Friday

Talbott House (#3 on map)

40170 Main Street

Open on Friday: 1:30pm to 5pm

Talbott House is the original portion of the Talbott’s Tavern property, which was constructed by Joseph Talbott, a disowned Quaker, in approximately 1810 when Waterford had a thriving retail environment which included several taverns. (The red brick house immediately adjacent to Talbott House on the left was an addition to the Tavern constructed in approximately 1811 and generally referred to as Talbott’s Tavern). Together they operated as a Tavern throughout most of the 1800’s.)

Today, Talbott House and Talbott’s Tavern are part of what is informally called “Arch House Row.” These residences have undergone considerable changes since the early 19th century: Interior partitions have been adjusted as families intermarried, sold and resold portions, or adjusted to suit their own tastes or needs. Doors, windows, porches, balconies, siding, even gables, all have changed over time.

Joseph Talbott, Jr. was born in Waterford in 1774 to a Maryland Quaker family but was dismissed in 1796 “for joining in light company, frolicking and dancing.” By 1801 he further blotted his record by marrying a non-Quaker and owning or employing a slave. He eventually sold the successful business in 1815 to Presbyterian Nathaniel Manning for $5600 and set up a new hotel in Frederick, Maryland.

Loudoun County’s earliest bank, was said to have been formed here or in the addition next door; the trustees later moved the Bank across the street to 40149 Main Street, which had a cellar vault. This has also been the site of the auctioning of some slaves in about 1820. The village was founded by Quakers, but enslaved African Americans lived in town and on surrounding farms alongside their free neighbors. The hotel/tavern went through a series of owners and businesses over the years, including a butcher shop and grocery store.

A later iteration of the property, The Loudoun Hotel, was the last commercial enterprise here in the 1920s, before being purchased by the Chamberlin brothers. Edward and Leroy Chamberlin, brothers from early Waterford families began their extensive restoration efforts in the village with this block of buildings in the 1930s.

Talbott’s Tavern is open through the courtesy of Skip Couser.

Edith Walker House (#13 on map)

15550 High Street

Open on Friday: 10am to 5pm
**Please enter from the Old School Driveway, follow pedestrian signs and docent’s instructions.**

Robert Walker built this lovely Queen Anne style home for his spinster sister, Edith, in 1897. He located the house on a portion of his property, Huntley Farm, and designed it to face his house next door instead of the street. A brick walk connected the two homes and remains to this day. The Edith Walker house is a blend of Victorian and Colonial Revival architectural elements with many distinctive features such as the wraparound porch that serves as a spacious summer living area. There are two pedimented dormers, three gables and a sleeping porch over the front entrance, each clad with a different style shingle. The main body of the house boasts German siding. The original cedar shingle roof was replaced with raised seam metal, as was the fashion in the area after the turn of the century. The windows further unite the two styles with six or eight small panes at the top, recalling colonial sash patterns, while the single large pane at the bottom incorporates the modern glass technology of the Victorian era. Inside the home is a fine paneled Queen Anne stairway, beautiful Colonial Revival molding with bull’s eyes in the top corners and pocket doors from the foyer into the parlor. Of special note are five fireplaces, each of a different design. The three on the first floor have mirrored overmantles. Over the years there have been few changes to the floor plan, which speaks highly of the home’s comfort and adaptability to changing life styles. The major changes to the house were the addition of first and second floor bathrooms, and the enlargement of the kitchen by removing the wall to the butler’s pantry. The historic exterior of the house is protected from alteration in perpetuity by an easement given to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Talbott’s Tavern is open through the courtesy of Chris & Elyssa Wood

Mahlon Schooley House (Garden Only) (#8 on map)

15555 Second Street

Open on Friday: 10am to 5pm (Garden Only)

Mahlon Schooley (b.1788), who later helped establish a Quaker community in Iowa, built this brick house in 1817. Like many Waterford dwellings, the original portion is a three-bay brick bank building on a stone foundation, with a metal gable roof. The rain gutters almost hide a mousetooth cornice. The house was enlarged at the rear in the 1840s, and late in that century an owner reconstructed the south wall of the house, adding windows and lengthening the first story windows.

