Widow Violett's House (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact spot where the house once stood. No visible remains exist. The lamp and stone entrance column that stood at the start of the driveway to the Widow Violett home and still standing between the parking lot and the road behind a small wood fence.


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Here follows an excerpt from Donald Hakenson's "This Forgotten Land" tour guide:

Elizabeth Violett was the was the widow of Thompson Violett, a veteran of the War of 1812. Her parents, William and Statia Millan are buried in the Millar/Potter Cemetery. Widow Violett's house was a prominent landmark in the Lorton area and was mentioned regularly in the Union and Confederate Official Records during the early part of 1861 and 1862.

CAPTAIN STRINGFELLOW'S NIGHT ATTACK INSIDE WIDOW VIOLETT'S HOUSE.
On March 22, 1863, Captain Frank Stringfellow, one of Jeb Stuart's valued scouts and a noted spy, with thirty-five troopers of the Fourth Virginia Cavalry surprised Company F, Second Pennsylvania Cavalry who had headquartered for the night in Mrs. Violett's house.

At approximately three o'clock in the morning, Captain Stringfellow and his men had crept up to the house, past the sentinels without being seen. Captain Stringfellow with two troopers rushed through the side door of the house while Captain Farrow and his men of the Fourth Virginia Cavalry rushed in the front door. They rushed in screaming and shooting at everything that moved. They also fired at each other during the excitement inside the house.

When the shooting ended Captain Stringfellow had wounded two Northern cavalrymen, killed one and captured twenty Union prisoners. The Fourth Virginia Cavalry had two troopers wounded with Captain Farrow mortally wounded. Upon departing Mrs. Violett's house Captain Stringfellow was forced to leave Captain Farrow at a house north of the Occoquan because he was too severly wounded. Captain Farrow gave his revolver to Captain Stringfellow on his death bed and according to his relatives that revolver is now maintained at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia.

In his report Captain William Brinton, of the Second Pennsylvania Cavalry stated that eighty to one hundred troopers from the Fourth Virginia Cavalry surrounded the night headquarters at Mrs. Violett's house where Lieutenant Clement R. See, with twenty-five troopers from Company F, Second Pennsylvania Cavalry had stayed the night. The enemy secreted their horses in the woods and came stealthily, dismounted, and surrounded the reserve. The sentinel on post challenged the advance in the usual manner and received an evasive answer. Becoming alarmed he fired immediately and dangerously wounded the leader, Captain Farrow. Company F was overpowered by the superior members of the enemy. Twenty troopers captured including Lieutenants See, Biles, and Bacon. Three troopers wounded, one mortally. That means only two or three men survived to tell the tale.

What version do you believe? Was it the sentinels on duty that escaped because they were all asleep? Also, did the Union officer try to lessen the embarrassment of what actually happened at Mrs. Violett's house by greatly exaggerating the Confederate numbers? No one will ever know for sure what really happened on that cold dark night in March.

MOSBY RAID TWO MILES FROM WIDOW VIOLETT'S.
On May 14th, 1863 three Union supply wagons carrying rations, with their drivers, accompanied by three other men, had left Widow Violett's house which was the camp of the Thirteenth Vermont Infantry. About two miles from their camp, they were suddenly attacked by a party of guerillas, under the command of Lieutenant Billy Smith of Mosby's command. With pistols held at their heads, the unarmed teamsters and their companions had no option but to surrender.

The rangers cut the teams from the wagons, mounted the captives on the horses and hurried back southwest across the Occoquan river. Word was soon brought to the Thirteenth Vermont's camp, and Lieutenant Colonel William Munson commanding, with Colonel Francis V. Randall being ill, hurried off several parties on each side of the river, in hopes to intercept and capture the guerillas. But Mosby's men had too long a start and took their prisoners to Gainesville, where they were paroled and released.

