Long Meadow is a historic home located at Middletown,

Warren County, Virginia Warren County is a U.S. county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The 2020 census places Warren County within the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area with a population of 40,727. The county seat is F ...

. The home is located on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River and is in the shadow of Massanutten Mountain, in clear view of Signal Knob. The original homestead was one of the first settlements in the Valley and has been owned by three different families since the original house was built in the 1730s.

History

Long Meadow was originally settled by the Hite Family who moved into the Shenandoah Valley in 1731. The land known as the Long Meadow Tract was settled by Isaac Hite, Sr.. He built the original house in the early 1730s and called it Traveler's Hall due to the constant presence of guests in the house. When Isaac Sr. died in 1795, the land was inherited by Isaac Hite, Jr. who subsequently divided the tract into five lots and built his own house, Belle Grove, on one of the lots. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> The five lots were given to Isaac Jr.'s five daughters through inheritance and marriage settlements, lot five was given to his daughter Matilda Hite Davison upon his death in 1836. Four years later, in 1880, she and her husband, Alexander M. Davison, sold the Long Meadow tract to the Bowman brothers, Isaac and Col. George, who were cousins of Matilda's brother-in-law. In 1848, the original house, Traveler's Hall, was replaced by the current house. There is no historical record of why the original house was replaced, family lore suggests it either burned down or was torn down by the Bowman brothers. The current house was built on top of the foundation of Traveler's Hall. During the Civil War, the house was used as a landmark by

Jubal Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his U.S. Army commissio ...

's Confederate Army to mark their way to Belle Grove for the

Battle of Cedar Creek The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, was fought on October 19, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fighting took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern Virginia, near Cedar Creek, Middletown, and the Valley Pike. Du ...

as the house is clearly visible from

Signal Knob Signal Knob is the northern peak of Massanutten Mountain in the Ridge and Valley Appalachians with an elevation of . It is located in George Washington National Forest in Shenandoah County, Virginia, Shenandoah County and Warren County, Virginia, ...

on the top of

Massanutten Mountain Massanutten Mountain is a synclinal ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, located in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is near the West Virginia state line. Geography The mountain bisects the Shenandoah Valley just east of Strasburg in Sh ...

where Confederate Scouts had located a weakness in the Union Army's flank where

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

was headquartered at Belle Grove. After the Civil War, the Bowman family sold Long Meadow to Andrew Jackson "A.J.' Brumback, a Valley native who had maintained his fortune by refraining from investing in Confederate Bonds during the war. Brumback purchased the property in 1888 and later purchased Belle Grove in 1907. Long Meadow has been owned and operated by Brumback's descendants ever since, his great-great-granddaughter and her husband currently operate the property as a

Black Angus The Aberdeen Angus, sometimes simply Angus, is a Scottish breed of small beef cattle. It derives from cattle native to the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine and Angus in north-eastern Scotland. In 2018 the breed accounted for over 17 ...

cattle farm. Long Meadow was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1995. The registration includes the main house, it's outbuildings, the graveyard, and the property immediately surrounding the buildings.

Grounds

The current house was built in 1848 on top of the original foundation by the Bowman brothers after Traveler's Hall either burned down or was torn down. The house is a two-story, five bay, brick dwelling in a transitional

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style. It has a hipped roof and a double-pile, central-passage floor plan. A frame kitchen wing was added in 1891 and interior transoms were added on the first floor in 1920 by Brumback's daughter-in-law. The property is also the home of the Hite Family cemetery where Isaac Hite Sr. and Jr. are interred along with their wives, children, and other family members. The graveyard is currently maintained by Belle Grove for the Hite Family. Also on the property are several outbuildings. The spring house with contributing

icehouse Icehouse or ice house may refer to: * Ice house (building), a building where ice is stored * Ice shanty, a shelter for ice fishing also known as an ''Icehouse'' * Ice skating rink, a facility for ice skating. * Ice hockey arena, an area where ice ...

, along with the overseer's house, and

smoke house A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.

(no longer standing) were built by the Hite Family in the early 18th century. After Brumback purchased the property in 1888, he had several other outbuildings erected around the property including a workshop, hen house (which now operates as a machine shed), granary, and a bank barn in 1891. The bank barn is one of the largest barns in Warren County at approximately and is three stories tall. At some point, a smithy was also built on the property, but the date is unknown. The family speculates it was either built by the Hite or Bowman Families in the early 19th century. A

pole barn Pole framing or post-frame construction (pole building framing, pole building, pole barn) is a simplified building technique that is an alternative to the labor-intensive traditional timber framing technique. It uses large poles or posts bu ...

and small shed also stand on the property and were built in the 1990s by the current owner's father.

National registration

Long Meadow was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 1995. The outbuildings and property were originally nominated by

Mary Washington College The University of Mary Washington (UMW) is a public liberal arts university in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the Fredericksburg Teachers College, the institution was named Mary Washington College in 1938 after Mary Ball Washing ...

. Long Meadow is listed for local significance.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Federal architecture in Virginia Greek Revival houses in Virginia Houses completed in 1848 Houses in Warren County, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Warren County, Virginia