Brimstone Hill House

Here follows an excerpt from the Braddock Heritage website by Gilbert Donahue:

Brimstone Hill dates to circa 1820. In 1839, Charles Arundel purchased the twelve-acre property and acquired a license to operate a tavern. In 1848, the tavern became a polling place for elections. In 1850, Arundel enlarged the building to include an inn and a store, which thrived until the latter part of the nineteenth century. During the Civil War, Confederate raider, John Arundel, was killed on his family property and buried there. The building stands at Burke Lake Road and Route 123 in Fairfax Station, Virginia.


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Here follows an excerpt from the 1970 Fairfax County Master Inventory of Historic Sites which contained entries from the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory:

Brimstone Hill:
The house known as Brimstone Hill was built in the early 1800's, according to area residents. On the 1879 Hopkins map, the designation, "Brimstone Hill," appears on this site. The land was mentioned in an 1822 will of John Arundle (sic), and it is probable that he was the original owner. During the Civil War it was known as "Arundel's Farm," and it is also said that it was a tavern (an 1883 Record of Roads survey referred to "C.A. Arundel's Old Stand on the Ox Road"). The property remained in the Arundel family until 1895 when it was purchased by Jeremiah Donovan, father of the present owner, Elma D. Brown.

In 1910 Mr. Donovan hired a local man, Mr. Rob Pitts, to oversee the farm. Mr. Pitts has been familiar with the property ever since and he reports that the house has been its present length -- six bays with exterior end chimneys -- as long as he can remember. In the early 1900's Mr. Donovan added an extension to the house and later Mrs. Paul Brown, his daughter, added a brick wing. The original one-story porch was replaced by the present two-story, porticoed porch by Judge and Mrs. Paul Brown.

Virgil Carrington Jones, author of "Ranger Mosby," has written about the Civil War Battle of Brimstone Hill, including the Arundel family involvement. The Arundel's were Union sympathizers who sent a messenger to the Union forces enabling them to launch a surprise attack on a squadron of Mosby's Rangers. The Confederate defeat on April 9, 1865, marked the last skirmish of the Civil War in Virginia.

In 1966, when Judge Paul Brown died, the Washington Post referred to him as "The Squire of Brimestone Hill" and mentioned that the house has been a political and social gathering place for local members of the Byrd Organization.

There is a small cottage on the property and a new building on an old foundation in which Mrs. Brown once operated an antique shop. There is also an Arundel family cemetery on the property.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Find A Grave website of Charles A. Arundel:

In 1839, Charles Arundel purchased property on Ox Road and two months later would receive from the county court an ordinary license to keep a house of public entertainment. By 1850, he had built a larger building so he could operate not just a tavern, known as Arundel's Tavern, but also an inn and store as well. The dwelling would soon obtain the name by which it is still known today - Brimstone Hill.

Charles Arundel and his wife Julia had 6 children according to the 1850 census. To date 2/16/2015 we found all of them.

Updating information from Jane, his own son, Pvt John Thomas Arundel was killed during the Civil War within 5 miles of his father's tavern.


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Here follows an excerpt from local author and historian Mary B. Lipsey's "This Old House: Annandale, Springfield, Burke & Beyond" presentation:

The Brimstone Hill house was opened in 1839 as Arundel's Tavern. There was also a place where people could come in to vote if they didn't want to go all the way down to the courthouse to vote. There are rumors that people who didn't vote for succession there were threatened. Every time Charles Arundel was arrested for secessionist practices, he was never convicted.

It is believed that the last battle in Fairfax County took place right near this property. We know that Mosby's was in the area. The train tracks are not far away. Private John Arundel was killed in that battle and buried on the family property.

The property is also called Brimstone Hill. The rumor or theory is that it's called that because they had circuit trials here too. If you are on trial in here, your next stop is hell, thus the Brimstone House.