An Historical Vignette of Oak Hill, Fauquier County

This is the history of a house, of the land on which it was built, of those who built it and lived in it, and of the circumstances that made it as we see it today. The original builder would be considered an important historical personage in his own right, were it not for the overshadowing greatness of his son. It is a house of great architectural interest. It is, in fact, two houses. The first one, built in 1773, is a rare example of a Fauquier County farmhouse of the colonial period, left virtually unaltered by succeeding generations. The second house, built in 1818, is a sophisticated temple-form structure of the Federal period. It retains most of its original finely-detailed woodwork. It is noteworthy that the earlier house has not, as is so often the case, been replaced or absorbed by the later, larger house. Instead, both have survived, affording an interesting comparison between the differing tastes of two generations, one in the middle of the eighteenth century and one of the early nineteenth century. The history of the land extends back some forty years before the first house was built, and that is the starting point for this book.