Rockland is the home of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

's Rust family, near

Leesburg, Virginia Leesburg is a town in and the county seat of Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is part of both the Northern Virginia region of the state and the Washington metropolitan area, including Washington, D.C., the nation's capital. European se ...

. The property housed slaves to work their farm. The property was acquired by General George Rust from the heirs of Colonel Burgess Ball in 1817. General Rust built the present brick residence about 1822, incorporating an older frame house as a rear service wing. General Rust was involved in the

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

area during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

and was a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

in 1818-1819 and 1820–1823. The 1850 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules lists 33 slaves as being owned by George Rust of Loudon County. The Rust of Virginia genealogy is available online and lists names and transactions for some of the enslaved. On his death in 1857 the house passed to his son, Colonel Armistead Thompson Mason Rust. Born at Rockland in 1820, Colonel Rust attended

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

and served with the Confederate 19th Virginia Infantry during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. On Colonel Rust's death in 1887, his son Henry Bedinger Rust inherited the property. Henry enlarged the house in 1908 to its present configuration. The house continues to be owned by the Brown family, descendants of the Rusts through Henry's daughter Elizabeth Fitzhugh Rust Brown. The Federal style house has a central hall, single pile plan, extended by the 1908 additions to a double-pile plan. A one-story Roman Doric portico was added to the south elevation in 1908, while the rear (east) elevation has a Roman Doric porch across its width. The property includes a number of outbuildings, including a brick overseer's residence, brick slave quarters, a smokehouse, a small barn, a farm supervisor's house and a variety of twentieth century buildings. What was the Virginia landing of Whites Ferry is located at Rockland. Following a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

initiated by the family owning Rockland, the ferry ceased operations.https://www.loudounnow.com/archives/white-s-ferry-closes-after-legal-dispute/article_64e02297-e635-595c-8d72-a2a4a4355368.html Rockland was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1987. Reference Rust, Ellsworth M. Rust of Virginia Genealogical and Biological Sketches of the Descendents of William Rust 1654–1940. Washington, 1940. http://wvancestry.com/ReferenceMaterial/Files/Rust_of_Virginia;_genealogical_and_biographical_sketches_of_the_descendants_of_William_Rust_1654-1940.pdf

References

External links

Rockland
at the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Federal architecture in Virginia 1820s architecture in the United States Houses in Loudoun County, Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Loudoun County, Virginia Houses completed in 1822 Leesburg, Virginia Brick buildings and structures in Virginia {{LoudounCountyVA-NRHP-stub