Bringing Back Sligo

Category: Main House

• It Was an Interesting Night…Part I

  Posted at 10:07 pm by bringingbacksligo, on July 30, 2019

  You’re going to have to excuse me and whatever I write because I didn’t get home until 3:00 in the morning and didn’t fall asleep until almost 4.  I was feeling a little wired and anxious over the night’s events and needed about an hour to crawl into bed and decompress which is why it took an hour to fall asleep.  Then, the kids, having a wanton disregard for my comfort, were awake and running into my room around 7 excited to see if I had survived the night.

  I had survived the night though I felt totally hungover.  I think it was a combination of a lack of sleep, dehydration, and (dare I say?) getting older.  I texted my girlfriend who was with me last night, “Is this a sign of aging? *crying emoji crying emoji crying emoji*” and she said it was because she’s usually the voice of reason.  Then we reminisced about how when we were in our 20s we could drink out butts off, go to bed well after 3:00 in the morning, and wake up feeling less crappy.  I don’t necessarily miss those days but I do miss having a little more resiliency.

  By this point, two whole paragraphs in, you’re probably wondering what the heck am I talking about?  So, I shall tell you.  A few months ago I posted on Facebook that every now and then a picture I thought I took at Sligo would not be in the gallery on my phone.  It was a semi-sarcastic/semi-serious post because it is true.  The few times a pictures has gone missing it has always only been pictures I have taken at the house.

  Anyway, the next morning I woke-up to a message from the head of a paranormal investigation team who asked for me to call him.  I did and we talked and I told him the few things I knew about the house and alluded to some experiences I knew others had.  Eventually, and over the course of a month or so, we set-up a time for he and his team to come out and investigate Sligo.  And, the best part out of all of that?  Marcus and I were invited to tag along…

  To be continued…(and yes, I have a very devilish grin right now because I just know there are are a few of you who are probably freaking out reading this).

  Posted in Haunted, Life, Main House | 1 Comment

• How’s the Cottage Coming Along?

  Posted at 2:21 pm by bringingbacksligo, on July 20, 2019

  The other night I had a dream in which both my sister-in-law and I shaved our heads bald.  I texted her and told her about it and gave my own, uneducated psychological diagnosis for the dream which was “we’re losing our shit.”  The funny thing was, even though she had shaved her head she still looked gorgeous with long, flowing locks.  I, on the other hand, looked like Gollum.  I’m not trying to make this into a pissing match but, I think it means I’m legit going crazy.

  So, to catch you all up:  We moved-in with my mom last August (hi, mom!).  We decided the best course of action would be to renovate the Cottage and move-in while the Main House was being renovated.  I think the logic there was the Cottage is significantly smaller and therefore should take less time to fix-up.  So, our first, self-imposed deadline to be moved into the Cottage was before Christmas.  Then it was after Christmas.  Then, I think it was Easter.  Then it was the end of July…

  

  Me, whenever someone asks how the renovations are going and when we’re moving into the Cottage.

  In retrospect, when we purchased the property, the Cottage was in a worse state than that of the Main House.  A portion of the roof was gone and the house had been open to the elements for years.  Obviously, the entire roof needed to be replaced plus we had to replace an entire wall and flooring on both the first and second floors.  Animals had made a home in it and it had signs of people staying in it as well.  In other words, it was in really bad shape and while we Marcus has certainly come a long way in the repairs it still remains uninhabitable.

  Anyway, as time has gone on and the renovations of both the Cottage and the Main House have begun to pace each other, it occurred to me that we might as well wait and simply move into the Main House when it is ready.  The conversation was had about a month or so ago when I mentioned that it might be better for the family if we didn’t have to move, what would essentially be, three times in one year.  Yesterday, after working in the ungodly heat which I suppose is what brought about the following epiphany, Marcus  mentioned he thought it might be better for the family if we didn’t have to move, what would essentially be, three times in one year.  Huh.  That sounded familiar.

  I have yet to really finesse the fine art of letting the man think he makes all of the wonderful decisions in the family so instead of saying “That’s a great idea!” I said something more like “Oh, funny, because I said the same exact thing not that long ago” followed by an accusatory eyebrow raise (my humility is a work in progress).  Despite it totally being my idea to begin with but Marcus getting the credit for it (dang it, there I go again) we are now on the same page and will be staying with my mom until the Main House is completed.

  When asked if she would be alright with us continuing to live with her all my mom had to say was she was definitely going to be buying her rather skittish dog a set of noise canceling headphones.