CAPTAIN LOWING'S RECONNAISSANCE TO OCCOQUAN VILLAGE.
On a bitter cold and snowy day on February 3, 1862, with Captain Lowing in command, consisting of Lieutenant Brennan and thirty-four men from Company I, and Lieutenant Ryan and forty-four men from Company H, Third Michigan Infantry, departed their camp that was southwest of Alexandria, and started on a reconnaissance mission to Burke Station and the Occoquan. After marching seven miles, Captain Lowing and his command reached Barkers Crossroads. At Barker's, the storm had become so bad that Captain Lowing decided to head towards the Occoquan via Hooes Road. After marching six miles the small column approached the riverside rocky bluff, wooded to the crest, two hundred and fifty feet high, but looking higher, that overlooked the village of Occoquan. This location was approximately one mile from Widow Violett's house. Sending Lieutenant Brennan with ten men to reconnoiter, the soldiers saw squads of unarmed recruits drilling in the streets of Occoquan.

The scouts had been gazing from the cliff for quite awhile when they were discovered. Confederate soldiers from Hampton's Legion, after great confusion, began a musketry fire on the intruders. Captain Lowing, joining his advanced party, ordered the fire returned and three Union volleys rang across the Occoquan. After firing the volleys, the unit pulled back, out of range of the Confederate weaponry. Captain Lowing then ordered a retreat in squads of eight men abreast. As the detail marched through an open area in order to reach a ravine, the squads delivered a volley at the enemy below. Captain Lowing reported that the men fired deliberately and filed to the rear without confusion, acting with coolness and courage throughout. Also, he reported that four of the enemy were seen to fall, and were carried off by their Confederate comrades.

It is likely that General Hampton himself witnessed the affair, as he was sick at this time and probably confined to quarters in the Hammill Hotel.

Captain Lowing finally withdrew his tired and leg-weary column on the road to Widow Violett's house. After marching a little further down the Telegraph Road (Lorton Road), Captain Lowing's men became so exhausted that they could travel no longer, directed a search to be made for horses. In the search they found two horses in a barn near a deserted house. The owner of the horses could not be ascertained, so he reported, and mounted the exhausted men two abreast on them, and rode towards camp near Pohick Church. However, Captain Lowing, proving himself an officer and a gentleman, did inquire about the disposition of the horses -- whether to hand them over to the brigade quartermaster or to "return them to the place from whence taken."


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Here follows an excerpt from the Connection newspaper that seems to show that the Violett house has been completely forgotten by even the people who manage the park:

Origins of Historic Lorton Property Still Dark
Secret Garden emerges from shrouds of invasive plants with work of volunteers.
By Susan Laume
Thursday, January 6, 2022

Lorton’s iconic lantern is mysteriously re-lit and glowing with a faint light visible at night, but there’s been no new light shown on the mystery of the lantern’s origins, who built it or owned it decades ago. The land where it sits was part of a July 2002 land transfer to the Fairfax County Park Authority. Located in Laurel Hill Park near the park’s Central Green, the cement and quartz monument with iron grill work, once lit with electricity but dark until recently, presents a quirky and artful marker for the park, and a reminder of the land’s historic uses.

The lantern generally is held by locals to be one of two identical structures that marked the entrance lane for a house of some significance. The house and its substantial garden can be seen in grainy pictures in Fairfax County’s historic photograph collection in the year 1937, but they disappear by 1953 pictures. The second lantern, if not a myth, is gone now too, as is the foundation of the 1900s era house; both likely the victims of the rerouting of Lorton, Telegraph, or Workhouse roads, or some prior catastrophe.

As intriguing as the house and lantern, park volunteers have re-discovered and begun restoring the intricate “secret” 1930s era garden with permission of the Park Authority. Tucked away in an obscure section of the park, guarded by dense growths of black berry thorns and poison ivy, it has been seen by only a few. Descriptions of the monuments and garden are included in Fairfax County’s application to the U.S. Department of Interior for designation in the National Register of Historic Places. The Register describes it only as “the remnants of a sunken garden once associated with a building that previously stood on the site … established by 1937.”

THE THREE-TIERED garden uses quartz hardscape matching the lantern to edge its garden walls, as well as to create an eight column pergola. Along with a brick barbecue, the features create an outdoor living section of the garden; evocative of the current trend for outdoor living spaces. A decorative cement bridge connects two tiers of the garden on either side of a rectangular cement garden pool. Curved cement sidewalks with inlaid decoration grace walkways to wide slate and brick steps leading into the garden tiers; features unusual in simple houses of the era. A short distance away are traces of another garden area with iron trellises and, most notably, a larger version of the lantern, also of quartz with high wooden rails and a metal cap.

