7289 Old Rapidan Road , Rapidan, VA 22733(Orange County)

25 years ago the current owners found Old Manse and its property in considerable disrepair. With affection and respect for Peytons handiwork, they reestablished structural integrity and diligently updated wiring, plumbing, modern heating/cooling and wall repair with installation of fire-rated drywall. The former attic was transformed into further living space with office/sitting room, full bath and lovely bedroom. Storage was saved whereever it previously existed and every vacant nook and corner was further converted.

Today, there are a total of 12 rooms with four bedrooms and four full baths. A studio with private balcony above the kitchen is accessed via separate stairway and could be a fifth bedroom. There is a wood-burning fireplace in the front Parlor and the family room off the kitchen has a flue with woodstove. A former screened porch off the kitchen was converted into a home office where two custom built roll-top desks (which convey) now reside.

Gardens were planted and specimen trees saved in restoration efforts on the 3.27 acres of grounds. Today there is a slate walkway under a grape arbor among other tasteful elements. The period garden shed was saved and restored where a potting shelf and lighting make for a very useful structure. The 19th century barn was also saved from severe neglect. It serves as as two car garage, heated/lighted workshop and equipment storage on the ground level while the loft serves as storage but could be converted into an apartment as needed.

Because another church residence was built on the same elevated setting Old Manse enjoys, this location is known as Gospel Hill within the Rapidan National Historic District. From here the views across the Piedmont to the Blue Ridge are broad and beautiful as the photos will attest.

The village of Rapidan is situated on both sides of the Rapidan River in Culpeper and Orange counties. Originally a small milling town known in the late 18th century as Waugh's Ford, the village was renamed Rapid Ann Station with the coming of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad in 1854. In its strategic position as a railroad station and river crossing, Rapidan was the scene of several Civil War raids in which the mill and most of the town's buildings were destroyed. Emerging during the post-Civil War era as a regional shipping point for lumber and wood products, the village mostly contains buildings dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rapidan, the name of the town was changed again in 1886, represents a well-preserved Virginia Piedmont crossroads and railroad town of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.