(Webmaster's note: This story is about the Robert Mackay JUNIOR house even though the person being discussed in this text is Robert Mackay Sr. This is one of the areas of confusion for some people when discussing things relating to the two men. Some wrongly assume that Robert Sr. built this house but he actually owned land west of Front Royal called 'Hay Bottom'. It is believed that none of the houses he lived in are standing today. MLM)

ONE OF THE OLDEST -- The clapboard section of the McKay house, north of Front Royal at Cedarville, is one of the oldest west of the Blue Ridge. It was built between 1731 and 1734. The stone addition at right was built in the early 1800s and can itself qualify for antiquity. (Daily Staff Photo)

The house Robert McKay built in the Shenandoah Valley nearly two and a half centuries ago pre-dated Benjamin Franklin's famous kite flying experiment on electricity by at least a decade. Today the house is totally electric.

McKay came into the Valley with Joist Hite and erected his house on a tract north of what was to become Front Royal. The exact year he built is uncertain, but what he built is still there. Hite and his party acquired their land in 1731. Records viewed by the present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Howard S. Morris, indicate the house was standing by 1734.

A highway marker on Route 522 a short distance from the ancient house proclaims it as one of the oldest west of the Blue Ridge. Some historians believe it is the oldest. It is the only one of the original structures built by the pioneers of the Hite-McKay emigration known to be still standing.

The total electrical modernization occurred last May when Mr. and Mrs. Howard S. Morris of Seat Pleasant, Md., purchased the house and moved in. It was the first step in a restoration project that the Morrises are accomplishing themselves. Their aim is to restore the house to as near what McKay built as possible, but at the same time to make it comfortable and livable.

"I'm not going to be a washboard mother," says Veasey Morris, who acknowledges that an automatic washer and dryer are now a part of the standard equipment.

It was neither comfortable nor livable when the Morrises and their five children moved in. It had been standing vacant for some years and had not been locked. What time and neglect had not damaged, vandals had. All the windows had been knocked out, the doors were sagging or missing, plaster had crumbled and stones from the massive fireplace had fallen or been removed.

Howard Morris, who works now as a tile setter's helper in Landover, Md., and who has had some experience in many facets of the building industry, set to work to put the house in order. His partner in the work is his wife, Veasey. Restoring the McKay house requires proficiency in carpentry, masonry, insulating, hanging wallboard and stripping paint from the old woodwork. Veasey Morris had none of these skills, but she has learned.

ORIGINAL FIREPLACE -- The size of the fireplace in the Robert McKay house now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Morris, dwarfs Mrs. Morris and her son, Phillip Wayne. Built of native stone, the fireplace boasts a huge hand-hewn black walnut beam. (Daily Staff Photo)

The Morrises expect their total restoration program to take two or three more years. In the year they've been there, they have wrought near miracles. Window glass has been replaced, new doors have taken the place of those missing, and wallboard has replaced fallen plaster. Plaster and a painted mantle (added in a remodeling program in more recent years) were removed in the living room to reveal the original fireplace and the huge walnut mantle that Robert McKay built.

Restoring the dining room fireplace permitted the Morrises to exercise their own talents of design. While the massive stones were still there they had fallen and the original design could not be determined. Howard Morris set to work (with help from his masonry helper, Veasey) and designed an attractive fireplace. It is this fireplace that the family uses most.

The living room is in the original house which consisted of four rooms, two up and two down. The dining room is in the east wing, added some time in the early 1800s. Clapboard, which the Morrises plan to replace eventually with aluminum siding, now covers the original log structure. The exterior of the addition is stone.

The Morris family, which includes Teresa Louise, 16, Karen Sue, 14, Howard Jr., 13, Veasey Kay, 12, and Philip Wayne, 2-1/2, is keeping a scrapbook on its historic home. They viewed documents which attest to its age and history. "We wanted an old house," Veasey Morris said, "but it didn't have to be this old."

The price, the size and number of rooms and the eight acres of land that went with it were the determining factors. The Morrises had outgrown their house in Seat Pleasant, and Seat Pleasant had grown too -- "too big, too fast," Mrs. Morris said. The move meant that Howard Morris must begin his day at 4 a.m. to commute to Maryland to work, but the eight acres means breathing room and no sudden spurt of growth with houses crammed all around them.

The move meant hard work, too -- first to make the place livable for now and in the future to make it comfortable and restore it to what it was. They have been told already that local organizations will be interested in showing the house on tours when it is ready.

The Morrises still have a lot of work before the place is ready for touring, but what they have done to date has not drastically changed what Robert McKay built. Unless it is pointed out, the visitor doesn't realize that the plastered wall is really modern wallboard. The electric heating panels in the baseboard are almost inconspicuous and with the black walnut hand-hewn beams and the original stone fireplace, few people will be looking at the electrical outlets.

Robert McKay might not know what to do with some of the gadgets the Morrises have installed in the kitchen, but there's little doubt that he'd recognize his living room if he dropped in for a visit.