Bringing Back Sligo

Category: History

• America Virginia Ferneyhough Street

  Posted at 1:06 pm by bringingbacksligo, on December 9, 2018

  About a week ago I received an email that made me feel like Christmas came early.  We had just returned home after taking the girls to see Handel’s The Messiah which was not as ill received by the girls as I had anticipated.  I mean, they did spend the majority of it doodling on pieces of paper but I like to think they soaked in a little culture just by being there.

  Anyway, back to the story!  After the concert, Marcus and I were lying in bed, doing what any married couple would do on a wild Friday night:  We looked at our respective phones.  I had no less than one million emails all touting Christmas sales and I systematically went through, deleting them.  Or, at least I think I deleted them but sometimes I think I must have sausage links for fingers and I end up responding to an email from Nordstrom Rack who doesn’t want me to miss out on their Frye boot sale.  (Hint to Nordstrom Rack:  Even on sale I can’t afford Frye boots)

  Amid all of the junk one email stood out.  It was only a few sentences long but it was generated through this blog and it read, “Our Grandmother, America Virginia Ferneyhough Street was born in this house in 1882. My brother has a lot of information about the property and would love a chance to talk with you.”  I reread it a few times and then, as the distinctiveness of the email set-in I read it to Marcus and asked if he thought it was real.  His take was that a name like “America Virginia Ferneyhough Street” would be tough to make-up and I couldn’t help but agree with that logic.  I responded almost immediately, excited by the prospect of the descendants of the Ferneyhough family finding me.

  After that I exchanged emails with the granddaughter of America Virginia and eventually phone numbers and even attempted a meet-up.  Although we never did get to meet face-to-face I was able to speak with the aforementioned brother who proceeded to tell me what he knew about the house and said that he would send a packet of information with what he had collected over the years to include pictures which I was (and am) most excited to see.

  A few of the more interesting tidbits are as follows:

  America Virginia was born in the house in 1882 which does not line up with all of the other information that states the house was built in 1890.  To be able to put a legitimate date to when the house was built is exciting not to mention important in our effort to have it recognized by the Virginia Landmarks Registry and the National Historic Registry.

  Somewhere, to the right of the front door, engraved in cement are the dates the original house burnt down and the “new” house was built.  I did a cursory search a few days ago and did not see anything right away.  The existing cement that is exposed to the elements is in bad shape and a lot of it has crumbled away.  It could have been there at some time but isn’t anymore.  OR, there are currently cinder blocks underneath the front porch and maybe, just maybe, it is behind those cinder blocks that the dates are engraved.

  The Ferneyhoughs were close friends with Mary Washington given that their land was across the Rappahannock River from each other.  Therefore, it was no coincidence that John Ferneyhough was witness to the signing of her will.  Mary Washington also admired a chair that John Ferneyhough had and which he gifted her.  This is the same chair that sits in the Mary Washington House.

  The other piece of information I found to be interesting was that the original house was not destroyed during the Civil War but rather burned down quite a few years after the end of the war.  Finding the inscription near the front door would be such a coup!

  Finally, because all five of you that read this blog might be wondering, the reason America Virginia’s granddaughter discovered my blog was because she was trying to show a friend Sligo’s listing on Zillow.  It turns out the family had been keeping up with the state of the house and she wanted to share it with a friend.  However, instead of finding the Zillow listing she found my blog and the rest is history!  Sorry not sorry…it had to be said.

  Posted in History | 5 Comments

• A Little More History

  Posted at 9:40 pm by bringingbacksligo, on September 5, 2018

  We have made it past the first round of the Virginia Landmarks Registry evaluations and are now working towards the second round.  As such, we have been asked to do a little bit more research which involves me getting off my ass and actually going places like the library *gasp* instead of getting to do research online.

  I was tasked with the job of doing said research (naturally, I mean what else do I have to do all day but eat bonbons and watch soap operas all day) so I took the girls to the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) who then directed me to the local library.  It was there that I discovered the property used to fall under the name of “Lee Hill Farm” which was owned by P. L. Shannon.  While owned by P. L. Shannon (who, if you’ve been keeping up was Sydney Shannon, Jr.’s grandfather) the farm was a cattle farm which sold Angus.  I have yet to discover any more information about Lee Hill Farm other than it sold a very expensive Angus in 1956 which brought in $11,900 (May 12, 1956, The Free Lance-Star) which I’m guessing, for that time, was a lot of money.