Another feature, a raised, enclosed, unsurfaced tennis court is nearby, visible in historic pictures after the house had disappeared and likely used by D.C. workhouse staff.

WHO OWNED the house and its substantial grounds? Hours of historical research have led to more dead ends than certain answers. It’s known the property was part of the area seized by the District of Columbia in 1910 to provide land for the Lorton workhouse.

At the time of the land condemnation and seizure (in modern terms, eminent domain), the property was owned by Luther A. Denty. He received $3,349.24 for 212 acres, including his 84 acre parcel which included the land where the house and garden have been located. The payment amounted to approximately $16 per acre. Denty was a merchant, whose father, Alexander Denty was a wealthy merchant with significant land holdings. Denty likely had adequate means to build a substantial house with elaborate gardens during his ownership. But did he have the opportunity? He purchased the land in 1902 from an heir of Elizabeth Violett, her son Thompson Violett. In 1909 the court realized that the deed for the 1902 sale had not been recorded and corrected the error. Because of the error, no taxes were collected for the parcel during six years of Denty’s ownership, so no information is available on possible improvements made during that time. The next year the property was seized by the government. Soon after, in 1912, Denty died of tuberculosis at age 38. He is buried at the historic Pohick Episcopal Church, the home church to founding fathers George Washington and George Mason.

Could the house and garden have been present when purchased by L.A. Denty? Thompson Violett was the prior owner. He purchased the property at a commissioner’s sale of land in February 1874. That sale was decreed by the Circuit Court of Fairfax County for payment of his mother’s debts at the time of her death. The sale notice for Elizabeth Violett’s land described the property: “is without improvements, but is of good quality and well located.”

Could Thompson Violett have improved the property prior to the commission sale? The four children of Elizabeth had divided the land they inherited from their mother. In the chancery court records there is mention that Thompson intended to give some of the land to his son Milton on which to build a house. The court record indicates Milton paid for lumber to be milled for the building, but later tried to recoup the money paid to the sawmill. This suggests the lumber was not used and the house was not built while Thompson or Milton Violett was the owner.

Could the house have been built earlier as Elizabeth Violett’s home? She was a widowed farmer who owned between 50 to 116 acres during her lifetime. In 1861, tax records show she owned three enslaved people, two horses, ten cattle, and five hogs. During that period in the early 19th century, farmers in southeast Fairfax County had focused on tobacco production which exhausted the soil. Much of the land was left fallow and uncultivated beginning in the 1840s until after the Civil War. Violett was exempt from taxes between 1861-1864 but speculation is that by this time her farm was not productive.

Reports of the day indicate that during the Civil War her property was used as a landmark as well as a campsite. Though no major battles took place in the immediate area, her house was the site of a skirmish on March 22, 1863. The 4th Virginia Cavalry surprised members of the 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry who had camped on Violett’s farm that evening. The skirmish left three Union soldiers wounded or dead, 20 Union soldiers captured, and two Confederates wounded. Could she have built a substantial house and garden which captured the attention of soldiers as a landmark? Or was her house more fitting for a poor farmer who died with debt?

FINALLY, COULD the house and gardens have been built by and for the use of workhouse staff?

Other historic references indicate that the prison superintendent was housed in the 18th century Laurel Hill House, from which the area gets its name. Laurel Hill House was the home of Revolutionary War patriot William Lindsey, who built the house after his purchase of 1,200 acres in 1787 and 1790. He was a carpenter and tavern-keeper and one of the first owners of large tracts of land in the area. Laurel Hill House, still standing but in disrepair, also has terraced gardens with brick hardscape built circa 1937. Since this is the known house and garden used by the superintendent, the highest ranking person at the workhouse, it seems unlikely another more elegant house and garden were built by the prison for a lower level staff person.

While the lantern is shining a new light in Lorton, this bit of history is still dark. History detectives who can shed additional light on the story of the lantern, house, or gardens are invited to contact The Connection.