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Local battlefield preservation group protects historic home Date published: 10/16/2006
By RUSTY DENNEN Looking for a big, historic house in town with lots of room and acreage? How about one where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee himself had breakfast before the Battle of Fredericksburg? The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust has just the place. The trust, which has a long record of protecting Civil War battlefield land here, has signed a contract to purchase Braehead, an antebellum mansion on Lee Drive off Lafayette Boulevard. "We do not usually consider houses," says Dr. Mike Stevens, CVBT president, "but Braehead is an important part of the Fredericksburg battlefield." When the family that has owned the house since it was built in the mid-19th century decided to put it on the market a few weeks ago, "We thought it important to get it off the market, at least temporarily, so we could ensure its protection," Stevens said. The trust plans to place easements on the land to prevent anyone from subdividing the more than 18-acre site and to avoid inappropriate changes to the historic building. CVBT would then resell Braehead to a preservation-minded buyer who would take care of the property. Erik Nelson, a senior planner in Fredericksburg and secretary of the trust, said the contract price was $995,000. Closing was delayed for 18 months to allow the organization time to find a suitable purchaser. Nelson said the owners, Dr. Graham Stephens, and his wife, Thelma, decided it was time to sell the property. "None of their kids have an interest in living there--and it's an enormous building--and they agreed it was time to pass it on," Nelson said. The Stephenses held a family reunion at the house in 2004, giving distant relatives a chance to reconnect with the property. Stephens' youngest son and daughter-in-law, Bruce and Sandi, ran Braehead as a bed and breakfast from 1997 to 2002 before moving to Hawaii. Then Graham Stephens, a retired emergency-room physician from Roanoke, and his wife moved back in. Braehead is within the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park boundary, but the park service couldn't acquire it because of a lack of funds. "We're delighted that CVBT stepped up and is going to preserve Braehead," said Russ Smith, the parks' superintendent.
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