Jun. 16, 2009 Willow Wall - A Place Of History
In the spring of 2000 we were looking to move. We had been looking at West Virginia. Great real estate prices, more snow, and an airport nearby so Daniel could get out to travel for work. I was also very pregnant. Katrina was born in April. Around that time, Daniel stumbled on a beautiful 200 year old, 16,000 sq foot plus home, Willow Wall, which was up for sale.
Over a 4-6 week period, Daniel made three trips to Willow Wall. Once on his own with Bruce, once with my father and Uncle Jimmy and lastly with me. This home was beautiful. And the history. We have pictures and videos that we took and made during our forays there. My father told me yesterday that when he and Uncle Jimmy met with Colonel Ivan Harris at 10 a.m., they broke briefly for lunch, then the tour continued on until 3 p.m. Not only was the current owner, Colonel Ivan, in love with this house and its history, he passed that on to my husband. Daniel became driven by his desire to own this house. He read about McNeill's Rangers, and he dreamed of what it would be like to live in this beautiful home with all of its history.
I, unfortunately, am the more practical of the family. The house was expensive, 325,000 in 2000 and our house payments would be way more than what we were used to. I was also concerned that it would be a life long project and with Daniel traveling, I would be in charge of the project and lastly, I was concerned about lead. I had a brand new baby to think about and a 3 year old son.
We qualified for the loan (through some of the most creative financing known to man by the banks). Daniel assured me, that I would not be left alone to deal with the repairs. But the lead report came back that there was lead everywhere and I put my foot down. Two months later, Daniel's contract ended and there was no more work for 18 months, so in hindsight, the lead probably saved us from utter ruin. But we still talk about the house and I know Daniel still dreams about it.
What can I personally say about Willow Wall? The home was huge. It was beautiful. The attic alone was bigger than the house we live in now. There were wine cellars, old fireplaces complete with cooking iron (the thing that you swing out of the fireplace that holds the iron pot), wall paper in the entry hall that was 200 years old, rooms that were huge and airy, and nooks and crannies galore. I loved the house, but it terrified me to think of all the work that needed to be done and I wasn't sure I was up to the task. But somewhere, in a parallel universe, we made the decision to buy the home and we live there still, I am sure.
Here are some links and information that you might be interested in.
The application for National Registry of Historical Places (which Willow Wall is on).
An image on Flickr.
When we met with Colonel Harris, we were given information on Willow Wall. I thought I would share it here.
"Original records and research indicate that the farm was originally purchased by Major (later Colonel) Abraham Hite by Land Grant from Thomas Lord Fairfax, in 1762. Colonel Hite was a four term member of the Colonial Virginia House of Burgesses in Williamsburg and later served with General Washington in the Army of the Revolution. Washington's diary states that on September 27, 28, 1784, he spent two nights at Hite's home near Ft. Pleasant. This is the only time that the adult George Washington visited the South Branch Valley being then 52 years of age. He never returned. 1787 Colonel Hite sold the farm to Captain Daniel McNeill, a trustee of the Town of Moorefield and it was McNeill's son who began construction of Willow Wall in 1804. After severn years of construction, Dan McNeill, II, his wife, MArgaret Renick moved in with their 13 children in 1811.
Willow Wall was the Headquarters for Confederate Generaly Bradley T. Johnson on August 6, 1864. Johnsons brigade camped in front of the major house in the Old Fields flats. Having just burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, the Union Army was in hot pursuit and surprised the exhausted Brigade at dawn August 7, resulting in a significant defeat of the Confederate forces.
This exceptional Federal manor house was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1973. The bronze plaque and certificate attesting to that hangs in the Willow Wall library. The National Park Service directed that architectural drawings be made for the Historic Buildings Survey and were completed in 1977. The Smithsonian Institution in 1981 photographed the interior and exterior of Willow Wall and the dependencies. These photographs are on file at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The property was continuously in the hands of the McNeill family for seven generations until it was sold in 1980 to Colonel Lynn Moore for $100,000.00. Colonel and Mrs. Moore never resided at Willow Wall and it was sold to Colonel W. Ivan Harris in 1884 for $135,000.00. Vacant for the seven years, major repairs and updating were required. Time and materials for these improvements exceed $100,000.00. As the home is entirely hand made, the furnishing and decoration of the home was undertaken to include only hand-made, hand-forged, hand-woven, and hand-painted items in order to portray the home in the time period of the builder."
