Union Farm House

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

The Union Farm property was so named by George Washington who, in 1769, joined several pieces of property and created the Union Farm of his Mount Vernon Estate. The property on which the house stands was part of Washington's family inheritance and has been traced back to Charles II's grant to Thomas Lord Culpeper. Washington's 1793 map of his lands indicates a smaller house on the site of the present one. The current owner believes that the house built in 1857 incorporated the foundations of this old 16 x 18-foot house. The original owner of the house was John Ballinger, one of the group of Quakers who settled in the Woodlawn-Mount Vernon area between 1846 and 1856.

A three-story wooden structure, the house originally had two wings which have since been removed. About 1914 the exterior walls were faced with brick. Between 1945 and 1949, under the ownership of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Magruder, the porch was increased to two stories and the columns were added, and the large living room was divided into two smaller rooms. The Phillips bought the property in 1949 and have subsequently made extensive improvements to the house and grounds. One back porch has been converted into a conservatory; the roof has been replaced; and the old 16 x 18-foot core of the basement has been converted into a cold room and wine cellar. The floors are of hard pine as are the doors and the interior trim. One of the three chimneys is corbeled so that it emerges through the ridge of the roof rather than the slope.

An orchard has been planted on the old barnyard site (the barn had burned down long ago). In clearing the land the owners found quantities of stone and metal items including a 4 by 6-inch wrought iron door lock now in use on the wine cellar door. A rifle bullet mold of the Civil War period was also found on the property. Plantings include several varieties of fruit trees. Near the house are a 40-foot-tall holly tree and an ash tree measuring over 14 feet in circumference.