LadyDigger
Bronze Member
Saw this in the paper....thought if someone was close enough...they may try to contact someone and see about detecting this place. Since they are moving the tavern and restoring it...maybe someone can detect and find some nice relics (or work out a deal with the new tavern owners) and donated some to the tavern and you can keep some. Hope someone can detect his area...hate to see it all plowed up for this new development. Let us know if anyone is able....work and Boy Scouts keeps us way to busy....Good Luck to anyone trying!!!
Annmarie
link: http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1390509&nid=25
1750s tavern won't face wrecking ball
April 21, 2008 - 8:25am
By JANET CAGGIANO
Richmond Times-Dispatch
LOUISA, Va. (AP) - The wrecking ball was about to claim its latest victim when Diane and Paul Manning intervened.
Their action will save historic Hall's Tavern. The house, which dates to the 1750s, was a popular stop for weary travelers seeking rest and food between Richmond and Charlottesville.
"This is a piece of history you can't get back," Diane Manning said.
It sits on 14 acres west of Zion Crossroads. In January 2006, the Board of Supervisors approved rezoning the property to allow for an industrial park. Proffers attached to the land required the tavern to be relocated or demolished, with the owners offering $20,000 toward the cost of moving it.
The Mannings have until June 30 to partially disassemble and transport the building to their 670-acre parcel in the Green Springs Historic District in Louisa County, less than 10 miles away. The plan is to restore the tavern to its original luster. The cost has not been finalized, Paul Manning said.
"It was important to us to save something this historic," said Manning, president and founder of PBM Products, a Gordonsville business that markets and distributes baby formula. "We didn't want to see it cut up and used for parts."
The Mannings, well versed in restoring old buildings _ they have helped save about 15 in Gordonsville _ had not heard of Hall's Tavern until late last year. That's when officials with the Green Springs Historic District contacted them for help.
"I think it's heroic what they are doing," said Rae Ely, the district's president. "So much has been lost already through the years. We really can't afford to lose another building from that time period."
When Xroads LLC of Charlottesville requested rezoning the property, county officials were unaware of the building's historic significance, said Willie Harper, chairman of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors
"I think we are happy and relieved it's going to be saved," he said. "We try to strike a balance here between preservation and property rights. In this case, I'm glad to see it's going to work out."
Still under consideration is what to do with a gravesite on the property. Andrew B. Dabney, a Confederate soldier who purchased the tavern in 1875, is buried under a stand of boxwoods about 100 yards behind the house.
Developers cannot build over the grave. Xroads officials said they have not decided whether to move it.
In the meantime, the Mannings will concentrate on the house. With help from historic preservationists, they will restore the two-story, white-frame building to what it would have looked like during Colonial times. They will purchase fixtures produced in the late 18th century and preserve the original woodworking, paneling, beams, flooring, stairs and brick.
Contractors will replace rotted wood, repair water damage and fix the roof. The house needs painting and lots of cleaning.
When completed in about a year, the couple will open the house for tours. They also will add on a kitchen so it can be used as a guest house. The Mannings live in Albemarle County.
"I had no idea what I was getting into," Diane Manning said. "It's really something."
To move the house, the couple will need numerous permits, a soil and septic analysis done on their Green Springs property, a well drilled and foundation constructed.
"When you are (restoring) an existing structure on an existing site, it doesn't require as much," Diane Manning said. "Moving it _ obviously _ is more involved."
Still, the Mannings have no regrets.
"You don't get a second chance when it come to something like this," Paul Manning said. "If you don't save it, it's gone forever."
Annmarie
link: http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1390509&nid=25
1750s tavern won't face wrecking ball
April 21, 2008 - 8:25am
By JANET CAGGIANO
Richmond Times-Dispatch
LOUISA, Va. (AP) - The wrecking ball was about to claim its latest victim when Diane and Paul Manning intervened.
Their action will save historic Hall's Tavern. The house, which dates to the 1750s, was a popular stop for weary travelers seeking rest and food between Richmond and Charlottesville.
"This is a piece of history you can't get back," Diane Manning said.
It sits on 14 acres west of Zion Crossroads. In January 2006, the Board of Supervisors approved rezoning the property to allow for an industrial park. Proffers attached to the land required the tavern to be relocated or demolished, with the owners offering $20,000 toward the cost of moving it.
The Mannings have until June 30 to partially disassemble and transport the building to their 670-acre parcel in the Green Springs Historic District in Louisa County, less than 10 miles away. The plan is to restore the tavern to its original luster. The cost has not been finalized, Paul Manning said.
"It was important to us to save something this historic," said Manning, president and founder of PBM Products, a Gordonsville business that markets and distributes baby formula. "We didn't want to see it cut up and used for parts."
The Mannings, well versed in restoring old buildings _ they have helped save about 15 in Gordonsville _ had not heard of Hall's Tavern until late last year. That's when officials with the Green Springs Historic District contacted them for help.
"I think it's heroic what they are doing," said Rae Ely, the district's president. "So much has been lost already through the years. We really can't afford to lose another building from that time period."
When Xroads LLC of Charlottesville requested rezoning the property, county officials were unaware of the building's historic significance, said Willie Harper, chairman of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors
"I think we are happy and relieved it's going to be saved," he said. "We try to strike a balance here between preservation and property rights. In this case, I'm glad to see it's going to work out."
Still under consideration is what to do with a gravesite on the property. Andrew B. Dabney, a Confederate soldier who purchased the tavern in 1875, is buried under a stand of boxwoods about 100 yards behind the house.
Developers cannot build over the grave. Xroads officials said they have not decided whether to move it.
In the meantime, the Mannings will concentrate on the house. With help from historic preservationists, they will restore the two-story, white-frame building to what it would have looked like during Colonial times. They will purchase fixtures produced in the late 18th century and preserve the original woodworking, paneling, beams, flooring, stairs and brick.
Contractors will replace rotted wood, repair water damage and fix the roof. The house needs painting and lots of cleaning.
When completed in about a year, the couple will open the house for tours. They also will add on a kitchen so it can be used as a guest house. The Mannings live in Albemarle County.
"I had no idea what I was getting into," Diane Manning said. "It's really something."
To move the house, the couple will need numerous permits, a soil and septic analysis done on their Green Springs property, a well drilled and foundation constructed.
"When you are (restoring) an existing structure on an existing site, it doesn't require as much," Diane Manning said. "Moving it _ obviously _ is more involved."
Still, the Mannings have no regrets.
"You don't get a second chance when it come to something like this," Paul Manning said. "If you don't save it, it's gone forever."
)
