Walter Reed Birthplace

Walter Reed Birthplace. . , The Belroi Landscape , Francis Stubbs opened a store at this Hickory Fork Road intersection between 1811 and 1818. Later, a tavern was built across the street. Behind the business places, a simple house exhibited a style common throughout Virginia. Dr. Walter Reed was born there in 1851. , The crossroads properties were sold to William Roy Jones in 1852. He and his wife, Isabella, built their home on the tavern lot and called it Belle Roi. In 1890, the post office at the intersection was named Belroi. , , The Reed Family , In the 1800s, the Methodist Episcopal Church became the largest religious denomination in the U.S. In rural areas, circuit riders like Lemuel Reed (1819-1897) traveled between churches. Reed's circuit included Gloucester, Mathews, and King and Queen Counties. The Reed family of six lived in this house temporarily, and welcomed Walter to the family on September 13, 1851. Afterward, they moved into a new parsonage across the street, but not for long. In 1852, they moved to another circuit. , , "I conceived the idea of building a parsonage for the circuit at once," said Jefferson W. Stubbs, Recording Steward at Bellamy Church. "I found a place at Bell Roi... it was a neighborhood thickly settled... about midway the circuit, and a good school was there…” , , Preserving the Birthplace , The Medical Society of Virginia acquired the building in 1926. It was transferred to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities in 1968. In 2004, the Gloucester Preservation Foundation continued its preservation. The Fairfield Foundation maintains and manages the property. , , Dr. Walter Reed (1851 - 1902) , Walter Reed received medical degrees from the University of Virginia and Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York. He joined the Army Medical Corps in 1875 and in 1893 he joined the faculty of the new Army Medical School in Washington D.C. , , Reed led an investigation into the cause of typhoid fever and was soon sent to Cuba to lead another Army board investigating the cause of yellow fever. The Board carried out experiments proving mosquitoes to be the vector. Yellow fever was controlled by removing standing water where mosquitos breed. , , Reed died in 1902. His friend William Borden campaigned for a hospital to be named for Reed and the Walter Reed Army General Hospital was opened in 1909. Renamed Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1951, it closed in 2011. The name was transferred to the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. , Captions , The Birthplace prior to restoration in 1927 , , United States Geological Survey map, 1906 , Red Arrow: Walter Reed Birthplace , , Walter Reed in 1874 , , To learn more about Fairfield Foundation visit: www.fairfieldfoundation.org , To support the preservation of the birthplace, please send donations to: Gloucester Preservation Foundation, P.O. Box 991, Gloucester, VA 23061