What is "belmead"

Belmead is a historic home located near Powhatan, Powhatan County, Virginia. It was designed by noted architect Alexander Jackson Davis for Philip St. George Cocke and built about 1845.

The house is a two-story, Gothic Revival style stuccoed brick residence with a three-story central cross gable. It features a square tower with corner piers, crenellation, belt courses, ground level Tudor arched openings, and diamond-paned casement windows. The roofline has clusters of circular and polygonal shaped chimney stacks and stepped gable ends. The kitchen outbuilding was incorporated into an extensive two- and three-story addition built by the school.

In 1897, the property was conveyed to the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People and opened as St. Emma's Industrial and Agricultural School for African American children.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.