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John Inge was born in 1748 in King William County, Virginia to Vincent and Sarah Burras Inge. Vincent immigrated to New Kent County, Virginia from England in 1719 and Sarah was born in Hanover County, Virginia in 1729. In 1787, John Inge appeared on the tax rolls in Lunenburg County and in 1789 he married Frances Dance of Lunenburg. Their eldest son, Edward, was born in Lunenburg County; the next two daughters were born in Pittsylvania County; a third daughter was born in Brunswick County; and their last two sons were born in Mecklenburg County. While Inge seemed to move requently, presumably from job to job, he does seem to have accumulated a degree of wealth as reflected in numerous deeds.15 By 1808, Inge appears to have settled in Pittsylvania County where he acquired 1,200 acres on the north fork of Sandy River. In January 1819, he married Nancy Overton Harris, the widow of Samuel Harris. John Inge died in January 1820 and was buried in Pittsylvania County. ------------------ NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 17 Spring Bank (055-0017) Lunenburg County, VA Summary Description Spring Bank is located in Lunenburg County, on the east side of State Route 49 (Courthouse Road) ten miles southwest of Lunenburg Courthouse. The house has been known by many names including Ravenscroft, the Kell Farm, and Magnolia Grove. Spring Bank is the original name given to the property by John Stark Ravenscroft and his wife, Anne Spotswood Burwell, when they built the house in 1793.1 John Stark Ravenscroft (1772-1830) was the first Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina and his wife, Anne, was the daughter of Colonel Lewis Burwell, a wealthy land owner in Mecklenburg County and a member of Virginia�s Tidewater gentry. In 1793, in honor of Ravenscroft�s marriage to his daughter, Colonel Burwell sold John Ravenscroft the 610 acre tract where the house was built. The main house is a Late Georgian-style frame dwelling with a five-part Palladian plan composed of a two-story, three-bay center block flanked by one- story, one-bay, hiproofed wings with one-story, one-bay shed-roofed wings at the ends. The dwelling is set on a raised ashlar foundation and there are massive ashlar chimneys at either end of the main block. The standing seam metal hipped roof is set off by a cornice with modillion blocks. Local craftsmen Jacob Shelor, a stone mason, and John Inge, a carpenter, were employed to build the house. Shelor and Inge separately and collectively worked on Elm Hill, Prestwould, and Woburn in Mecklenburg County and may be associated with two other Lunenburg dwellings, Flat Rock and Reedy Creek. Spring Bank is further distinguished because it is one of the few houses in Lunenburg County for which the craftsmen-builders have been identified. John Stark Ravenscroft hired John Inge as the carpenter and Jacob Shelor as the mason for the construction of his house. During the recent renovation, signatures were found on beams in the basement that appear to be those of �Jack Inge� and �J. Shelor� followed by the numbers �93�. Records show that Jacob Shelor was the mason of Prestwould, a stone mansion near Clarksville in Mecklenburg County, constructed for Ravenscroft�s aunt, Lady Jean Miller Skipwith and her husband Sir Peyton Skipwith, in 1795. It was Ravenscroft who recommended carpenter, John Inge, to Sir Peyton Skipwith, as evidenced by a letter dated 28 September 1793 in which Ravenscroft states that he is sending Inge to Prestwould. The staircase, mantels and chair rail at Prestwould are virtually identical to Spring Bank as are the Tuscan columns on the porch. Ravenscroft also recommended Inge to Armistead Burwell, his brother-in-law, when he built his home Woburn in Mecklenburg County which was completed ca. 1799. Another family house that appears to be associated with Shelor and Inge is Elm Hill built ca. 1800 in Mecklenburg County by Peyton Skipwith, Jr. He was the son of Sir Peyton and his first wife, Anne Miller, also Ravenscroft�s aunt. Elm Hill, a frame dwelling, has stone foundation walls and chimneys like Spring Bank and the mantel in the front hall is identical to the mantel in the first-floor bedroom at Ravenscroft. The form of Elm Hill is also reminiscent of Spring Bank. It has a two-story, three-bay center block with one-story, one-bay flanking wings with open porches at the ends. The plan however is different from Spring Bank. While a single-pile dwelling, Elm Hill has a hall and parlor plan with a rear wing that contains the stair. Another house that may show evidence of Shelor and Inge�s craftsmanship is Flat Rock in Lunenburg County. The