After 280 years, maybe it was time for a facelift. A high-tech, extra-super-careful facelift. After all, nothing is too good for Prince William County's oldest and most storied surviving house.
Soon, a stabilized, restored Rippon Lodge -- one of the biggest restoration projects in the county -- once again will command the tall ridge above Neabsco Creek and the Potomac River.
Brandon Hanafin described efforts to renew Rippon Lodge as "exciting when . . . you don't know what you'll find."
(Margaret Thomas -- The Washington Post)
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Long known for a proclivity to pave over its resources, the county now has embraced historic preservation, earmarking a $3.85 million legal settlement received from the federal government in May 2002 to finance preservation. The county got the money as compensation for land seized to stop a shopping center from being built next to Manassas National Battlefield Park, ending a 14-year struggle.
The restoration of Rippon Lodge will consume about a third of the settlement. The county also is funding the restoration of the historic Brentsville Courthouse and the Ben Lomond Manor House and is reserving $1.5 million for future acquisitions.
"This is an exciting time," said Brandon Hanafin, the county's enthusiastic and fast-talking head of historic properties.
Prince William also has shown its strong support for the Rippon project by taking on a powerful national developer to protect the historic views of the lodge.
The county asked developer D.R. Horton to reduce and rearrange the number the number of townhouses planned for land close to Rippon. County officials said the closest house would be only 400 feet from the back of the lodge house -- allowing visitors to the 18th-century home to take in views of 21st-century patios, air conditioners, children's toys and barbecue grills.
In October, after months of legal wrangling, the two sides settled on a plan for an additional buffer between Rippon Lodge and the Horton development, at the same time preserving part of the old colonial highway that will be managed by the county's historic resources department. They also agreed to not only move the townhouses farther away, but also reorient them to minimize the visual impact from the lodge.
On an overcast day last week, yellow backhoes at work behind the lodge were clearly visible through the bare trees. Hanafin said he hoped that trees would obscure the townhouses in the spring and summer.
Rippon sits on the last 40 acres of what was once a 21,000-acre tobacco and cotton plantation. The house, built by Richard Blackburn, was inherited by his son, Col. Thomas Blackburn, George Washington's aide-de-camp during the Revolutionary War. Later, Rippon was home to Adm. Richard Blackburn Black, who explored Antarctica with Adm. Richard E. Byrd and kept Antarctic artifacts in outbuildings on the property.
Black's daughter sold the property to the county in 2000 for $1.4 million. The house has been stabilized, and planning is underway for a full restoration that will begin in earnest next spring.
Hanafin said he has been surprised and pleased by the interest in the house, from neighbors and former workers as well as history buffs. "Everyone wants to see that house on the hill,'' he said.
Hanafin showed off some of the surprises that were hidden for years behind walls, under floorboards and by expansions and renovations.
"It's exciting when you start to peel it all back and you don't know what you'll find," he said. So far the list includes a possible secret Masonic meeting hall, construction diagrams written on the walls, original trim hidden behind bookshelves and maybe even a ghost or two.
The house dates to colonial days, Hanafin said, and was expanded over the years, including extensive changes in the 1920s and the 1950s. But all eras are represented, including harvest gold kitchen appliances from the 1970s.
Upstairs, he and other historians are trying to make sense of what appears to be a giant master bedroom. But Hanafin said the fireplace is too small for the room, which is much larger than even George Washington's bedroom at Mount Vernon.
Black-painted floorboards that recently were discovered in the room could point to its use as a Masonic meeting hall, as such rooms sometimes were painted black, he said. He added that the owners were Masons.
But that doesn't answer the questions about possible ghosts. All Hanafin knows is that the security alarms go off frequently at night for seemingly no reason. He said there are stories about a participant in a duel in Quantico in the 1760s who made it to Rippon Lodge only to die inside the doorway.
"These are the details you need to get to get it right,'' Hanafin said.
