A Tour of Ashby Family Homesites

We are very fortunate to have a wonderful Ashby family historian among us!  Donald Ashby has been very kind in sharing his vast knowledge of all things Ashby with us in the past, and at the last Ashby family reunion we discussed getting a guided home tour of Ashby homes in the Front Royal, Delaplane, and Paris Virginia area.  After a rainy few days, the weather presented us with a beautiful day.  Polly Sheets, John Hilker (driver extraordinaire), Kathleen and John Crockett and I met Donald in Front Royal.

We fueled up for our tour at the Main Street Mill Restaurant.  Mom was really MUCH happier than she looks.  Sorry I missed getting John in the pic, was trying to grab the pic quickly as the waitress was bringing our food.  Note the cow that was eyeing John the whole time :)

The first home we visited in Front Royal was Oakley.  This was the home of Thomas Newton Ashby and Elizabeth Mann Almond.  In a real crossing of family lines, John Hilker's great grandparents also lived in this house when they moved here from Canada.

Then we visited "Cozy Corner" at 64 Chester Street.  This was the home of Lucy R. Buck (9/25/1845-8/20/1918), daughter of Wm. Mason Buck and Elizabeth Ann Ashby.  When Robert E. Lee visited Bel Air (next home on our tour) on his return from Gettysburg 19 year old Lucy R Buck sat on his lap and sang "Dixie" to him.  Lucy was sick most of her life but ended up outliving her brothers, sisters, and some of her nieces and nephews.

Bel Air (built 1800) home of William Mason Buck (8/30/1809-9/23/1895) and Elizabeth Ann Ashby ( 9/25/1821-1/24/1904) sister of Thomas Newton Ashby)  (married 4/3/1838).  Home located at 25 Happy Creek Rd.

Next we visited Rosebank on Rt. 55 at Markham.  Rosebank is built on part of the land leased by Thomas Marshall from Thomas L. Lee in 1765.  It is also part of the land known to have been owned by Nimrod Farrow.  It is thought the Ashby family built Rosebank.  It is definitely known that Colonel Turner Ashby came into possession of it through the death of an uncle, and started to reside there in 1820.  Turner Ashby, later General Ashby, of Confederate fame, was born there in 1828.  Colonel Ashby died in 1834 and Mrs. Ashby continued to live at Rosebank and reared her children there.  In 1853 she sold the place to Edward C. Marshall, first president of the Manassas Gap Railroad.  In 1863 the original house was partially burned and the present one was built by Mr. Marshall.

 Rosebank from across the road

Ambler schoolhouse where the Asbhys attended class.

This was a business of Turner Ashby's along with his business partner Walter Somerville.  They sold all sorts of local goods here.

Next was Wolf's Crag on Rt. 55 in Markham.  This house was built in 1822 on land originally owned by Nimrod Farrow, and it was so named by Turner Ashby in 1853 when he bought it after his mother sold Rosebank.  Jaquelin Marshall bought it in 1873.  It is a part stone and part frame house, very rambling due to several additions.  The large, high pitched rooms have very nice woodwork in the doors, windows and mantels.  It is a magnificent location, with a gorgeous view.  Turner Ashby was in the mercantile business in Markham when he bought this farm.  He was a natural horseman and excelled in the "hurdle rooms" as the steeple-chase used to be called.

Turner Ashby bought Wolf's Crag in December 1856.  He moved in on Christmas Day.  House purchased by Chancery Suit.  (note from Donald Ashby)

We then visited Ashbank Farm, also in Markham.  Turner Ashby may have lived here between 1853 and 1856.  We met the very kind current owners, who are placing the property up for sale very soon as they are retiring.

Next we visited Aspen Dale.  There is now a beautiful winery here.   Wine tasting?  Yes please!  The wines were delicious!

The house from afar.

The cherry trees in bloom were breathtaking!

