Posted: 1:14 AM - Mar 05, 2009
From The Winchester Star dated Wednesday 4 March 2009.
White Post -- Pete Engel had tried to catch glimpses of Greenway Court from the road while on a bike or in a car.
But he had never seen the historic site in the nine years he has lived in the area.
That changed on Sunday.
Engel and about 35 other people involved in a local historic preservation organization journeyed to the 18th-century home of Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron to discuss funding the rehabilitation of the surviving three buildings on the private property in White Post.
The preservation group -- the Northern Shenandoah Valley Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities -- is trying to raise matching funds for a $47,500 state grant for Greenway Courts rehabilitation.
Bob Stieg, president of the group, said the wood in the surviving smokehouse should be preserved and a large crack in the land office wall should be repaired, among other concerns.
"I mean, this is wood going back to the mid-18th century, and of course it has suffered a lot from bugs and other attacks," he said.
But the local chapter must raise $47,500 for Greenway Court's renovation by June 30 or it will lose the state grant.
The group has received a $10,000 pledge from an anonymous donor and plans to meet with private individuals to raise more money, Stieg said.
"We encouraged everyone to spread the word that this sum needed to be raised by early summer, and that it was absolutely critical ... because [the buildings are] developing some serious problems," he said of Sunday's meeting.
Greenway Court is the historic home of Lord Fairfax, the proprietor in the late 18th century of the 5 million-acre Northern Neck Proprietary that stretched between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers.
The site is one of Clarke County's two National Historic Landmarks.
Fairfax doled out tracts of land from his office at Greenway Court. The land office survives along with two other buildings the smokehouse and a carriage house.
The site is on private property and is closed to the public.
The Clarke County Easement Authority and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources co-hold an easement on the property and allow officials to perform work on the buildings and conduct archaeological investigations.
County officials hope to conduct future studies on the site of Fairfaxs home. "The house itself is now gone, but its archaeological foundations are still very much there," Stieg said.
Sunday's tour gave the local preservationists a unique opportunity to venture onto the property and see the structures.
Berryville resident and architect H. Allen Kitselman, who is also a Town Council member, participated in the tour. He said he had never been to the site. "Its really a national treasure."
Engel, a White Post resident and treasurer of the local Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities branch, said all three buildings at the site need rehabilitation.
"They're deteriorating right now, and they need some help," he said, noting that the structures are of great historical importance, especially the land office.
"This is where Lord Fairfax issued his land grants. This was where he did business. People would apply for pieces of land grants, and this is where papers were drawn up and signed," Engel said.
"Its a very important historic thing for colonial America."
By Laura Oleniacz
The Winchester Star
The Winchester Star
White Post -- Pete Engel had tried to catch glimpses of Greenway Court from the road while on a bike or in a car.
But he had never seen the historic site in the nine years he has lived in the area.
That changed on Sunday.
Engel and about 35 other people involved in a local historic preservation organization journeyed to the 18th-century home of Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron to discuss funding the rehabilitation of the surviving three buildings on the private property in White Post.
The preservation group -- the Northern Shenandoah Valley Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities -- is trying to raise matching funds for a $47,500 state grant for Greenway Courts rehabilitation.
Bob Stieg, president of the group, said the wood in the surviving smokehouse should be preserved and a large crack in the land office wall should be repaired, among other concerns.
"I mean, this is wood going back to the mid-18th century, and of course it has suffered a lot from bugs and other attacks," he said.
But the local chapter must raise $47,500 for Greenway Court's renovation by June 30 or it will lose the state grant.
The group has received a $10,000 pledge from an anonymous donor and plans to meet with private individuals to raise more money, Stieg said.
"We encouraged everyone to spread the word that this sum needed to be raised by early summer, and that it was absolutely critical ... because [the buildings are] developing some serious problems," he said of Sunday's meeting.
Greenway Court is the historic home of Lord Fairfax, the proprietor in the late 18th century of the 5 million-acre Northern Neck Proprietary that stretched between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers.
The site is one of Clarke County's two National Historic Landmarks.
Fairfax doled out tracts of land from his office at Greenway Court. The land office survives along with two other buildings the smokehouse and a carriage house.
The site is on private property and is closed to the public.
The Clarke County Easement Authority and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources co-hold an easement on the property and allow officials to perform work on the buildings and conduct archaeological investigations.
County officials hope to conduct future studies on the site of Fairfaxs home. "The house itself is now gone, but its archaeological foundations are still very much there," Stieg said.
Sunday's tour gave the local preservationists a unique opportunity to venture onto the property and see the structures.
Berryville resident and architect H. Allen Kitselman, who is also a Town Council member, participated in the tour. He said he had never been to the site. "Its really a national treasure."
Engel, a White Post resident and treasurer of the local Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities branch, said all three buildings at the site need rehabilitation.
"They're deteriorating right now, and they need some help," he said, noting that the structures are of great historical importance, especially the land office.
"This is where Lord Fairfax issued his land grants. This was where he did business. People would apply for pieces of land grants, and this is where papers were drawn up and signed," Engel said.
"Its a very important historic thing for colonial America."
Contact Laura Oleniacz at loleniacz@winchesterstar.com