3789 Spring Valley Road , Alderson, WV 24910(Greenbrier County)

Dated by a brick near the front door which says "1840", this house shows its roots in the Adam style including "having curved or polygonal projections to the side or rear" (McAlester 1994: p 153). The use of a hipped roof was not uncommon to this style. The once detached kitchen was incorporated into the house using a breezeway with living space added behind and above the kitchen. The bricks may have been fired and laid by locally famous brickmaker John Dunn. He is known to have made the bricks for the Blue Sulphur Springs Resort and what is more likely than, while there, he was also engaged to make the bricks for this house.

While the outside retains its Adamesque characteristics, the inside shows evidence of style change and renovation. The faux grain painting on the woodwork in the four main upstairs rooms is a remarkable example of this style of decoration.

THREE OWNERS IN 170 YEARS

The historic Brick House has changed ownership just three times in the past 170 years. The Hamilton family built the home circa 1840. Hamilton's then sold the Brick House to the Johnston-Jarrett family in 1855. The Johnston-Jarrett family owned the home from 1855 until selling it to the Fleshman family in 1949. The Fleshman family has now owned the Brick House for 76 years.

Timeline of ownership - Andrew D. Johnston purchased the farm from Jacob Hamilton in 1855. Johnston left the farm to his son, Thompson Hickman Jarrett. The farm was inherited by T. H. Jarrett's daughter Pauline Jarrett Huff. Mrs. Huff and her children sold the farm to Lewis A. Fleshman in 1949 (Deed Book 169: p 558). It is currently owned by Doris Fleshman Griffith.

Of note: Thompson Hickman Jarrett who served three terms in the WV Legislature and was Sheriff of Greenbrier County from 1906 to 1912.

TRAVELLER - GEN. ROBERT E. LEE'S WAR HORSE

Traveller, General Lee's war horse, was born on this farm, known as the Hamilton Farm, in 1857 in the Blue Sulphur Springs Valley. Traveller was an American Saddlebred and as a colt, he took top honors at the Lewisburg, Virginia, fairs in 1858, 1859 and 1860. As an adult, Traveller was a sturdy horse, 16 hands tall, Iron gray in color with black points, a long mane and flowing tail. From all accounts, Traveller was difficult, high-strung, a bit unruly, and pranced or jigged wherever he went.

General Lee first saw the horse when he took command of Confederate troops near Big Sewell Mountain, along the Midland Trail (Route 60) under a tree that came to be known as "Lee's Tree" (Pendleton 2004: p 14). At that time, Traveller had been sold to Captain Joseph M. Broun by Captain James W. Johnston, to whom the horse had been gifted by his father, Andrew Johnston. Lee later bought Traveller from Major Broun for the sum of $200 Confederate money (Pendleton 2004: p 16). Lee rode Traveller throughout the Civil War and his subsequent retirement. It is stated that Traveller went into battle more than any other Civil War horse.

Traveller walked behind the hearse at Lee's funeral and continued to be well cared for until his death in June 1871, just eight months after the death of General Lee.

Traveller was trained by an enslaved person, Frank Wilson, who after emancipation changed his name to Frank Winfield Page (Pendleton 2004: p 13). Some of the early horse training equipment is on display at the North House Museum in Lewisburg.

Mary Lucinda Page (Kelly), the first of Franks two daughters, wrote to her daughter Harriet M. Williams in 1976 that "My father was taught to go out on the Johnson farm early in the mornings and drive up the young horses from the field. He started riding at the age of ten. The horses were penned up; a bridle put on them. Then he would ride those horses every day until they were gentle. That's why it is said he was the first man to break 'Traveler' Gen Robert. E. Lee's famous' war horse" (Pendleton 2004: p 14).

Horses must be trained to tolerate commotion, people, and other strange horses. One can imagine Page riding him past the Blue Sulphur Springs Resort for that purpose. Little did he know he was training him for war.

HIGHLIGHTS

"Traveller 1840", is known the Hamilton Farm where Robert E. Lees war horse, Traveller, was foaled in 1857.

The Brick House is a two story Adamesque style home was built circa 1840 in Virginia's Blue Sulphur Valley, nearly a quarter century before West Virginia became a state in 1863

Traveller 1840 has been part of a working farm since the 1770's. The property currently consists of the home grounds and pasture and/or cropland. The property is thought to have first been settled in 1773 by Major William Hamilton

43 +/- acres of hay and grazing land surround the home creating a country estate property

Build date: Circa 1840

An underground spring, the original water source for the home, is still producing and is currently used to water livestock. The spring exit from underground is protected by a spring house made of sandstone

Constructed of hand-made - kiln-fired clay bricks, which may have been fired and laid by locally famous brickmaker John Dunn, who made and laid the bricks for the nearby Blue Sulphur Springs Resort