  Posted in Cottage, Life, Main House | 0 Comments

• Sligo as a Hospital

  Posted at 7:39 pm by bringingbacksligo, on July 18, 2019

  To continue our lecture on the fact and fiction of Sligo we now turn to the hospital stories.  If you read the Works Progress Administration (WPA) report or any other articles regarding the house you will find that the previous home at Sligo was a Revolutionary War hospital, a hospital for the local Gunnery Factory, a smallpox hospital, a Civil War hospital, a hospital just for the sake of being a hospital, and a doll hospital because, why not?  That last bit isn’t true, just so you know (sarcasm can be hard to get across when writing).

  I have found a few definitive instances of Sligo being used as a smallpox hospital.  According to Quinn, in 1790 and 1792 the sick were quarantined at Sligo and attended to by a Dr. Brooke and Dr. Kerr (The History of the City of Fredericksburg Virginia, p. 66).  Also, Deaderick did use a legitimate source in her WPA report for Sligo when she cited Council Minutes from 22 June 1796:  “…the Overseers of the Poor be requested to rent the house at ‘Sligo,’ at present occupied as a hospital, to be used as such for one year, and that Dr. Kerr be requested to attend the said hospital when it shall be necessary” (WPA, Sligo – Site, 2 June 1937).  In a few of the reports it states that the house is unoccupied before being commissioned as a hospital and I am not sure what that means exactly.  It does, however, confirm my belief that some people owned the land but never lived there (that’s a post for another day as it is still very much a work in progress as I try to determine who was who and where and when and why and sometimes how).

  A third instance of the house being used as a hospital comes from the City of Fredericksburg’s Historic Court Records archive online (https://www.fredericksburgva.gov/998/Historic-Court-Records) and is written as follows:

  A notice issued this morning calling all the magistrates together to fix upon a site proper for the establishment of an hospital for the diseased with the smallpox, when it was unanimously agreed (present: Robert Lewis, Mayor; William Gordon, Recorder; William J. Roberts; John Hart; and, William Allen, J.P.) that the house now unoccupied belonging to John Ferneyhough near the banks of the Rappahannock below the Hazle Run be immediately prepared for the reception of the sick – that a guard of two men be employed to watch night & day alternately to prevent any communication with the neighborhood & town & to prevent all intercourse with the hospital unless it be by the nurse, physician & those who furnish diet to the sick. At a meeting of the Common Hall yesterday (Present: Thomas Goodwin; William Gordon; Robert Parrott; Henry T. Phillips; Robert Mackay; Joseph Walker; Charles Austin; and, Robert Ellis) to take into consideration the propriety of providing by appropriation for the sick & diseased with the smallpox in the natural way. It was ordered that one hundred dollars be set apart for the purpose & that the Mayor be directed to draw for the same at his discretion for the above purposes.

  I have yet to confirm if the house was truly used as a hospital during any of the wars it has witnessed.  During the Civil War in particular, I find it hard to believe that it was used as a hospital because the Union soldiers looted and ransacked the property after the Ferneyhoughs fled.  It’s also really only speculation that it was a doll hospital however, there were approximately nine little girls (perhaps more) born and raised at the property so one could assume it admitted quite a few injured dollies.  So, despite the concrete evidence for some of the mentions of the house as a hospital, it is safe to say that Sligo has seen it’s fair share of sickness and sadness.

  Posted in Grounds, History, Hospital, Main House, Wars | 0 Comments

• Paranormal Activity or User Error?

  Posted at 12:22 pm by bringingbacksligo, on April 14, 2019

  I have hesitated to write about my possible paranormal experience at the house because I don’t want you all to think I am crazy (spoiler alert:  I am).  In all honesty, I cannot say whether I do believe in ghosts though I love a good, real-life ghost story.  I have never experienced a haunting aside from the few times I have been walking up a set of stairs and my brain tells me someone is behind me and I race to the top to escape (and don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about).

  Last week I gave a tour of the house to my friend, her mom, and her mom’s sisters.  We made it to the master bedroom area and from there you can look down, onto the porch roof.  We added snowbirds to the roof which are there to stop ice from falling on a person’s head…I think…I mean, that’s the general idea.  There could be more to them but that’s how I understand their existence.  The ladies that were touring the house didn’t know what they were and suggested I take a picture to add them to the Instagram page with an explanation of what they are.  I did just that, took a picture with my phone and then we moved on.

  Later that evening, I went back to look at the picture and post it to Instagram but it wasn’t there.  No big deal.  User error.  I figured I would take another one next time I went to the house.

