virginia, and the two are sometimes referred to as the Chesapeake Colonies. Founders and scions See also * Fi ...

who immigrated to the

Chesapeake Colonies The Chesapeake Colonies were the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, later the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Province of Maryland, later Maryland, both colonies located in British America and centered on the Chesapeake Bay. Settlements of the Ches ...

from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in the mid 17th century and settled along Pocomoke Sound. The three-part wood-frame structure rests on a brick pier foundation and is covered by a series of gable roofs. The main part of the house is a three bay structure with a central door. It is attached to a two bay two story structure with central door and a lower roofline, with a two-bay one-story kitchen wing attached. A large brick chimney rises from the east end of the main block and a smaller stack protrudes through the east end of the kitchen wing. About 95% of the original interior woodwork is intact along with some early paint schemes. The finely crafted house is sheathed in

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the la ...

and cedar weatherboards and features late

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several in ...

mantels, doors, chair rails and cupboards. The main room of the house has raised panel wainscoting and over-mantel paneling that survives with an early layer of tiger-maple graining. Also on the property is a small frame outbuilding with a gable roof and a family cemetery. Several other "telescope" style houses remain on the lower

Eastern Shore of Maryland The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies mostly on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay. Nine counties are normally included in the region. The Eastern Shore is part of the larger Delmarva Peninsula tha ...

, but this house stands out as one of the least altered examples with highly unusual woodwork. Unlike most telescope style houses on the Eastern Shore all three blocks of this one appear to have been built at the same time. Due to construction features, mature cut nails, and some

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

influence in part of the woodwork, it is thought the house was built as late as 1836 with paneling traditions and Federal mantel designs that were common in earlier decades. The Elisha Riggin House was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 1985. In 2014 it was included in the top 10 most important endangered historic properties by Preservation Maryland / Endangered Maryland William Nelson and his wife Ellen Riggin, a relative of Elisha Riggin, purchased the property in 1843 and it remained in the Nelson family until the 1966. The current owner, Jennifer Smith of the band Naked Blue is currently working on rescuing the building and re-purposing it as an artist retreat, music education and heritage tourism site. The Nelson Homestead - Wood and Stone Retreat
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References

External links

*, including photo from 1985, at Maryland Historical Trust Houses in Somerset County, Maryland Crisfield, Maryland Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Houses completed in 1836 National Register of Historic Places in Somerset County, Maryland {{SomersetCountyMD-NRHP-stub