Kearneysville Area Historic Properties

Kearneysville Area Historic Properties. West Virginia 9. , Shepherdstown and Smithfield Turnpike Tollhouse/John Fox House , Immediately west of Rellim Farm is a mid-19th century log dwelling, and the only known surviving toll house on the old Shepherdstown and Smithfield Turnpike (previously Leetown Pike). The turnpike was completed by 1826, being the first toll road of its kind in the "valley" region of Virginia. This tollhouse was constructed around 1864. An artist's earlier rendering of a nearby tollhouse on Charles Town Pike shows athat a standard plan for toll houses may have been used by area turnpike companies of the period. The tollhouse is also important as the last remaining structure associated with John Fox, a prosperous African-American who purchased the property in 1869. He became a respected member of both the African-American and Euro-American communities and amassed a large estate during the post-Civil War years. Fox never resided. In the log house, but maintained it as a rental property throughout his life., Kearneysville Action Area , On August 25, 1864, a major military skirmish occurred about half a mile southwest of Kearneysville between General Jubal Early's Confederate forces and General Phil Sheridan's Federal forces. Both stationed their artillery on high points on opposite sides of Bower Road. After six hours of engagement, Federal forces retreated northward, and Confederates pursued them to the Potomac River resulting in a 5-mile long running battle between Bower Road and the B&O Railroad at Kearneysville to Shepherdstown. No casualty records from the battle exist except from several generals' reports, citing "considerable losses on both sides." It was one of many skirmishes and battles acted out in Jefferson County during the Civil War, as the nearby arsenal at Harpers Ferry and its proximity to Washington D.C. contributed to the county's strategic military importance. The Kearneysville Action represented a turning point in the Confederate push to re-enter Maryland and Pennsylvania during the latter portion of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign., Rellim Farm/Abraham S. Miller House , Rellim Farm was established by Abraham S. Miller, who married Thomas Turner's daughter, Mary Susan, and in 1880 purchased a part of Turner's Rockdale Farm. That year, the Millers began operating a cattle farm, which Abraham named "Rellim" farm by reversing the spelling of "Miller". In 1888, he constructed the large, extant Colonial Revival-style house. By the turn of the 20th century, Rellim Farm had become an important orchard farm producing apples, pears, and quince. In the 1920s, Rellim Farm also began producing sour cherries, becoming one of the earliest cherry orchards still operating in the region, with its historic botanical stock maintained. The property is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a significant early commercial orchard and rural historic landscape., Sunnyside Farm , Sunnyside Farm is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its association with the agricultural development of Jefferson County and for contributions to the regional dairy industry by its owner William Fulk (shown in the right in a circa 1914 photograph). Fulk purchased the far land in 1891 and in 1914 built the extant 2½-story, brick dwelling, which is also significant for its Colonial Revival architecture. William Fulk was instrumental in the local dairy industry, helping to establish the Kearneysville Creamery in 1913. The Creamery produced its own ice, and the milk was condensed at the plant and sold to ice cream factories in Cumberland and Hagerstown, Maryland. After a boiler system was added for pasteurization, fresh milk, cream, and butter also were produced there, as were several kinds of cheese.