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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.
Here are some pictures. First a picture my father handed me yesterday that he took just a couple of weeks ago while taking a trip to West Virginia.
Next is a photo of the back, to give you some idea of the "U" shape. This photo was taken 9 years ago.
This next photo gives you a small idea of what the interior rooms looked like...the trim, the sheer size...
And here is a photo of a painting of Daniel McNeill done in 1838 that would have been ours had we purchased Willow Wall. Obviously done towards the end of his life.
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!