The Mahlon Schooley House Garden is open through the courtesy of Susan Honig-Rogers & Richard Rogers

Ephraim Schooley (Garden Only) (#7 on map)

15547 Second Street

Open on Friday: 10am to 5pm (Garden Only) & Sunday: 10am to 5pm

The Ephraim Schooley House is also known as the Parker Bennett House is a Federal period home. The land was acquired in 1820 by weaver John Morrow who began building the left side, shorter portion of the house ca. 1820 using Flemish Bond brick construction. You can see that the center window of the left side of the home would have been the front door. The house was initially a weaving establishment for not only Morrow, but also later Thomas Donaldson who weaved carpet and dyed both carpet and cloth here. During the economic depression of 1819 – 1822, Morrow lost the property. It was bought at auction by Richard Henderson in 1824, who then sold it to Jesse Gover in 1830. William Mayne took over the weaving establishment in 1828 where he accepted jobs for all kinds of weaving. Ephraim Schooley, the Quaker for whom the home is named, bought the property from Gover in 1834. The taller structure on the right side of the home was likely constructed in 1851 using Common Bond brick construction and was a separate residence.

Saddler Asa Brown (1794 – 1872) lived in the home in the 1850’s and 1860’s. The Civil War split his large family down the middle. Asa, a veteran of the War of 1812, was a loyal Unionist, as was his son and two daughters. Sons Charlie and “Ab” were supporters of the confederacy, as was wife Aurena and a third daughter. All managed to survive the war, though Charlie took a Yankee bullet at the First Battle of Bull Run.

The house was used as two separate dwellings that were both sold to H.C. Bennett in 1876. From 1919 to 1959, the property was owned by the H.B. Parker family. Harvey, a blacksmith, came home from WWI and feuded with his brother Fred who had run the smithy in his absence. The two never spoke again. When Mr. and Mrs. John Lewis bought the property in 1959, they restored the home and named it “The Parker-Bennett House”. The two-level addition was added in the 1970’s and an easement was granted to the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission. Further additions were done in the 1980’s. Although you would never know it by looking at it from the street, this is one of the largest lots in Waterford. There are four acres in the back. The house was built with “Waterford bricks,” which were fired right here on the property.

The Ephraim Schooley property is open through the courtesy of its current owners, the Manch family.

Walker-Phillips House (#5 on map)

15511 Second Street

Open on Friday: 10am to 5pm

This house has had few owners during its nearly 200-year history. It was apparently built shortly before 1820 when David and Elizabeth Janney, members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), sold it to fellow Quaker farmer and merchant Isaac Walker (1781-1851) for $350. After his death, Walker’s widow, the former Susan Talbott, lived here until her own passing in 1872. Two years later her executors sold it to Elizabeth Janney Sidwell Phillips (1827-1913). Elizabeth, the widow of Thomas Phillips (1813-1865), helped run the family farm, today’s “Phillips Farm,” with her four sons. The Phillips farm adjoins the property at the rear and has been protected in perpetuity by the Waterford Foundation.

Elizabeth Phillips left the house to her son Arthur when she died in 1913. He sold it to Peter H. Carr (1843-1922), a veteran of the Confederate Cavalry and the first non-Quaker owner. In 1941 Carr’s commissioners sold the house to local dairy farmer Ernest M. Edwards. Sarah Holway bought it from Ernest’s descendants in 2014.

The Walker-Phillips property is open courtesy of Sarah Holway and Matt Rasnake.

Catoctin Presbyterian Church (#12 on map)

15565 High Street

Open on Friday, Saturday & Sunday: 10am to 5pm

Waterford’s Presbyterians have a long history in the Waterford area. In 1760, Amos Thompson, a graduate of The College of New Jersey [now Princeton University], was sent by the New Brunswick Presbytery as a missionary to Virginia. Thompson organized two churches: Gum Spring, near Arcola, and Waterford’s Catoctin Presbyterian Church, which was organized in 1764-1765. The Rev. Thompson later left his ministry to serve as a chaplain in the Continental Army.

The first Presbyterian church in Waterford was built on land sold for four shillings by member John Cavins on April 7, 1769, to the trustees of the church for a school, house of worship, or a burying ground. It stood south of Waterford at what is known locally as the Fox graveyard at the intersection of routes 703, Hurley Lane, and 665, Clarke’s Gap Road. That log church stood into the 1820s although the Presbyterians stopped using it in 1814 when the congregation moved into Waterford on the present site. All traces of that early structure have disappeared, but 11gravestones remain. The last burials were in 1881.

Lots 2 and 3, upon which the present church stands, were conveyed to the Catoctin Presbyterian Organization in 1814, by Mahlon Janney’s executors, as part of his “New Addition” auction, for $104.50. A church of brick with a gallery on three sides was erected and served intermittently as a place of worship until destroyed by fire in 1878. Under the leadership of Dr. L. B. Turnbull the present church was built on the same site in 1882. Close observation will reveal that the façade and front bay of the church is constructed with modern, machine-made brick of a uniform red color, while the remainder of the sides of the church is constructed of hand-made brick of varying colors. It is likely that these were the bricks salvaged from the previous church.