original portions of Flat Rock were built ca. 1795 and expanded shortly thereafter. The original portion of the house was a hall and parlor plan set on a stone foundation. The mantels on the first story are more ornate than those found at Spring Bank but the second floor bedroom mantels are identical. Another house that may also be attributable to Inge is Reedy Creek built ca. 1790. As is typical of builders and craftsmen of this era, little is known of the lives of Jacob Shelor and John Inge. It is believed that Jacob Shelor was born after 1753 in either Pennsylvania or Maryland. His father, Lawrence Shelor, arrived in Philadelphia from Hamburg, Germany on September 8, 1753. Women and children were not listed on the ship�s manifest but Lawrence Shelor and his first wife, Margaretta, had five children, all born in Germany. By 1759, Lawrence Shelor had settled at Oley Valley in Berks County, Pennsylvania and after 1767, Margaretta�s name no longer appears in the records of the Oley Reformed Church, Lutheran. Jacob and his sister Mary were born to Lawrence and his second wife, Mary Beatty. In 1778, Lawrence purchased land in Frederick County, Maryland. In 1782, Jacob and his brother Daniel moved to Floyd County, Virginia where Daniel operated an iron mine and furnace. Jacob married Elizabeth Ryland in 1801 and they had four children. One of their daughters, Sarah, married George L. Gee of Lunenburg County in 1819. Shelor moved to South Carolina in the first decade of the 19th century where he engaged in the slave trade; he owned numerous slaves skilled in stone masonry. Jacob Shelor died in South Carolina around 1840. In addition to the three houses named above, Shelor is known to have built the Mecklenburg County Clerk�s office in 1815. The small brick building was dismantled in 1839 when the courthouse was built. The bricks were used in the walk way in front of the courthouse. He is also believed to have constructed a large dam near Richmond (this may refer to Bosher�s dam constructed in 1823). John Inge was born in 1748 in King William County, Virginia to Vincent and Sarah Burras Inge. Vincent immigrated to New Kent County, Virginia from England in 1719 and Sarah was born in Hanover County, Virginia in 1729. In 1787, John Inge appeared on the tax rolls in Lunenburg County and in 1789 he married Frances Dance of Lunenburg. Their eldest son, Edward, was born in Lunenburg County; the next two daughters were born in Pittsylvania County; a third daughter was born in Brunswick County; and their last two sons were born in Mecklenburg County. While Inge seemed to move frequently, presumably from job to job, he does seem to have accumulated a degree of wealth as reflected in numerous deeds.15 By 1808, Inge appears to have settled in Pittsylvania County where he acquired 1,200 acres on the north fork of Sandy River. In January 1819, he married Nancy Overton Harris, the widow of Samuel Harris. John Inge died in January 1820 and was buried in Pittsylvania County. Inge�s wood work has been described as having an �oldfashioned quality�It is also uniform throughout the house, contrasting with the more dramatic distinctions earlier joiners created among rooms.� In addition to the three houses listed � Spring Bank, Prestwould and Woburn -- few other examples of Inge�s work have been identified. Based on similarities in style, execution and time period, two other Lunenburg houses, Reedy Creek (ca. 1790) and Flat Rock (ca. 1795), can possibly be attributed to John Inge. Reedy Creek and Flat Rock were both built during the time period that Inge was actively working in Lunenburg, the woodwork shares many of the same late-Georgian features found at Spring Bank and Prestwould, and the woodwork at these two houses is uniform from room to room. More research is needed to definitively make this attribution. Spring Bank is a rare high style dwelling in Lunenburg County and one of the few for which the craftsmen have been identified. Spring Bank posses high levels of integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. While the property has been diminished over the years, Spring Bank is still located in an unspoiled rural setting and is sited in such a way as to convey its importance as the heart of a large working plantation. Architecturally, the house has changed little since it was completed in 1793. The workmanship of highly skilled craftsmen is still visible in every aspect of Spring Bank�s construction. NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018(8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 9 Page 19 Spring Bank (055-0017) Lunenburg County, VA Bibliography Anderson, Sterling. Unpublished research on John Inge.