Moss Neck Manor in Caroline County was built in 1856 for the Corbin family. It was recently restored and is for sale. ram

The original marble tiles in a checkerboard pattern are found on both the front and back porches at Moss Neck Manor. ram

One of the few rooms that was remodeled for modern comfort and convenience was the upstairs master bathroom. ram

A staircase leads from the home's second floor to the foyer. The property is for sale for $4.9 million. ram

Moss Neck was returned to its original splendor in a renovation that took less than a year; today it's for sale for $4.9 million

By RICHARD AMRHINE

Date published: 5/21/2004

Carefully restored mansion is for sale

PROPERTIES ARE sometimes described in terms that embellish their settings or significance: A piece of history, gloriously restored, quiet and secluded, on manicured grounds.

Applied to Moss Neck Manor, the restored 19th-century Greek Revival mansion in Caroline County, the terminology lacks accuracy only in that the description is inadequate.

Moss Neck's place in history was documented in 1998 prior to its inclusion on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The history was compiled by Calder Loth, senior architectural historian with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

The property, including the 225-foot-long antebellum mansion with 9,000 square feet of living space, plus outbuildings, swimming pool, and all 288 acres, has been listed for sale by Alex Long of Weichert, Realtors in Fredericksburg with an asking price of $4.9 million. There are five bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 13 fireplaces, all of them relined and working.

Built for well-known Virginian James Parke Corbin, the house was completed in 1856. The estate was used as Confederate Lt. Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's winter headquarters from December 1862 through March 1863. Jackson was visited there at Christmastime by Gens. Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stewart, Loth reported. That gathering was depicted in a scene from the Civil War movie "Gods and Generals."

A review of the troops by the generals, with Moss Neck in the background, is the subject of one of Civil War artist Mort Kunstler's most popular paintings.

To help them survive the winter, the thousands of troops who occupied the grounds felled many of the homestead's trees to make log huts.

The following spring, Jackson and his men would make their way to Chancellorsville for what would be the general's last battle.

Jackson's soldiers would have marched along the same 2.5-mile lane, now state-maintained, that leads from U.S. 17 to the Moss Neck property.

The general declined the indulgence of actually staying inside the mansion for more than one night, choosing to share the conditions outdoors with his men. The house was "too luxurious for a soldier, who should sleep in a tent," Jackson was quoted as saying.

But he did share in the travails of the owners, the Corbin family, who suffered the loss of three children during that harsh winter.

The Corbins had patterned the house after their mansion in King and Queen County, known as Laneville. Moss Neck is described as a five-part Palladian design, with a two-story center portion flanked by symmetrical "hyphens" leading to terminal wings on each end.

The brickwork is done in Flemish bond, with noticeably narrow mortar joints between the bricks. The porches, front and rear, are original to the house and are floored with black and white checkerboard marble tiles.

Moss Neck was in serious need of rehabilitation when current owner Howard H. Stahl bought it in 1998.

Date published: 5/21/2004