Lucas Cabin

[Laurie Verge]

It is a shame that the Peyton house is endangered. The village of Port Royal, Virginia, was one of the places considered by the Rockefellers for restoration before they finally decided on Williamsburg (Annapolis, Maryland, was the other - it came in second). As a result, there was a tremendous amount of research done on the various buildings.

The Brockenbough family was well-to-do, and the original parlor had exquisitly carved wooden walls. As I understand it, those walls were bought in the mid-1900s by a Kansas City art museum. They are now in storage, and I was told about ten years ago that the museum has offered to give them back to anyone who buys the Peyton house and restores it properly.

Rich Hill, home of Samuel Cox in Southern Maryland, is facing a similar fate of falling down. Its owner is a state legislator who ignores all pleas to at least stabilize it.