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The entranceway to Hayfield is embedded with original millstones from the property and lined with boxwoods.
A multilevel staircase spirals to attic at Hayfield.
In both the attic and the basement at Hayfield the original pit-sawn lumber is still exposed.
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BY RICHARD AMRHINE
Time can take a heavy toll on an ignored 18th-century plantation house. Vandalism can accelerate its downfall.
That was pretty much the story of Hayfield, a once-proud home beside the Rappahannock River in Caroline County.
It wasn't until 2005 that the property owner finally determined that the house ought to be saved.
Aggregate Industries, an international mining company, bought the 497-acre property from the Solite Co. in 1997. Solite initiated the property's use as a stone and gravel quarry, which attracted Aggregate in the first place. The condition of the house was not a main concern for either company.
Aggregate put a fence around the house to prevent further vandalism and took a few steps to stave off the inevitable.
But then in 2005, things changed. Company Vice President Don Delano took an interest in the old house and brought his case to the firm's top brass.
Delano was moved by Hayfield's placement on the list of Most Endangered Sites in Virginia. Elizabeth Kostelny, executive director of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, called Hayfield a classic case of "demolition by neglect."
Delano recalled that phrase earlier this week as he stood in front of a reborn Hayfield, refurbished inside and out in a project whose cost he described as having "a couple of commas and lots of zeros."
The company will use the beautifully restored house for education and corporate functions. It was built in 1760 by Lawrence Battaile on land granted earlier to his father, John. It is the definitive diamond in the rough, a gleaming white-painted brick structure surrounded by land that is being dug and scraped for its rich mineral content.
Once the commitment to the house had been made, the company turned to John Ellis, a recently hired management trainee. He had graduated from Virginia Tech in 2005 with a degree in mining and mineral engineering, so Aggregate was a perfect fit. But an untapped interest in architecture landed him in charge of Hayfield's restoration.
So Ellis did what good project managers do. He brought in experts. He called on Gary Stanton, an associate professor of historic preservation at the University of Mary Washington, and his colleague, Carter Hudgins, professor of early American culture and historic preservation.
They surveyed and prepared drawings of the house, which put the complexity of the project in perspective.
Ellis then called in Norman Co. Inc. to conduct an engineering and structural survey. Among the company's credentials was its work on the restored Fielding Lewis Store on Caroline Street, the new home of Historic Fredericksburg Foundation.
The findings of these assessments provided a pleasant surprise, overall. Yes, neglect and vandalism had taken a severe toll. Yes, assorted rodents and insects had moved in since people had moved out. Yes, it would be an expensive commitment to restore the house.
But all things considered, the experts said, the house was in remarkably good condition.
No one has lived in the house since 1974. Edward Reinhold bought it in 1940, and with his first wife, Margaret Reinhold, and his second wife, Regina, had three children, including the Hollywood actor Judge Reinhold.
With an understanding of the extent of the project before him, Ellis got to work. It was April 2006, and Delano credits him with having pulled together the restoration for yesterday's grand opening--less than a year later.
On Tuesday, scores of workers using everything from hand tools to heavy equipment were preparing the grounds for Thursday's big event. Ellis stood at the end of Hayfield's classic walkway, which is embedded with millstones and flanked by boxwoods, looking toward the front door with its sidelights and large, curved transom.
It has been the "front" since about 1914, when the advent of the automobile and improved roadways turned Hayfield's attention away from the river as a commercial and transportation artery.
Inside, Hayfield was abuzz on Tuesday with workers applying final coats of paint and other touches.
The new climate-control systems, plumbing and electrical systems have been operating for months. The wood floors, some of them replaced, most of them saved and refinished, are expansive and lustrous. The handsome staircase, which was turned when the rear of the house became the front, has had its original banister carefully repaired and refinished.
Ellis notes that Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson dined here, and probably set their strategies for upcoming battles in the house.
In the adjoining parlor, where the ladies would have retired to leave the men with their cigars and conversation, is a large portrait of King George III, a nod to the home's Georgian architecture. The house has a simple four-over-four floor plan with wide foyers and landings.
Before it was reversed back-to-front, owner William Taylor in 1844 added a rear porch with solarium above. Though the house faces north, its winter warmth and river views were no doubt appreciated.
Today, the refreshed plaster walls are freshly painted, the trim restored and repainted. The bathrooms, which were added in previous renovations, are now filled with marble and old-style porcelain.
While the two restored main levels are candy for an appreciative eye, the unfinished attic and cellar tell the story of the home's origins. Both show the framework of pit-sawn lumber that remains strong 250 years later. The attic reveals the use of horizontal "dragon beams," which extend from the corners at 45-degree angles to meet the joists that form the second-story ceiling.
The basement provides a chilling lesson from the past: a heavy, latticed door that enclosed a dank jail cell for unruly slaves.
Yesterday, Aggregate officials and many others involved or merely interested in Hayfield's rescue celebrated a mission accomplished.
The property will also be a living classroom for the university's historic-preservation students.
Some information for this story was provided by a new book, "This Very Desirable Estate: The History of Hayfield," published by Aggregate Industries.
Richard Amrhine: 540/374-5406| The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities removed Hayfield from its endangered list in 2006, but it does include two other area properties: Falmouth Union Church and James Monroe's birthplace in Westmoreland County.
The 1820 church in Falmouth has only its brick facade remaining, and the organization says it is structurally compromised. In Westmoreland, the |
