More than 80 years later, Baker’s assessment of Morrisonville remains accurate: Nothing much happens there. Yet it remains a delightful place, for adults as well as children — as long as they have a preference for rural life. A fondness for old houses is helpful, too.
Judy and Pat Brescia can check both boxes. They moved from Fairfax County 31 years ago so they could have room for horses.
Unlike many of their neighbors, who work locally or from home, the Brescias commute, separately, to full-time government jobs in Washington — a 110-mile round trip for each. They shop in Leesburg, 25 minutes away.
“You’re away from everything here,” Judy Brescia said. “But that kind of suits us.”
That away-ness also has suited Morrisonville, allowing it to keep its vintage look. A smattering of newer houses have appeared on the outskirts of the unincorporated village, but the “downtown”— a cluster of about 10 houses — has remained mostly unaltered since Baker, a longtime New York Times columnist, was a boy there in the late 1920s.
The biggest effect of the extensive development that the county has undergone in recent years has been the unwelcome increase in traffic. Farmers in pickup trucks going 25 mph have been replaced by SUVs doing 55, the Brescias say. They no longer feel safe riding their horses along the area’s gravel roads. Other than that, says Judy Brescia, “I never feel threatened here.”
Morrisonville, centered on the intersection of Morrisonville and Purcellville roads about four miles from Lovettsville, was named after Archibold Morrison, a major landholder in the area in the early 1800s, according to local historian Eugene Scheel.
By the 1850s, the village could boast of a store and a post office, although it has neither now. Over the years, the Bakers gradually replaced the founder’s family as the main residents of Morrisonville. Many of the Bakers were stonemasons, including Russell Baker’s father. Several of the village houses, like the Brescias’, have a Russell Baker connection. (He was born in an upstairs bedroom of the Brescias’ circa-1790s log house.)
In the writer’s day, Morrisonville had about 20 residents. The population count really hasn’t changed much since then. But while Baker’s relatives and neighbors were mostly poor and uneducated, today’s residents are wealthier and worldlier, even if they do enjoy staying close to home.
Michael John, for example, is a former naval officer. He and his wife, Kate, a former interior designer, lived all over the world before moving to Morrisonville about five years ago. They moved into a house that once belonged to Baker’s redoubtable grandmother, Ida Rebecca. The stone portion of that house was built in the 1830s, the Johns said. The couple christened their home the “Ida Rebecca” and put the name on a plaque on the front of the house.
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