Good Bye Old House

[L Verge]

As many of you know, I entered the study of the Lincoln assassination when I was very young and learned of my family's story that David Herold had spent the night of April 13, 1865, with my great-grandparents in their home in the village of T.B. - leaving behind a nightshirt with the laundry mark of John Surratt in it. When I saw the shirt and heard the story, I was hooked.

My family lived in the house until the mid-1990s when my widowed mother became too fragile to take care of a 13-room Victorian with 4.5 acres of land. She continued to own it, and I took care of it as best as I could until her death in 2009. It has been on the market since that time, but vandals and vermin have had their way with it over the years. What was once a proud old home with lovely gardens around it stood lonely and deserted when even I became afraid to check on it. Rick Smith of this forum has been a good friend over the past five years or so by watching out for it, boarding up windows and doors over and over again, and listening to me complain.

The purpose of this lengthy message is to post an obituary for the old Huntt Home in T.B., Maryland. On the night of May 3-4, vandals had their final say. The house was set on fire and completely destroyed except for three tall chimneys still reaching to the sky and a small portion of what was once a huge parlor - the last section to be added in 1905. The original portion was built ca. 1830, by Jeremiah Townshend, the man who built Surratt House.

Now for the weird part: Get out your ouija boards and seance candles. My daughter and I went down to view the remains this afternoon. Because of my walking problems, I sat in the car while she took photos. As she was walking back up the long lane, she noticed a portion of a charred book. I have no idea the title because only pages 63-88 remain intact and readable. The size indicates a paperback, and the text indicates a historical novel.

What immediately knocked me back in my seat, however, was the content of the first page I read - page 63. First, I see "General Lew Wallace...while watching Conover squirm....'I think we should have these three witnesses investigated. Where did they come from?' Baker, who else?"

The story line then proceeds to take the military commission to Ford's Theatre for their first-hand view of the crime scene. General Hunter is mentioned, Ferguson's Restaurant, Taltavul's Saloon, and on it goes. What are the chances of pages from a book on the Lincoln assassination lying right there at her feet waiting to be picked up among all the ruins?

Lincoln said "We cannot escape history," and he was surely correct when it came to me and the Lincoln assassination. Now I need a history detective to identify the title and author of this book. And, I haven't yet gotten past the first page!

[BettyO]

Laurie -

I'm so very sorry that this grand old piece of history in itself did not survive. It's a shame that some people simply are so selfish that they don't care about or respect the property of others, much less a proud history. Many a time when I'd turn from Route 5 onto Woodyard Road to go to Surratt House, I'd see the dormers and roof of the old house beckoning me.

You do have wonderful memories of the old place. Do you have any photographs? I'm sure you do - and will cherish them....

About the spooky findings....there is a message there somewhere - so carry on! Someone or something knows your love and connection to history!

[Rsmyth]

Laurie, on one of my trips south, I stopped by your old homestead. I walked around and took pictures. Another piece of history gone.

[Linda Anderson]

I hope you'll post a photo of the house, Laurie, and you really need to write a book about all your experiences with the Lincoln assassination story.

[Anita]

Laurie, how terribly sad. I'm sorry for your loss. So much history and memories gone up in smoke. But then there's the find of those pages, not just any pages.

I like to think the find of those pages are a reminder that history can't be wiped out by the loss of material things. It survives because there are people that never give up searching for truth.

[SSlater]

Laurie. I might get to see the old house - if you let me a peak at the photos, But we can't see it (present tense) as you do -even without pictures. I can't hear people calling to one another. I can't see Sunday picnics on the lawn or maybe a birthday party. I can't hear family laughing. Take care of the pictures and don't be embarrassed if a tear comes. That is your treasure, that we cannot ever enjoy.

[Dawn E Foster]

How sad. I'm so sorry, Laurie.

[RJNorton]

I am very sorry, Laurie. What you quoted from the book does not ring a bell with me, but I'll see if I can find something about it.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I'm sorry to hear what you have lost. And this is maybe the saddest part - there was no need it happened:

(05-05-2014 06:54 PM)L Verge Wrote:  ...vandals had their final say. The house was set on fire and completely destroyed.

I will never understand how people can willingly do this to others or others property they don't even know.

[Craig Hipkins]

Laurie, Sorry to hear about your house. That book you found sounds like it might have come straight from the twilight zone. Is it possible that it could be part of Van Doren's book maybe?

Craig

[Gene C]

Sorry for your loss, and relieved to know you are safe and your current home is not the one that was lost. Please find comfort with the knowledge that you have many friends who are concerned about you.

[Rick Smith]

Laurie,

When we were talking on the phone yesterday afternoon regarding some of the issues at Holly Field, including the difficulties of finding a buyer, we also jokingly observed that it would be a blessing if the place would just burn to the ground so that the remaining acreage would then sell much easier.

It was absolutely surreal when you called an hour later to say that the house was no more.

I always enjoyed checking on it for you and I guess felt just a little like it was mine too. It is a blessing that it is gone, in a practical sense, but it is also very sad.

