Transcription
POTOMAC NEWS, Monday, September 23, 1974, Page 6
[?] [35998.76 x 2?]
[735.1]
[263.6]
Home being restored are in old tour
A tour of pre-revolutionary
homes, featuring three
currently under restoration,
will be held Sunday, October
6, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. under
the sponsorship of the Bel Air
Woman's Club.
Hostesses, wearing old-
fashioned apron dresses, will
greet the visitors at the
Weems Botts house and Stage
Coach Inn, Dumfries; Rippon
Lodge and Bel Air Plantation,
Woodbridge; Fairfax Arms
and Pohick Church; and the
Mill House and Rockledge,
Occoquan. Hostesses will be
members of area women's
club, Georgetown Village
Woman's Club, Prince
William Junior Woman's
Club, Woman's Club of
Springfield, Woodbridge
Woman's Club, Woman's
Club of Manassas, the
Manassas Junior Woman's
Club and members of the
sponsoring club.
Garden clubs will have
arrangements on display at
the homes. The clubs
represented will be Lake
Ridge Garden Club, Trowel
Garden Club, Marumsco
Acres Garden Club, Old
Dominion Garden Club,
Woodmar Garden Club and
the Hill and Dale Garden
Club.
Tickets are $5 and may be
purchased by sending a check
to Mrs. Carol Cohen, 4490
Dale Bvld., Woodbridge,
22193. Further information
may be had by calling Mrs.
Cohen at 670-7606 or Mrs.
Linda Snyder at 670-5717. The
ticket is an attractive booklet
with sketches of the homes on
the tour and a description of
each. Proceeds from the tour
will go to the restoration of
the Weems-Botts house.
Among the homes open in
the old Prince William
Historic Tour, will be one
open to the public very
seldom, Fairfax Arms.
Fairfax Arms, the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Robert V. H.
Duncan, is in Colchester and
was formerly called Old
Colchester Inn as it is a
former ordinary.
John Davis, an English
tutor, during his travels of the
United States in 1798 wrote
"Every luxury that money
could purchase was obtained
at the first summons...the
richest viands covered the
table and where the ice cools
the Madeira that has thrice
been across the ocean...
carpets of delicate texture
covered the floors and
glasses were suspended from
the walls in which Goliath
might survey himself."
Tour visitors will be able to
see restoration in progress at
Stage Coach Inn, now owned
by Mr. and Mrs. Pete
Costello, and built around
1765. Refreshments will be
served in the main hall of the
mansion, which was formerly
called Williams Ordinary and
later Love's Tavern.
Located in Dumfries, the
home is of unusual design. It
is the only known building
still standing in Virginia with
a front wall done completely
in header bond brick, a
technique in which the end of
the brick rather than the side
is exposed. It has a low hip
roof with four end chimneys
and is trimmed in Aquia
Stone. James Wren is
credited with the design of
the house. Wren also
designed Pohick Church.
Notables tayed at the inn
and undoubtedly banqueted
and danced at parties in the
spacious dining room.
Lafayette is believed to have
housed some troops there
when he marched through
Dumfries with his Army in
1781.
Restoration will be seen in
the process at the Weems
home, reported to be the
oldest frame house in
Dumfries, and recently
purchased by Historic
Dumfries, Inc. Although the
construction date has not
been determined, Parson
Weems, well known
biographer of George
Washington, bought the house
in 1798 from the trustees of
Dumfries for 35 pounds in
Virginia currency.
Weems apparently used the
house as a bookstore. The
property was sold to Benjamin
Botts, a noted local
attorney in 1802, who gained
national prominence during
the Aaron Burr trial. Upon
his death, it passed to John
Minor Botts and from 1969
until recently was the
residence of the Merchant
family. Under Historic
Dumfries, the house will
become a museum and will
contain artifacts and papers
from the area.
The construction foreman
will be on hand to answer
questions from visitors when
Rockledge, at Occoquan, is
opened. Currently being
restored by Mr. and Mrs. Don
Sonner, Rockledge, which
sits on a rock cliff
overlooking the Occoquan,
was built in 1758 by John
Ballendine under architectural
supervision of
William Buckland, architect
of Gunston Hall. Ballendine
was an early industrialist and
founder of manufacturing in
Occoquan where at one time
he was operating a sawmill,
iron forge, and bakery.
Bel Air Plantation is owned
by Dr. and Mrs. William S.
Flory. The two and a half
story country home of 14
rooms was built in the
traditional style on the
central-hall plan. It was built
about 1740 by Charles Ewell.
It, was here that Parson
Weems lived with his family
and where he is buried in the
family cemetery. It was
unoccupied for about 18 years
until the Florys purchased it
in 1948 and began the long
restoration. On display will
be items found by students
recently at an archaeological
dig there.
Rippon Lodge, owned by
Admiral Richard Blackburn
Black (Ret.), fifth great-
grandson of the home's
builder, Richard Blackburn,
and Mrs. Black. At Rippon, a
man in colonial dress will
greet the guests.
Named for the cathedral
town in England from where
the builder came, Rippon
Lodge, was constructed about
1725. Blackburn was also
architect and master builder
of Mount Vernon. The date is,
scratched into one of its
chimneys.
Two daughters of Rippon
Lodge became mistresses of
Mount Vernon. Julia Anne
Blackburn married Justice
Bushrod Washington and
Jane Charlotte Blackburn
married John Augustine
Washington.
The Mill House in Occoquan,
which operated from
1759 to 1924, is a small cottage
built before the end of the 18th
century; and Pohick Church,
built after construction plans
drawn up by George
Washington in 1769. George
Mason took over the job of
"undertaker" - the 18th
century term for contractor,
when the contractor Daniel
French died. Services were
first held in the new church
building in 1774. The walls are
original but the interior was
recreated to replace that
destroyed during the Civil
War.
'Hostesses and flower
arrangements at each home'Transcriber
Adam KitchenLanguage
English