  After our visit to the library’s Virginiana room, I was directed to the City of Fredericksburg courthouse for further research but, it had already been a few hours and I had the girls with me so we were kind of a ticking time-bomb at that point and I planned to go later.  As it turns out, I was able to delegate that order of business to Marcus who discovered that all records prior to 1955 are in Spotsylvania County’s courthouse because it was during that year the land was annexed.  So, wish me luck!  Tomorrow I hope to find out more information of the house and possibly who the architect was.

  Posted in Grounds, History | 0 Comments

• Virginia Landmarks Register (Sort of)

  Posted at 10:18 pm by bringingbacksligo, on August 8, 2018

  We have started the process for registering Sligo with the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR).  Surprisingly, it does not appear that anyone before us has attempted to do the same.  I am fairly certain the house would not qualify for the National Historic Registry but it may qualify for the VLR.  This isn’t to say that our application will be approved; I don’t know what exactly they’re looking for and it’s doubtful that just the age of home will land it on the registry but it’s worth a try.  If we can get it on the registry then we may qualify for tax credits which will help immensely.

  It saddens me that the property was left to fall apart for so long but I also understand how a home this size and age can get away from a person.  For comparison’s sake, our current house is a mere 27 years old and it was in such a state of disrepair that it was foreclosed because the owner couldn’t keep-up with the repairs.  I think it goes without saying that it was Marcus who found both Sligo and our current home.  I also did a little house hunting and kept finding perfectly fine homes without holes in the ceiling or nests in closets or ancient animal carcasses in the basement but I guess because they didn’t have any of those issues they weren’t interesting enough for Marcus.

  Some of you may have looked-up the Zillow listing of Sligo and seen the interior pictures.  I had, too, before seeing it in person.  The pictures still didn’t prepare me for what the house looked like in person.  Some of you might have wondered what I thought when I saw Sligo for the first time, in person.  Take it away Tyra:

  

  My literal reaction to walking into Sligo for the first time.

  I don’t mean to be dramatic but…maybe I was a little dramatic.  To be fair, this was the first thing I saw when I drove up the driveway:

  

  The vulture tree.

  That boded well for the rest of the viewing.  The next thing I noticed was the smell.  It turns out the cottage had a fresh animal carcass just inside the door and the smell was permeating the perimeter of the property (alliteration!).  Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of that; I pretty much avoided that area like, well, like a dead animal was near by.

  Once inside the main house, the first room I entered was the kitchen which is located on the south of the house (and trust me I usually have no clue which way is north, south, east, or west but I’ve been looking at maps for the VLR application and feeling frisky).  Directly to the right of the entrance was a small room which was full of random stuff.

  

  One corner of the kitchen, stacked with books.

  

  A view of the rest of the kitchen area.

  

  The small room off the kitchen and also the scene of Marcus’s accident. (Picture pulled from the Zillow listing.)

  As I walked past the kitchen I entered a dark hallway and what used to be a bathroom.  Past that was a second small room and then the two main rooms of the first floor plus the foyer which is a room in itself.

  

  The downstairs “bathroom.”  (Picture pulled from the Zillow listing.)

  

  The second small room off the back of the house.  (Picture pulled from the Zillow listing.)

  

  The foyer. Pretty sure the graffiti on the wall, to the left, does not say “Good luck you.”  Also, the door that is closed in the background of the picture is the second room off the back of the house.  (Picture pulled from the Zillow listing.)

   

  As I continued walking through the house I came to the two main rooms of the house.  Both were left in a state of disrepair with quite a lot of old and broken furniture and just general stuff piled in corners.  However, the one thing I saw and grudgingly admitted was amazing, were the very large, double pocket doors that separated the two rooms.

  

  The large pocket doors that separate two rooms on the first floor.

  From there, I gingerly picked my way over the broken glass and trash bags full of stuff and headed up the stairs.  The stairs are in amazing shape and are about four or five feet wide.  At first I thought maybe the stairs were so wide because of the style of dress in the 1890s but now I’m not so sure.  I was envisioning hoop skirts for that time period but after a quick Internet search I know that’s not correct.  Too bad because I was really hoping for a Scarlett O’Hara moment and maybe even a dramatic goodbye kiss with Marcus at the front door (not insinuating he’s going to leave me but we’re only just at the beginning of this renovation process and we still like each other).

