Transcription
Worried Owners Seek to Save Historic Building in Dumfries
By John M. Kauffmann
Star Staff Correspondent
Dumfries, Va., Oct. 25th - A tiny frame building that it one of Northern Virginia's most historic relics is sagging its way to ruin.
The old Office of the Tobacco Inspector at Dumfries was the heart of the once-booming tobacco port when it was a leading American city two centuries ago.
History passed its door. Gen. Braddock marched by on his fatal French and Indian War expedition. Light Horse Harry Lee came there to meet Dumfries' Minute Men, Virginia's first. George Washington and George Mason were familiar visitors, and Lafayette, too, stopped by.
Now half-hidden behind its owners' white bungalow, the 25-by-12 foot structure is rotting away. Vines choke its huge chimney, which was studied by Williamsburg architects, and the pull at the wood block facade that is similar to Mount Vernon's. Mount Vernon Architect Walter Macomber feels there may be a tie-in between the two facades built about the same time. Perhaps Washington suggested his architectural design to a Dumfries builder before trying it out himself.
The owners of the old office, Mr. and Mrs. Wilbert Brawner, look back at their yard relic in distress and find themselves in a quandary about what to do with a collapsing white elephant. They revere it not only for the historic but for family associations. Mr. Brawner's mother was born in the office, long used as a residence.
"We don't know what to do about it," Mrs. Brawner said. "we can't rebuild it; we don't have that kind of money. A Washington man wanted to buy it and rebuild it as his home, but our friends in Dumfries and Manassas don't want us to let it be moved away. We're on the fence about letting it go.
"But it would be nice to have it restored, and we certainly wouldn't mind people coming here to see it."Transcriber
Abbigail Alm