  Marcus and I went to the house this past Friday and I specifically ran upstairs before we left so I could take a picture of the snowbirds.  I made sure to check that the picture had been taken and we left.  Again, later that evening, I went to post the picture to Instagram and…it wasn’t there.  Now I don’t know what to think.  I mean, newfangled technology confuses me from time to time but taking a picture is pretty straightforward.  To take a picture of the same thing twice and to somehow lose it twice is strange.

  What do you think?  Is there a friendly spirit messing with me or is it user error?
  Posted in Haunted, Main House | 0 Comments

• New Sligo Video

  Posted at 10:27 pm by bringingbacksligo, on March 22, 2019

  Thank you so much to our friend who created this YouTube video featuring Sligo and the surrounding buildings.  I have completely erased from my memory for self-preservation purposes all but forgotten just how bad the house looked when we first purchased it.  Enjoy!

  Posted in Barn, Cottage, Main House, Video | 1 Comment

• Haint Blue

  Posted at 9:30 pm by bringingbacksligo, on March 17, 2019

  The exterior work is really moving along and one of the biggest changes has been with the wraparound porch.  The columns have been repaired, the banisters have been leveled, and everything is getting a fresh coat of paint.  I have learned that tradition dictates for the the porch floor to be painted grey and the porch ceiling painted blue.  And it is the blue ceiling that I am here to write about because I learned a little something Southern that I had never known before (yes, I’m a Virginia girl don’t judge, there are just a few too many Southern traditions and I can’t keep up with all of them…plus this one originates just a little farther south).

  The ceiling of our porch has been painted Benjamin Moore’s Harbor Haze which is a beautiful shade of pale blue that is so pale it almost looks as if the blue of the siding is reflecting onto the ceiling.  I have tried to capture it in a photo but it is so hard to do it justice with a cell phone (I’ll still share it but wanted to make sure you all understand I am not a photographer).  Take my word for it, it’s beautiful but so understated that when you finally do notice it, you point it out to everyone walking by even though they know fully well that the porch ceiling is blue because they were there when it was painted in the first place.

  So, now, on to the “why” the porch ceiling is painted blue.  Some of you may know this answer already so bear with me because I find it fascinating and I think some of our relatives in the North and Midwest will think so as well.  There are actually a few reasons it is said porch ceilings are painted blue.  One is that it keeps the bugs away because they think it is the sky.  That’s cool but kind of boring and I have yet to discover if that’s true or not.

  The second reason porch ceilings are painted blue comes from the Gullah-Geechee people in the Lowcountry of the South.  The Gullah would paint the ceilings of their quarters blue (along with doors, windows, and shutters) in order to ward off ghosts.  The Gullah believed that the blue would confuse the ghosts into thinking it was water which they could not pass through.  The word “ghost” in the Gullah language is “haint” which is where the term “haint blue” comes from.  Eventually, white Southerners adopted the tradition and while it has since lost much of it’s spiritual significance the influence is still there.

  

  Oh gosh, now that I see this on a computer screen it’s hardly clear at all that the ceiling is blue.  If you look closely, you can see the blue over-spray on the white trim…that may help.  Otherwise, you’ll just have to stop by and take a look for yourself.

   

  Posted in Haunted, History, Main House | 0 Comments

• Furniture

  Posted at 10:30 pm by bringingbacksligo, on March 1, 2019

  A few facts about us:  Marcus is a penny pincher (which is strange given he bought a giant house needing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of renovations but I’m trying hard not to beat that dead horse anymore).  I, on the other hand, like pretty things (as I’m typing this I’m watching a documentary about Tiffany & Co and this is going to take a lot longer to write than I anticipated…).  I’m going to assume most couples have the same dynamic though sometimes Marcus can take things a little further than most (does the ICEE Machine acquisition of 2017 ring a bell?  No?  That will have to be a post for another time).

  This is all to set-up the story which is a recent conversation we had about furnishing the house.  First of all, I would guesstimate that about 75% of our furnishings are second-hand, either handed down or purchased through Craigslist, yard sales, and consignment stores.  I’m not knocking it, I’m just stating the facts here.  And while I have often dreamt of a house filled with Pottery Barn I have come to accept that some things will just never happen.

  I feel, though, as if I have found a common ground for my love of pretty things and Marcus’s love for savings and that’s at one of my most favorite stores in Fredericksburg by the name of Seven Nine Designs.  They have some of the most beautiful and unique pieces that have been restored by folks who have way more business restoring furniture than I do (believe me, I’ve tried and it ain’t pretty).  The other thing I love about Seven Nine Designs is that the prices are reasonable, not Pottery Barn prices.