Hope you have enjoyed this little bit of insight about a beautiful home!
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Aug. 30, 2006 Were The Iliad and The Odyssey Written by a Woman?
 
Andrew Dalby, scholar and author of Rediscovering Homer, thinks so. He argues that the attribution of the poems to Homer was founded on a falsehood. One reason is that he believes the two epic poems were written about 150-200 years after Homer lived. Also, in many ancient cultures, women have been the last storytellers preserving the oral history. And finally, the strong character of Persephone points to a female writer.
I found this interesting because Game Master and I recently read children's versions of both of these epic poems. Be sure to check out the rest of the article. |
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Jul. 26, 2006 Andrea Doria Sunk 50 years ago Today
Fifty years ago, today, the Andrea Doria sank to the bottom of the sea after a collision with another ship. Incredibly, though unable to lower lifeboats, only 46 people on the Andrea Doria died (43 of them instantly when the collision occured). In spite of the huge gash in it's side, the Andrea Doria stayed afloat for 11 hours after the collision.
The Italians were blamed for this disaster, but all evidence pointed to the fact that the Swedish run Stockholm was to blame. They had made a maneuver that turned them to a course where they rammed the Andrea Doria. Sadly, the captain of the Andrea Doria was hung out to dry and never commanded a ship again. Whereas the ones who had made the mistake on the Stockholm were promoted. The Swedish captain still vows he didn't make a mistake and when Calamai (Italian captain) died, his final words were 'are all the passengers safe.'
Be sure to check out the five page story for more information, but beware, when I went to read it there was a pizer sexual health video ad running, so turn off the volume. There is more information and there are other pictures of the Andrea Doria. |
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Mar. 13, 2006 Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Contest Winner
Hypermusicmom is the winner of my first contest and will be receiving a free video! She got 5 out of 7 of the wonders without looking.
For those of you who aren't sure what they are, here's the complete list:
Great Pyramid (only one still standing)
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
the Statue of Zeus at Olympia
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos
the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
the Colossus of Rhodes
The Pharos (lighthouse) at Alexandria
So now you know.... |
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Feb. 21, 2006 Belated Happy President's Day Video
Here is a great video of fascinating Presidential facts from the National Geographic channel!
So if you want to know which president grazed sheep on the White House lawn? Better yet, who made a habit of swimming the Potomac River in the nude? Explore the hidden history of the U.S. presidency by clicking on the link above. |
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Feb. 15, 2006 Truth of Public Schooling
At the Memory Hole, there is an interesting article that I thought you would find interesting. I sure did. This link was passed on to me by my homeschool group.
It lays out the reasons public education evolved the way it did. Scary! |
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Feb. 11, 2006 True Women: A Movie Review
Today I watched True Women, a movie that has been sitting on my shelf for awhile waiting for me to have the time to watch a three hour movie. Well, with the snow falling across Virginia, today was the best day for such an adventure!
What a wonderful movie this was! If you are studying frontier life or what was going on historically between the time of the Alamo and Reconstruction, this film would be great for you! It is historically accurate and deals with Native American issues as well as African American issues.
And for the real kicker, not only are the main characters and events real (like Sam Houston and the Alamo), but the women in the film were also real. At one point, Phemia tells her sister, Sarah McClure, that because men wrote the history books, everyone knew about Sam Houston but no one had known of her valiant efforts. This movie teaches us about Sarah McClure and the movie is based on a historical novel.
So check it out, I believe you will enjoy it! |
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Jan. 20, 2006 Chinese Discovered America?
 Chinese seafarer Zheng He may have been the first person to find America during explorations around the globe. This map is a copy of a map that was dated 1421...71 years before Christopher Columbus found the New World.
This date coincides with the time that Zheng He was exploring. There are disagreements about this scenario and the map is currently undergoing testing. Read the rest of the article here.
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