CW Preservation Trust Rescues Brandy Station house
By Deborah Fitts
June 2006
BRANDY STATION, Va. — Years of neglect and the weather nearly sealed an unhappy fate for a historic structure on the Brandy Station battlefield. But the Civil War Preservation Trust has jumped into action to save the Wiltshire House.
The Trust is putting $90,000 into the circa-1820s structure, which witnessed heavy fighting during the battle June 9, 1863. Also known as the Overseer’s House, it was the home of John Wiltshire, overseer for wealthy local landowner Richard Hoope Cunningham. The Trust owns the portion of the battlefield where the house is sited.
The Overseer’s House is one of few historical structures on the battlefield. Abandoned years ago, it was open to the elements, its front porch nearly collapsed, windows gaping, chimneys losing their bricks, and virtually all the paint weathered off the clapboards.
Shrubs and trees had closed in on it to such an extent that battlefield visitors were sometimes unaware of its presence.
“It was in pretty bad shape when we got it 10 years ago,” said Trust spokesman Jim Campi. “This is the first time in decades that that area has been opened up and people can see the structure. It was pretty much gutted — the mantels were ripped out. But the good news is that most of the exterior was surprisingly sound.”
The Trust is setting aside $90,000 to stabilize the building — a considerable figure for an organization that focuses on preserving land.
“Basically we’re just going to waterproof the place so it doesn’t deteriorate further,” Campi said. “At some point it can be restored,” and the building could be used for interpretive exhibits or a visitor center. That may be “years down the road,” Campi said, “unless we can identify a donor.”
He said battlefield visitors were welcome to walk around the house, but he asked them to “be careful” on account of the work under way. The building will be closed to the public except for special events.
Campi said the Trust would attempt to raise the $90,000 by “talking to interested parties. “It’s money we would otherwise have spent on battlefield preservation, but we re-purposed it because the need was so great,” he said. Longtime Brandy supporter and historian Daniel Beattie donated $10,000 to the stabilization project.
The Trust also commissioned a historical-structures report on the outbuildings behind the house, to determine if they also date to the battle. If so, the Trust will seek funds to stabilize them as well.
John Wiltshire, 63, moved into the house a short time before the battle when he became Cunningham’s overseer. During the Army of the Potomac’s winter encampment in 1863-64 at Brandy Station, Capt. John Russell, head quartermaster of the Sixth Corps, occupied Wiltshire’s house.
