Sunday

15567 Second Street

Open on Sunday: 10am to 5pm

This house is the first of three Victorians built on contiguous vacant lots along the southwest side of Second Street in the late 19th century. During the Civil War, in October 1862, a Union division commander described the location as a beautiful site “in front of a most excellent family of Quakers on the opposite side of the street . . . They offered a nice room, but I prefer my tent,” (where he could keep an eye on his men bivouacked on the adjoining Phillips Farm).

Armida Athey Love (1841-1926), widow of a Union army surgeon, bought the land in 1886 and by the following year had added a new frame dwelling. The house was built by carpenter Asbury R. Johnson (1842-1905), whom she married in March 1887. The local press reported the following month that “Mrs. Kate Rickard, nee Compher, has purchased the handsome new residence lately built by Mrs. Love . . . as her [Kate’s] future home.” Kate, herself a widow, remarried John S. Paxson in 1889, and the property remained in the Paxson and Rickard families until 1956.

A protective easement on the house is held by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR). Many homes in Waterford have this protection. It prevents inappropriate changes to the original structure. And in fact there have been few alterations made—plumbing and wiring aside. It is less exuberantly embellished than its labor neighbors to the south. In 2010 an earlier deck was rehabilitated and a porch added that is sympathetic to the original architecture.

The Asbury-Johnson House is open through the courtesy of Debbie Zongoli & George Rambo.

40149 Main Street

This finely crafted house was probably built about 1806 by young Israel H. Thompson. Unfortunately, he died the same year, at age 22. The building he left is notable for its precisely mortared brickwork and an elegant architrave under the eaves.

Thompson’s executors sold the house to Richard Chilton in 1809, and in 1815 Isaac Steer and his son Jonah purchased the building. Early on, Isaac rented a “storeroom” in the house to the newly formed Loudoun Company, a bank founded by local farmers and businessmen. The enterprise was short-lived but, according to tradition, the steel door of its vault was repurposed to cap a horse-mounting block across the street. 

The Chamberlin family that began the restoration of Waterford bought the property in the late 1930s and held it for more than 70 years. Wellman Chamberlin, National Geographic’s chief cartographer, made extensive repairs and improvements to the old building at mid-century, including replacing a dilapidated porch that spanned the front façade with a hand-carved door surround he fashioned himself. 

The Bank House property is open through the courtesy of Tracy and Paul Shorn.

15527 Second Street

This Federal-style house was built in 1819 by Samuel Hough Jr., on land which he purchased for $240 in 1817. This is one of the most elegantly embellished houses in Waterford, with keystone lintels, an unusual and striking cornice, and beautifully carved interior woodwork.
 
Samuel Hough was a Quaker, but his bride was not. Waterford’s Quakers were not very tolerant of any deviation among their members, and Samuel was read out of the Meeting.  He and his wife lived in the house only a year before moving out of Waterford.  They sold the house to Samuel’s mother, Lydia Hollingsworth Hough, for $3,500, an enormous sum in those days. Lydia seems to have been very fond
of Samuel, and it was her way of passing his inheritance on to him in advance!

Jacob Scott lived in the house during the Civil War, and was “CEO” of Waterford’s largest enterprise, Loudoun Mutual Fire Insurance Co. Although the Board of Directors was split between Unionists and Secessionists, Scott and President William Williams provided the leadership to enable the company to emerge from the War in fine shape. It is still operating on High Street today.

This building is open through the courtesy of Corrine Jacques and Matt Donnelly.