  The stair banister is slightly worrisome for me (Hello, my name is Lauren and I’m a worrier) because it stands about four feet tall but Marcus pointed out it would be he or I that would be more likely to fall over since it hits at our hip or lower.  So, as long as the ghosts are friendly and aren’t the pushing kind I’ll be fine though I might avoid walking on that side of the stairs until the ghosts and I have established boundaries.

  The three rooms upstairs were all in relatively good shape with the exception of the broken windows and plants growing through them oh, and the nests.  Have I mentioned the nests?  The bathroom upstairs was in the worst shape of all the upstairs space though it would appear that some work was being done before the previous owners left.  After the second floor I went to the basement which I touched-on in a separate post but can’t stress enough just how dark and creepy it was.

  I suppose that’s it.  I just scrolled to the top and saw that I originally started to write this post about the application with the VLR so, my apologies, I know I went off on a tangent there.

   

  

  Thanks, Tyra.  You have such a way with emotions.

   

  Posted in History, Main House | 4 Comments

• The Cottage and Barn

  Posted at 7:41 am by bringingbacksligo, on July 28, 2018

  I realized that I haven’t even mentioned the other two existing structures on the property:  The cottage, built in 1950, and the barn, build date unknown.  It should be noted that “structure” is used quite loosely in terms of both of these buildings.  The cottage has a gaping hole in the roof and has been open to the elements for an unknown amount of time and it would take nothing less than the flutter of a butterfly wing to bring down the barn.

  We have every intention of saving both of these structures although Marcus is much more capable of seeing the potential in them than I am.  The cottage has most certainly been home to a number of homeless and there is a family of groundhogs in the attic (because why burrow in the ground when you can live in a house).  The barn requires a hard hat to enter (not really but, really) so I only tentatively walked a few feet in and then left.  To be perfectly honest, together they make the main house look immaculate.

  So, without further ado, here are reasons number two and number three why I was hesitant to purchase this property:

  

  The back of the cottage, July 2018.

  

  The barn, July 2018.

  Posted in Barn, Cottage, History | 0 Comments

• The History

  Posted at 3:16 pm by bringingbacksligo, on July 26, 2018

  Did anyone else start humming “The Addams Family” theme song when they saw that house?  No?  Just me?  Given the age of the home and the history of the land I’m just going to assume that one day I’ll be home alone and I’ll hear a little boy upstairs, bouncing a ball, asking me to play with him.

  

  Please do not ask me to play with you…

  Speaking of the history of the land and house, I have done some research and all online therefore it’s not completely reliable but I’ll proceed as if it is.

  The original owner of the land was Roger Dixon and the oldest part of the home’s foundation that still exists today dates from about 1770.  Apparently there is a piece of the cellar wall that is 18 inches thick and which is the original portion of the house.  As I have spent all of 10 minutes in the cellar I cannot say where that may be definitively but once the house is a little more walkable I’ll be sure to investigate.

  I digress.  Roger Dixon was a businessman and owned a mill and the area referred to as “Hazel Hill” in Fredericksburg, VA.  Upon his death in 1771, the property passed to Roger Dixon’s widow who eventually sold the portion of the land known as “Sligo” to Charles Mortimer, physician to Mary Washington and first mayor of Fredericksburg.  In 1786, Charles Mortimer sold Sligo to Michael Ryan.

  From here things get tricky.  It would appear that Charles Mortimer owned Sligo along with two others:  Lucy Minor and William Smith and somehow a man named Gen. Posey comes into the picture.  I have to be honest, I am not entirely sure what happens at this point with the property.  The more I try and comprehend what happened the longer I stare at the computer screen and ohmygodmybrainhurts, am I drooling?  Let’s just skip this part as there are a lot of deaths and widows and deeds.

  The next owner of Sligo is John Lewis, Fielding Lewis’s oldest son, who purchases the home from Gen. Posey in 1794.  However, John Lewis and his family do not own the property for long because in 1795 John Ferneyhough Sr., an immigrant from England, purchases the home and it stays in the Ferneyhough family until 1903.

  John Ferneyhough Sr. was a coach and carriage maker who aided in the Revolutionary War.  He also owned a public ice house which sat on today’s Sophia Street in Fredericksburg, VA.  From what I gather the original house was a one story, wood frame home and John Ferneyhough Sr. owned over 30 slaves.

