The Governor Joseph Johnson House, also known as Oakdale, is located on a half-acre lot that is bordered on the north by Johnson Avenue (named for the governor), on the west by Oakdale Avenue (named for the house), and on the south by Maple Street, in the town of

Bridgeport, West Virginia Bridgeport is a city in eastern Harrison County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 9,325 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Clarksburg micropolitan area. The town of Bridgeport had its beginning in pre-American Revolutionary W ...

. The house was constructed in 1818 for then Assemblyman

Joseph Johnson Joseph Johnson may refer to: Entertainment *Joseph McMillan Johnson (1912–1990), American film art director *Smokey Johnson (1936–2015), New Orleans jazz musician * N.O. Joe (Joseph Johnson, born 1975), American musician, producer and songwrit ...

. The structure is significant because it was the home of the only governor of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

from the Trans-Alleghany region and one of

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...

Western, now

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

's most significant public figures.

Architecture

Oakdale was originally a two-story frame residence. It was remodeled in about 1840 in the form of an

Italianate architecture The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

residence. Still two stories, it is basically a rectangular wood residence, with clapboard siding. There is a central corbelled chimney dating from 1818 period, as well as a middle-of-bay rear chimney that is part of the 1840 remodel. The home itself rests on a cut-stone foundation, in excellent condition; obviously the work of master stonemasons of the period.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Italianate architecture in West Virginia Houses completed in 1818 Houses in Harrison County, West Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Harrison County, West Virginia Bridgeport, West Virginia 1818 establishments in Virginia {{HarrisonCountyWV-NRHP-stub