  Anyway, it was on a rainy day of Facebook browsing when I saw their latest offerings and the most amazing hall tree that I had ever seen (which is saying a lot).  Marcus has a weird hall tree fetish and I’m very well aware that he would love to put one in the hall of Sligo.  Honestly, I can take or leave a hall tree but I saw the one for sale at Seven Nine Designs and immediately had to share it with Marcus.  As much as he hates to spend money he would have to admit that this piece was perfect for Sligo and maybe, just maybe, he would tell me to go ahead and get it.

  That’s not quite the reaction I got.  Instead I received an email response about waiting until we have somewhere to actually put the hall tree and that we need to “…ensure we appropriately curate house furnishings…”  I shit you not.  This coming from the master of Craigslist.  I wrote him back, wondering if someone had just taught him the word “curate” and if they challenged him to use it in a sentence.  When the answer was “no” I then wondered if he considered purchasing someone’s used furniture as “curating” because the word, to me, implies actually spending money not just looking for the cheapest thing that will do.  He laughed at that and I’m still waiting for an honest answer on how he plans to furnish Sligo.

  Posted in Life, Main House | 1 Comment

• A First Person Look Inside the House

  Posted at 2:06 pm by bringingbacksligo, on February 20, 2019

  For the third time this winter it has snowed.  For the third time this winter it has snowed and the girls are out of school.  For the third time this winter it has snowed and the girls are out of school and Marcus is on travel.  It’s no wonder I woke-up with a headache.  It was as if my body was preparing for the day.  But, with the snow, comes a day full of nothing and gives me the chance to write.

  A few months back, quite a few months back actually, a friend took some really neat videos of Sligo using his drone.  I have been meaning to cut down the videos and possibly add music to them but it turns out my skills are strictly limited to cutting.  I think I might have learned how to add music in PowerPoint but I’m not here to give a presentation on the health benefits of not purchasing a 130 year old home so we’ll just have to do without.

  Now, the first video is shot from the ground floor up to the second floor and is pretty straightforward.  The second video is my personal favorite because if you can pretend like that’s you drunkenly stumbling from room to room you get a real sense of the layout of the house.  That is until the very end when “you” crash into the door jamb and collapse on the floor (inches away from the kitchen which is where you were probably trying to get to in order to get some coconut water to chase away that headache and induce vomiting because that stuff is nasty).

  (Thank you to Carl Lynn for bringing over his drone and helping capture Sligo in the state in which we acquired her.)

  Posted in Life, Main House, Video | 0 Comments

• Sligo Build Date

  Posted at 9:37 pm by bringingbacksligo, on February 13, 2019

  As I sit here typing our youngest is in our bedroom, refusing to go to bed. In an effort not to throttle her I’m doing my best to ignore her presence and type a new post.  She is what doctor’s have referred to as “spirited.”  If any of you reading this are parents and are currently parenting or have parented one of these “spirited” children then I raise my glass to you because that is the shit that makes a person drink.

  Anyway, I got off track there.  I just needed you to know the frame of mind I’m in and I apologize for any potential profanity (the above “s” word included) or threats of violence.

  Now, how do I segue nicely into this relatively exciting development in the quest to discover the age of the house.  I guess that was it…

  Our Dovetail consultant made a really neat find about a week ago when she came across two newspaper articles detailing the fire that destroyed the original house at Sligo and the construction that followed.  Both articles were published in 1888 which confirms that the first house burnt down in 1888 and the second house began construction the same year.  The articles are below:

  

  Article retrieved online. Free Lance, 21 August 1888

  

  Article retrieved online. Fredericksburg Star, 12 September 1888

   

  How neat is this?!  First of all, it corroborates what the Ferneyhough descendants told me which is the first house burnt down in 1888 and the second house was built the same year.  It does stand to reason that the second house was not complete until the following year giving it a completion date of 1889.  Also, the fire broke out three times?  How could there have been anything left?  Second of all, there is an “ancient” brick somewhere?!  I have yet to lay eyes on said brick and honestly, there’s kind of a A LOT of brick so it’s going to be like searching for a needle in a haystack but it’s worth a shot.  Finally, we have a potential source of the name “Sligo” and that is Gen. Posey.  You probably don’t remember but I mentioned him in my very detailed and very accurate timeline of past Sligo owners.  He didn’t come across in any of my reading as someone important to the property but it may be worth another look into who he was.

  That’s all I have for now.  Miraculously, in the time it took me to write this the youngest is in her own bed and happily alive (though that’s solely because her father loves her more than I do at the moment).