Unbelievably, the original staircases, mouldings, fireplace mantels are still in place

Hand cut sandstone was quarried nearby for use as lintels, foundation stones, walkways, and a basement stairway

4,028 +/- Sq. ft. living area with a partial basement

Rich and diverse resident wildlife population in perfect harmony with farming operations

Minutes to historic Lewisburg, jet airport, interstates, hospital and city amenities

Located near the historic Blue Sulphur Springs

Perfect for agricultural uses

Surrounded by large farms and timber tracts in a nice rural neighborhood

Superior access by state maintained paved roads

Cell phone coverage is good, depending on the carrier

Darkest of skies with little light pollution for star-planet gazing & astrophotography

Sedges, rushes, ferns, songbirds, frogs, turtles, & crawdads populate nearby wetlands & bogs

Located in Greenbrier County, just 20 minutes from Lewisburg, the county seat

Area fur bearing wildlife - deer, black bear, squirrel, bobcat, raccoon, fox, chipmunk, opossum, skunk, coyote, and rabbits

Area winged wildlife - eagles, hawks, owls, ravens, wild turkeys and Neotropical songbirds

Pasture grasses, wildflowers and indigenous plants, coupled with the nearby forests produce life-giving Oxygen and are a sequester of carbon dioxide

Perfect for recreational activities including shooting sports, ATV riding, horseback riding, hiking, camping, hunting and nature viewing

Low taxes, low population density

Scenic, cultural, and historic values of the farm provide not only economic benefits, but also quality of life values

LOCATION

Google Coordinates: 37.823380(N), -80.619971(W)

Address: 3789 Spring Valley Road, Alderson, WV 24910

Elevation Range: 1640 ft. to 1677 ft. +/-

BLUE SULPHUR SPRINGS VALLEY

By the early 1800's, the Blue Sulphur Valley was already well settled. Farms and small homesteads were served by 3 main turnpikes, including the Lewisburg-Blue Sulphur, Meadow Bluff-Blue Sulphur and the Red Sulphur-Blue Sulphur Turnpikes. These turnpikes were connected to the two major overland routes of the Midland Trail and Seneca Trail. There was also a road leading to Alderson on the Greenbrier River where it connected to the C&O Railroad.

The valley became an important agricultural and timber region. Blaker's Mill was a gristmill grinding wheat, corn, oats and barley while the Piercy's Mill processed wool as well as grains.

In 1832, construction of the Blue Sulphur Springs Resort was begun and finished in 1839. The resort would accommodate some 350 guests who came to take the healing waters of the mineral spring with the blueish hue. The Resort was mostly burned in 1864 by Union Troops.

"THE BLUE" THE BLUE SULPHUR SPRINGS RESORT

Mineral-spring resorts were all the rage for the rich and famous in the eastern U.S. in the 1800s, and the iridescent waters at Blue Sulphur Springs, in Greenbrier County, were no less famous than those of their extant counterparts, such as those at The Greenbrier in nearby White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and The Homestead, in Hot Springs, Virginia. Thousands once visited the Blue, though it was fated to enjoy less fame. Its pavilion is all that remains to tell the tale.

The Greek Revival pavilion at Blue Sulphur Springs is in many respects a fraternal twin of the pavilion at White Sulphur Springs, though the latter is rounded, the former, squared. A 32-foot-high square structure, its monumental hip-roof is supported by 12 Doric columns and protects a marble basin which fills with spring water.

The pavilion was the focal point of a 200-room resort built by George Washington Buster in 1834 and attracted many notable guests, including Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Robert E. Lee, Henry Clay, and Jerome Bonaparte.

Resort physician Dr. Alexis Martin opened the nations first curative mud baths here, but competition from The Greenbrier and an antebellum economic downturn caused the resort to close in 1858. Briefly it was used by the Baptists of Virginia as a ministerial college.

When the Civil War broke out, the resort facilities were used by both Confederate and Union forces, and it was intentionally burned to the ground by the Union Army in the last years of the conflict. Only the pavilion survived.

On March 27, 2013, Mrs. Rebecca Lineberry generously donated the Pavilion and two acres to the Greenbrier Historical Society, leading to the formation of the Greenbrier Historical Society's "Friends of the Blue" Committee. In 2013, the Blue Sulphur Springs Pavilion was placed on the Preservation Alliance of West Virginias Endangered Properties List, however, in 2014, an alliance of the "Friends of the Blue" Committee and many other concerned investors embarked on a rescue and rehabilitation effort, and the meticulous reconstruction of the Pavilion has been completed. In June 2023, the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia recognized the Friends of the Blue Committee for the Blue Sulphur Springs Pavilion Restoration Project by awarding the "Most Significant Save of an Endangered Property Award".