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Just came across this story in the Culpeper paper. Hard to believe the county wants to put a Wal-Mart within musket range of this historic house.
Ellwood named favorite Virginia Civil War siteCulpeper Star Exponent
By Allison Brophy Champion
08/15/08
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Ellwood, that old red farmhouse on the Wilderness Battlefield of Orange County, is really getting noticed.
The readers of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative’s “Cooperative Living” recently selected the 1790s structure “Favorite Virginia Civil War Site.”
Ellwood was named as such in this month’s edition of the magazine, which is distributed to more than 350,000 REC power customers in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
The “Reader’s Choice” recognition of Ellwood means increased exposure for a historic house now in the throes of a massive rehab.
“It helps bring Ellwood out of the shadows,” said Russ Smith, superintendent of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, of which the two-story frame house is part.
“I hope that it sparks curiosity so that more regional visitors will come to see what Ellwood is all about.”
It is perhaps best known for what’s buried not far from its front door: the amputated arm of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
Jackson lost the arm in the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville, shot by his own troops.
Surgeons amputated his arm at the nearby Wilderness Tavern Field Hospital and Jackson’s limb was buried with a marked stone in the Ellwood family cemetery. (He died eight days later — the rest of his body is buried in Lexington.)
William Jones built Ellwood near the end of the 1700s and it has stood firm since, witness to more than 200 years of United States history.
Confederate and Union soldiers bled and died inside Ellwood, a makeshift Civil War hospital during the Chancellorsville Battle and the Marquis de Lafayette stopped there for breakfast in 1825.
In addition, Union General Gouverneur K. Warren moved into Ellwood, setting up his headquarters in the front room during the May 1864 Battle of the Wilderness.
The Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, a volunteer group dedicated to fully restoring, maintaining and interpreting Ellwood, recently completed phase one of the house rehab — a five-month project that included restoration of the Warren room and two others.
FOWB has been raising money for the renovation for five years, said project chairwoman Carolyn Elstner, whose grandparents lived at Ellwood until 1977 when it was turned over to the National Park Service.
“Oh, my gosh I just keep pinching myself,” she said of the phase one end result. “It is exactly what the park said it would be and what we have been able to allow them to do by our fundraising and keeping it open to the public.”
Being recognized by Cooperative Living is a cherry on that sundae.
“Ellwood deserved it,” Elstner said, “and I think it will bring even more attention to the site.”
In fact, when she stopped by the house last weekend two visitors mentioned the Cooperative Living article in a half hour’s time.
Elstner of Fredericksburg thanked the readers who voted for Ellwood and encouraged those who haven’t checked the place out to do so.
Phase two of the home’s renovation starts next month — an estimated $75,000 project, she said. The NPS will oversee design of interpretative exhibits on the first floor.
It is certainly a worthy project, Smith noted, because that old farmhouse stands alone.
“Aside from being an excellent example of an 18th century Orange County plantation house, Elwood is the only surviving structure from the Battle of the Wilderness,” he said. “Our vision is for Elwood to be the gateway to the Wilderness Battlefield.”
Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@starexponent.com.
Jim Wolf
New Oxford, PA
Ellwood named favorite Virginia Civil War siteCulpeper Star Exponent
By Allison Brophy Champion
08/15/08
Ellwood, that old red farmhouse on the Wilderness Battlefield of Orange County, is really getting noticed.
The readers of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative’s “Cooperative Living” recently selected the 1790s structure “Favorite Virginia Civil War Site.”
Ellwood was named as such in this month’s edition of the magazine, which is distributed to more than 350,000 REC power customers in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
The “Reader’s Choice” recognition of Ellwood means increased exposure for a historic house now in the throes of a massive rehab.
“It helps bring Ellwood out of the shadows,” said Russ Smith, superintendent of the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, of which the two-story frame house is part.
“I hope that it sparks curiosity so that more regional visitors will come to see what Ellwood is all about.”
It is perhaps best known for what’s buried not far from its front door: the amputated arm of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
Jackson lost the arm in the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville, shot by his own troops.
Surgeons amputated his arm at the nearby Wilderness Tavern Field Hospital and Jackson’s limb was buried with a marked stone in the Ellwood family cemetery. (He died eight days later — the rest of his body is buried in Lexington.)
William Jones built Ellwood near the end of the 1700s and it has stood firm since, witness to more than 200 years of United States history.
Confederate and Union soldiers bled and died inside Ellwood, a makeshift Civil War hospital during the Chancellorsville Battle and the Marquis de Lafayette stopped there for breakfast in 1825.
In addition, Union General Gouverneur K. Warren moved into Ellwood, setting up his headquarters in the front room during the May 1864 Battle of the Wilderness.
The Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, a volunteer group dedicated to fully restoring, maintaining and interpreting Ellwood, recently completed phase one of the house rehab — a five-month project that included restoration of the Warren room and two others.
FOWB has been raising money for the renovation for five years, said project chairwoman Carolyn Elstner, whose grandparents lived at Ellwood until 1977 when it was turned over to the National Park Service.
“Oh, my gosh I just keep pinching myself,” she said of the phase one end result. “It is exactly what the park said it would be and what we have been able to allow them to do by our fundraising and keeping it open to the public.”
Being recognized by Cooperative Living is a cherry on that sundae.
“Ellwood deserved it,” Elstner said, “and I think it will bring even more attention to the site.”
In fact, when she stopped by the house last weekend two visitors mentioned the Cooperative Living article in a half hour’s time.
Elstner of Fredericksburg thanked the readers who voted for Ellwood and encouraged those who haven’t checked the place out to do so.
Phase two of the home’s renovation starts next month — an estimated $75,000 project, she said. The NPS will oversee design of interpretative exhibits on the first floor.
It is certainly a worthy project, Smith noted, because that old farmhouse stands alone.
“Aside from being an excellent example of an 18th century Orange County plantation house, Elwood is the only surviving structure from the Battle of the Wilderness,” he said. “Our vision is for Elwood to be the gateway to the Wilderness Battlefield.”
Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@starexponent.com.
Jim Wolf
New Oxford, PA