The earliest, southern (left most) portion of this house, a one and one-half story cottage, with two stone chimneys on the south gable, was built by Thomas Adams, son of John Adams, prior to or after his inheritance of the land on which it is built in 1781.  Covered with clapboard, the original dwelling was later enlarged with a larger two-story structure on the north end.  The house is south of Interstate 66 and Highway 55.  1.5 miles east of Markham and 2.3 miles west of the crossroads of Highways 55 and 17 at Yew Hill.

Here we met the current owner of the property who took us inside and shared what history he knew of the home.  An old elevator was at some point installed in the older portion of the home and it still works!  He said his son has ridden in it probably 2000 times!

Boxwoods at Aspen Dale made a beautiful arch.

Next our competent and fearless driver John Hilker took us to Ashby Glen, the home of Thomas Ashby Jr.

Old barn on property.

On to Yew Hill, where Polly Ashby Sheets was born.   US Rt. 17, near Delaplane.

Yew Hill is an early pioneer house of characteristic type, clapboard with dormer windows, Jacobean sloping gables, huge chimneys, and full length porch.  It is located on the 320 acre grant secured in 1742 by Thomas Ashby, pioneer, who was then living on the Shenandoah River above Burwell's Island.  His son, Robert, was the first family to make Yew Hill his home in 1760.  While engaged in surveying his own tract of land near Ashby's Gap, George Washington made his headquarters at Yew Hill from March 9 to March 18, 1769.

Title was held by the Ashby family until 1807 when it passed to Edward Shacklett whose daughter held possession until 1880 when it reverted to relatives of the original owner.  After J. T. Ashby passed away in 1928 his son John T. Ashby Jr. (my grandfather) inherited the house and sold it in 1935.

We next visited the home of Henry Stribling Ashby (12/20/1845-7/10/1909).  Henry S. Ashby was one of nine children born to Sarah Adams and John Jamieson Ashby.  This home was called "Oakwood" and is located in the northern part of Fauquier County, Virginia on the west side of Rt. 724 - 3 miles north of where this road meets Rt. 55.  Pleasant Vale Church is about a half mile to the south.  Henry was 15 years old when the Civil War started and he soon joined Mosby's Rangers, 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, Company C.  During the war union soldiers raided his parents' house at 2:00 in the morning and took his 62 year old fatter from bed, claiming him to be one of Mosby's men, which he was not.  He was put on a train with other prisoners enrollee to Washington DC and somewhere along the line was shot just below the ear.  The union men would not allow anyone to tend to his wounds so Henry's father soon bled to death.  Near the end of the war Henry was capture and later paroled on April 22, 1865.  After the war Henry married Mary Washington Deplane and they purchased a house in the town of Deplane.  This is a brick house that was built ca. 1850 and the property lies between the Delaplane Post office and the railroad tracks.  Henry worked at both the Post Office and the Train Station for over 20 years.  He also served as the head Mason of the Turner Ashby Lodge of Free Mason located in the nearby town of Markham, Virginia.  This lodge was named in honor of his cousin, Brigadier General Turner Ashby.  Henry S. Ashby had an untimely death, being run over by a train at the station next to his house.  In August of 1895 he and other former Mosby's Rangers posed for a photograph in the town of Marshall, Virginia.  (Written June 19, 2001 Donald L. Ashby)

Next to the house of Charles Lewis Jackson Ashby in Delaplane, Virginia. 

Following this we drove by Carlton which was where my grandfather (John Turner Ashby Jr.) was born.  We were unable to get pictures, however Donald gave us a picture which Bill will include in the docs I will send along with this.  

Donald and Mom on the side of the railroad tracks.

Some amusing signs where we parked to view homes.

The blacksmith shop of Marshall Asbhy at Greenland.

Greenland (Rt. 724 near Delaplane and also known as Belmont).  Part of the Ball grant was sold in 1770 by Colonel James Ball to John Adams, whose grandson James Ewell Jr sold his inheritance of 1000 acres to Major Thomas Chunn in 1776.  Part of this land was sold to John Ashby, the son of Robert R. Ashby who had moved from Frederick (now Clarke) County to Yew Hill.

John Ashby married Mary Turner of Charles County, Maryland, and their son Colonel Turner Ashby was the father of General Turner Ashby, the noted Confederate cavalry leader.