  

  Chair of John Ferneyhough which can be seen in the Mary Washington house.  Image retrieved 31 July 2018 from http://jfjm100.com/the-virginia-museum/the-peter-scott-shop.html

  None of the documents I have seen indicate how many homes have stood on the site.  Soon after the end of the Civil War the Ferneyhough family left for Richmond and did not return to their home until 1865.  In 1889, the home that stands today was built.

  In 1903, Hazel Hill and Sligo was sold to Henry Warden though it was at Hazel Hill that Henry Warden and his family lived.  Grace Warden, Henry Warden’s daughter, married Sydney Shannon and in 1907, Sligo was occupied by P. L. Shannon, Syndey Shannon’s father.  With that being said, both Hazel Hill and Sligo fell under the name of the Grace Warden Shannon Estate.  For those Fredericksburgians reading, the name Shannon may be familiar as it is Syndey Shannon, Jr. who brought to fruition Shannon Airport and who once owned the golf course that the lovely Central Park sits upon.

  There were rumors many years ago that the property was used as a hospital for wounded British soldiers during the Revolutionary War.  It was more probable that it was used as a hospital for the Gunnery Factory which sat near by.  It is also said to have been a hospital for Federal soldiers and the land was used for drills.

  Finally, I leave you with this little tidbit:  “One informant, Mrs. Daniel, says that as a child…she was told that on the grounds of “Sligo”…was found a prisoner (presumably British) who had been put in an iron cage and left to die.  She said as well as she could remember he had been petrified.”  So…yeah.  Does anyone have a room I can stay in?

  N. M. Deaderick, 2 June 1937, Works Progress Administration of Virginia Historical Inventory, “Sligo” – Site.

  N. M. Deaderick, 14 June 1937, Works Progress Administration of Virginia Historical Inventory, “Sligo.”

   

  Posted in History, Main House | 6 Comments

• In the Beginning

  Posted at 1:53 pm by bringingbacksligo, on July 25, 2018

  This is Marcus:

  

  Son, husband, and father extraordinaire.

  This is Lauren:

  

  Daughter, wife, and the world’s okayest mom (also a fan of self-deprecation and the author of this story).

  Currently, Marcus and Lauren live in a fixer-upper they purchased three years ago because Marcus wanted a project to fill his time between a full-time job and raising two little girls (if you’re sensing an eye-roll at this point you would be correct).  Three years later, and Marcus and Lauren are still living in a fixer-upper though it recently occurred to Lauren that withholding sex might have proven to be a good motivator.  Granted, the roof is no longer leaking, there is flooring throughout the home, and the back deck doesn’t have a two foot wide gap at the door effectively resulting in a deathtrap but, the pressure is on because Marcus, Lauren, and girls are gearing up for their third move in five years and this one is a doozy.

  

  “Sligo” as it stands in July, 2018.

  

  The back of Sligo, July, 2018.

  37.245747 -76.646810
  Posted in History | 3 Comments

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  The family that builds together stays together...or something like that. #bringingbacksligo #restoration #renovation #fredericksburgva #brothers #cottagehouse #hardyboardsiding

  Handsome Gus will soon be living at Sligo full-time (as soon as the Cottage is finished). Until then, he comes to check out the land and find the softest grass to lie in. Swipe for a close-up. #bringingbacksligo #restoration #renovation #cottagehouse #fredericksburgva #dogsofinstagram

  I love how the floor is slanted though I've never noticed until now. Our girls have decided this will be their room. #bringingbacksligo #renovation #restoration #fredericksburgva #oldfloors

  In one of the basement fireplaces we recently discovered this stamp on the bricks of the inner hearth. Possibly a manufacturer's stamp? #bringingbacksligo #italianate #victorian #restoration #renovation #fredericksburgva #oldbrick #masonry #ninefireplaces

  New blog post about this lovely lady, Mrs. Scott-Johnson: https://bringingbacksligo.com/2019/08/29/mrs-scott-johnson/ #bringingbacksligo #victorian #italianate #memories #shannonfarm #connections #fredericksburgva

  The very last piece out of the house. When we purchased Sligo this was mostly intact in the basement. Not long after, vandals came in and tipped it over effectively destroying it. The wood work is so beautiful and I'm sad to let it go but what else can be done? #bringingbacksligo #italianate #victorian #antiques #fredericksburgva