   

   

  Posted in History, Main House | 6 Comments

• The Paint!

  Posted at 10:48 am by bringingbacksligo, on February 10, 2019

  I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.  Here in Virginia we have started what we refer to as “Second Winter.”  This usually comes after “Fake Spring” which we experienced last week with temperatures in the upper 60s.  It was a glorious few days that makes it all the more sadder that it is in the upper 30s now.

  Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk weather.  I was just sitting here recuperating from a day spent at the Kid’s Expo with our girls (which is akin to recuperating from a night out on the town only worse as I am an introvert and to spend so much time surrounded by so many people is an absolute drain on the very fiber of my being but I had promised my girlfriend I would go with her and her girls so when we got there and saw the chaos the two of us hid underneath the Bonefish Grill table, which was handing out “Bang Bang Shrimp” samples, and let the children run amok…how’s that for a sentence?) and thought I might update the readers on the paint choice we had made.  The painters were excited about the weather because, even though it is cold, it isn’t raining and they wanted to paint a particular portion of the house before the new roof went on the porch so, it was time to make our final decision.

  We decided on Benjamin Moore Wetherburn’s Blue which is the darker shade of blue out of the two we were contemplating.  It isn’t a traditional Victorian color, which would have been more earthy tones such as reds and greens, but it will be beautiful with the Benjamin Moore Capitol White trim and the Englert Mansard Brown metal roof and gutters.  I only call out the make of the colors in case you are so curious you feel the need to Google them to see exactly what I am talking about.

  So, without further ado, I give you a first glimpse at the new Sligo!

  

  I really like this picture as you can see the contrast between the old paint, the primer, and the new paint.

   

  Posted in Life, Main House | 2 Comments

• Recent Posts

  • The Big Move February 13, 2020
  • The Battle of Fredericksburg at Sligo Part II January 3, 2020
  • Happy New Year, 2020! January 1, 2020
  • The Battle of Fredericksburg at Sligo Part I December 15, 2019
  • A Progress Report December 13, 2019
  • Tour Sligo with HFFI October 31, 2019

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  This week's #52weeksofhome theme is "Dearest dwellers." At Sligo we have Lasagna the old kitty who prefers to sleep on freshly laundered linens, Axel the crazy GSP, ol' Gus from the Cottage who has taken to peeping at us through the kitchen windows, and Marcus and myself. We also have our two girls but I'd prefer not to share their pictures as this is a public account. It's a busy place! #bringingbacksligo #restoration #renovation #italianate #victorian #fredericksburgva #52weeksofhomeweek8 #lasagnathecat #axelvontepaske #germanshorthairedpointer #catsofinstagram #dogsofinstagram

  @highland_and_victorian was asking for pictures of pocket doors and I realized that I have never described the enormity of ours. Just one door is 9 feet tall and 4 feet 7 inches wide. When they open the floor rumbles. What on Earth could a person need with such giant doors, I'll never know, but they're awesome. (Please excuse the mess in the red room, it's one of the last rooms to be unpacked.) #bringingbacksligo #victorian #italianate #pocketdoors #fredericksburgva #restoration #renovation

  This week's #52weeksofhome theme is "lighting." When we purchased Sligo all of the fixtures had either been vandalized or were dated (but not in an antique way). Therefore, all of our lighting is new and from various stores. #bringingbacksligo #restoration #renovation #victorian #italianate #potterybarnwarehouse #potterybarn #lampsplus #bellacour #wayfair #modernlighting #oldhouse #52weeksofhome #52weeksofhomeweek7

  This basketball shaped fuzzy beast is Lasagna, Sligo's bird watcher and occasional bug killer. She's acclamated quickly and has already claimed her favorite sunny spots (though the sun has been in hiding for the better part of the week). #bringingbacksligo #restoration #renovation #italianate #victorian #lasagnathecat #dilutetortie #birdwatching #catsofinstagram

  I just noticed this for the first time during one of my many trips up from the basement. It's an unfinished edge of the floor boards and I thought it was neat that you could see the tongue and groove (is that the correct terminology?). I also like how worn the wood is to the left of the picture. #bringingbacksligo #italianate #victorian #restoration #renovation #finds #fredericksburgva

  What's that saying? It has to get worse before it can get better? I think we're there. (This isn't even all of the boxes. We still have the master bedroom and boxes of books to unpack 😭😭😭😭😭) #bringingbacksligo #italianate #victorian #fredericksburgva #restoration #renovation #movingistheworst