The church’s interior has a wooden ceiling with false beams reflecting the Gothic style of the building. Wooden pendants which hang from these beams resemble the “acorn” motif that top the ladder backs of Waterford chairs. On the wall behind the pulpit is a round stained glass window. The sides of the church have lancet arched stained glass windows with clear glass transom windows below. These windows were most likely installed in the twentieth century.

In 1950 the congregation added a church school building to fill the education and recreational needs of the community; the congregation continues to share the use of this building. Reverend David Douthett has been the pastor since 2004. History, tradition, a farming legacy and close-knit fellowship are vital parts of the church today.

The Catoctin Presbyterian Church is open courtesy of the grace of God and 250 years’ worth of faithful members.

Talbott’s Tavern (#2 on map)

40162 Main Street

Open on Friday: 1:30pm to 5pm

The structures that now comprise 40162 Main Street were originally two separate commercial buildings built at different times – Palmer House (the stone house also known as the Charles Divine House – built ca. 1797) and Talbott’s Tavern (the extension of Talbott House was built c. 1811). Palmer House and Talbott’s Tavern were combined in the 1950s.

The stone house on the left-hand side of the block as you face the buildings is referred to as Palmer House. Palmer House was one of the early structures built on Main Street in Waterford and was thought to have been built in 1797 by Quaker John Williams. This structure pre-dated Talbott’s Tavern (next door) which was constructed in the early 1800’s. In 1808, Joseph Talbott, the owner of the “soon-to-be-constructed” Talbott House at 40170 Main Street, leased the first floor of Palmer House for his saddle making shop. In its early years, Palmer House was known as the Charles Divine House, named after one of its earliest owners. Palmer House, as it has more recently come to be known, wasn’t owned by Alfonzo Palmer, a local farm worker, until 1906.

Talbott’s Tavern (the extension to Talbott House), the stone and brick structure on the right-hand side of Palmer House was an addition to the original Talbott House at 40170 Main Street. This addition to Talbott House became known as Talbott’s Tavern and was thought to have been constructed in approximately 1811. This expansion to Talbott House enable Talbott to host more guests and hold meetings in the large room on the 2^nd floor. At the time, open doorways between the structures allowed guests to flow freely between the two buildings.

Both Palmer House and Talbott’s Tavern were originally just one-story, however they eventually became two-story structures with retail located on the first level and more refined guest spaces upstairs. Later, the third and fourth floors were added to each side. A large porch spanned the front of the buildings and patrons would enter the 2^nd story via the front porch stairs. The downstairs rooms were very rudimentary and likely had dirt, brick, stone, or wood floors.

Talbott’s Tavern is open through the courtesy of Kay Chewning.

Charles Merchant House (Garden Only) (#6 on map)

15539 Second Street

Open on Friday: 10am to 5pm (Garden Only)

The land on which this house stands was originally purchased from the “Mahlon Janney Estate” auction in 1814 by Isaac Walker. Later owners included Robert Braden and then William Nettle, the master joiner of Waterford, who died in 1855. The lot then passed to his wife, who died in 1879. The first indication of a building on the property is noted on the 1875 Survey of Waterford, which shows an agricultural or work shop building on the lot. Possibly this initial building was the work shop of Waterford’s master joiner. In 1891, Franklin and Mary Steer sold the property to James T. and Sarah Merchant, who then sold the property to his son Charles A. Merchant in 1906. He and his wife, the former Anna Mary Berry (“Mamie”), who had moved to Washington D.C., returned to Waterford for the health of their infant son Leo and purchased the lot in 1906.

Charles Merchant, a carpenter and painter, contracted with John Spinks, of nearby Paeonian Springs, to build a house. It seems quite possible that the main section of the house was constructed on the foundation of the prior building, and a new stone foundation was constructed for the rear portion of the house. Merchant lived here until the early 1930s. Herb Edwards, a later owner, lived here from 1943 until his death in 1987.

The renovations done by the present owners, Antonia Walker and Timothy H. McGinn, were designed and built by Mr. McGinn. The back of the house, which originally had only one window, has been opened up with two windows and a door to a back porch, orienting the view to the farmland to the west and allowing access to the flagstone patio and herb garden.

There is a new two-story addition just off the kitchen which includes a winter studio for Ms. Walker and bathroom on the second floor. Whenever possible, vintage building materials have been used or recycled to retain the character of the original house. The back door came from the Thomas Moore house on Bond Street and the balustrade of the porch was fashioned from the old kitchen cabinets.

The Charles Merchant House Garden is open through the courtesy of present owners Antonia Walker and Tim McGinn.