Almshouse Farm at Machipongo, now known as the Barrier Islands Center, is a historic almshouse for Northampton County residents. Residents, also known as "inmates", included those sent for unpaid debts but also included homeless people, the mentally ill, orphans and those with diseases like tuberculosis and smallpox. "Inmates" were generally directed by the court to live at the almshouse. The Almshouse Farm served as the site for the Northampton County poorhouse for almost 150 years, from 1804 until 1952. African-Americans were housed in a separate building on the property located at Machipongo, Northampton County, Virginia. The oldest of the three main buildings was built about 1725, and is a 1 1/2-half story structure built in two parts, one brick and one frame, and probably predates the