Adam Stephen House – 309 East John Street

Adam Stephen House – 309 East John Street. Washington Heritage Trail. , Adam Stephen (1720-1791) had a close acquaintance with George Washington through their association with Lord Fairfax and from their military involvements from the French and Indian War through the American Revolution. Stephen was present with Washington at Fort Necessity in 1754, served as second in command of the Virginia militia, and was responsible for troops, at various times, at Fort Loudoun in Winchester, Fort Cumberland, Fort Ligonier, and Fort Pitt. Adam Stephen ran successfully against George Washington for the House of Burgesses seat from Frederick County, Virginia, in 1761. Later, Stephen was promoted in 1777 to the rank of major-general in the Continental Army during the Revolution. His daughter, Ann, was married in 1780 to Alexander Spottswood Dandridge, a second cousin of Martha Washington and a brother-in-law of Patrick Henry., The Adam Stephen House is a fine example of late colonial stone architecture. The land on which the house is situated was acquired by Adam Stephen in 1770 as part of a 255-acre tract of land. In 1773, he purchased an adjacent tract of 563 acres, dividing the land into lots and selling them to establish a town. Stephen operated two nearby mills, a distillery and an armory along the Tuscarora Creek, on lands that became the town of Martinsburg in 1778. Ownership of the house changed hands several times after Stephen's death., In 1959, William Evers, a former town resident living in California, gave the property to the city of Martinsburg, and the General Stephen Memorial Association was formed to restore and furnish the house. Restoration work began in the mid-1960s, and the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The smokehouse and laundry building behind Adam Stephen House were reconstructed in 1976 as an American bicentennial project. . This historical marker is in Martinsburg in Berkeley County West Virginia