Pleasant Vale Church where our great grandparents and grandfather worshiped.

Locust Grove site, 1767 home of Captain Hezekiah Turner, west of Scuffleburg.  New house is built on the old foundation.

We also stopped by the old cemetery here.  

Ashby family cemetery.  Many Ashbys buried here. 

Silo at Oakwood.

Beautifully restored home at Oakwood.  Several years ago we were touring a few homes and were graciously invited in to see the house and talked extensively with the owners.  

The dwelling of William Stokes was on this home site in 1759.  George Adams is believed to have lived here from the time he arrived at the Crooked Run Valley with John Adams, Zepheniah Turner, Hezekiah Turner, and John Thomas Chunn in about 1767.  He would formally acquire the 500 acre tract in September, 1776.  Adams married Ann Turner, the sister of Zepheniah and Hezekiah Turner, in 1769.  He and John Thomas Chunn volunteered as Privates in Captain James Scott's Fauquier Independent Company in 1777 and both became officers int he Fauquier Militia in 1781.  Oakwood became the home of Major Samuel Ashby, later devised to his son, Jameson Ashby.  Adams' home site is 0.6 mile north of John Ashby's Belmont.  Entrance is on Rt. 724, and 0.6 mile north of it's intersection with Rt. 826.  

Next we saw where Summerset/Rose Hill was but were unable to get a photograph of it.  

We also saw from a distance a pile of rock which was the site of Thomas Ashby Jr's home.  In the documentation that will be sent after it is scanned in there is a picture of Donald standing there that was taken at an earlier date.   The house may have been built as early as 1742.  House is located on the ridge on the east side of Rt. 17 and south side of Rt. 710.  The house had been rented and the renter stopped making payments.  He was taken to court but the court did nothing.  The house owner waited for the renter to leave for the day and then quickly had the house demolished.  

Home and Mill of Thomson Ashby who ran the Ashby Inn in Paris, Virginia. 

We next visited the site of Ashby's Tavern or the Paris Inn.  No picture available, but again there is one in the documentation Donald passed on to us. This was located at US Rts. 50 and 17 in Paris, Virginia.  

The Ashby Inn (or Paris Inn) at US Rts 50 and 17, at Paris.  At the junction of Frederick and Federal Streets.

Shortly after the War of 1812 the tavern was purchased by Captain Thomson Ashby, an uncle of the renowned General Turner Ashby, and he and his wife operated it until their deaths.

Local legend has it from the older citizens of the community, that General Lafayette attended a dance and celebration in his honor here about 1824.  It was quite an affair, lasting until the early morning hours.  While General Lafayette's official itinerary bears no mention of his visiting this town, it would have been possible.  Before the War Between the States the tavern was the social center of the region and many prominent people did stop there.

Norman B. Ashby built his tavern 1940.  This became the Ashby Inn.  This is the third version of the tavern, built with columns from the original Ashby Tavern.

Next was the home of Barbara Ashby (born 6/3/1827) who married William G. Byrd on 8/26,1856.

We then visited the site of the Goat House (no picture but again documents in Donald's scanned info).

Near the summit of Paris Mountain where Loudon, Fauquier, and Clarke counties meet, on the west side stands the home of John Ashby, reputedly the first white man to pilot a wagon across the Blue Ridge Mountains through the gap that bears his name.

The Goat House name came from an owner of the house in the 1950's and 1960's having a large tribe of goats.  These many goats were in the yard, on the porch of the house, and even inside the house.

Then we visited Oak Grove (ca. 1733) home of Robert Ashby who later moved to Yew Hill

 Marker at Oak Grove.  Ben Wiggs kindly added the following information regarding location of this marker:  GPS location of stone marker: N 39.005990, W 078.050468.
On the property of Shenandoah Farms Baptist Church. 
5852 Howellsville Rd, Front Royal, VA 22630 

This was an absolutely wonderful day and we cannot thank Donald Ashby enough for being so very generous with his time and his vast Ashby knowledge.