[L Verge]

Thank you, everyone. And, John Stanton, you started me crying again -- which for you young squirts is very hard to do once you reach a certain age. Your remarks about what I will always remember about the house reminded me of what one of my classmates told me at our class reunion a few years back. She said that she always envied me growing up in that big old house 'cause it had a dining room large enough to hold twenty people at a birthday party.

I did have the largest house of anyone in my class -- but I always envied them because they had NEW houses, built after WWII. Mine was so old that it was older than the Civil War!

I have a history of the old place that I did for someone years ago. I will send it to Roger to post here. I added the home's obituary to it this morning.

[Kieran McAuliffe]

What a shame Laurie. It just shows what a struggle it is to save history. There is an accepted lack of respect in society shown by graffiti and vandalism.

[RJNorton]

Many thanks to Rich Smyth for sending these pictures to post (with Laurie's permission):

Also, thank you to Laurie for sending the history of the house.

THIS OLD HOUSE…

They often say that, if walls could talk, they would tell some fascinating stories about a house and the people who lived in it. The house at 7500 Accokeek Road in the historic village of T.B. is no exception. The following brief synopsis highlights some interesting national history related to “this old house:”

The house began as a story-and-a-half cottage with two rooms down, two rooms up, a roof that continued down to form a front porch and a lean-to addition for a kitchen. It was built during the first half of the 1800s by Jeremiah Townshend, the same carpenter that built Surratt House, now a Civil War museum in Clinton, Maryland. For awhile, the house served as the post office for the hamlet of T.B. as well as the home of Mr. Townshend’s sister.

In 1862, Joseph Eli Huntt of Charles County bought the house and moved there with his wife and young daughter. He took over the postmastership and moved the postal facility to a store that he ran next door to the house. In 1865, the family grew with the birth of a son. In the same year, the Huntts and the house had a small brush with history.

As the Civil War ground to an end in the waning months of 1864, the young actor, John Wilkes Booth, embarked on a scheme to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln, spirit him via carriage into Southern Maryland and cross the Potomac River en route to the Confederate capital at Richmond. According to one source, Mr. Huntt was prepared to provide a fresh team of horses when the kidnappers arrived in T.B.

The kidnap plot failed, and Booth changed his plans to assassination. On April 13, 1865, one of his gang members, David Edgar Herold, who was serving as a scout for the group, was sent into Charles County to make sure that members of the Confederate underground were still in place. On his way back to Washington City, he was caught in a sudden rainstorm. Reaching T.B., he stopped at Mr. Huntt’s store and asked to spend the night by the warm stove. He was well-known to the family, so he ended up spending the night in the downstairs bedroom at the home. When the family got up the next morning, he was gone – leaving behind a nightshirt bearing the laundry mark of John H. Surratt, Jr., Booth’s #2 man in the kidnap scheme. That nightshirt is now on display at Surratt House Museum.

That night, April 14, 1865, Booth shot Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. He and Herold fled the city into Southern Maryland, riding hard past the Huntt home shortly after midnight. The family was up feeding the infant and remembered hearing horses and the dogs in the village barking. Later that day, they had federal troops knocking at the door inquiring about riders in the night, but not telling what had happened. When Mr. Huntt found out the story, he was warned to keep the visit from Herold a secret, which he did and likely spared himself from imprisonment.

Over the years, the family grew and so did the house. Mr. Huntt became quite a businessman, owning hundreds of acres, five farms, a new store in T.B. (now the New York Deli), and a funeral business. In the 1870s, after the birth of two more daughters, he enlarged his house to two-and-a-half stories. In 1905, his widow added the large parlor and bedroom above.

In a large field behind the house was the family’s sheep meadow. There’s some history attached to that also. When President Woodrow Wilson was courting his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, they enjoyed taking drives down into Southern Maryland, using what is now Brandywine Road. They often brought along a picnic lunch and would stop beside the sheep meadow to eat and enjoy the quiet. On the way back, their driver would go to Mr. Huntt’s old store – now run by his son-in-law, Bruce Burroughs – to fill the gas tank. Mr. Burroughs and his son, Huntt, would chat with the President and answer questions about the raising of sheep. During World War I, President Wilson installed sheep on the White House lawn to solve the “mowing” problem. The wool from the sheep went into making uniforms for the U.S. troops. Was the President inspired by the sheep at our old home? We like to think so.

Until 1950, the house sat where the access lane from Brandywine Road to dual-lane Route 5 is today. When the State of Maryland decided to build the “new” Route 5, the house had to go. It was going to be torn down, but Mr. Huntt’s granddaughter fought the State and got them to agree to move the house back to the sheep meadow and to turn it around 180-degrees to face Accokeek Road. The sheep meadow became the lawn, and David Herold’s bedroom became a pantry.

And there the old home has stayed for another 64 years. It has been vacant since 1993, when Mr. Huntt’s granddaughter had to move in with her daughter. Nothing much changed until 2003 when vandals and thieves discovered it. The results of that, demolition by society, has stripped the home of its dignity – but its history remains, at least for the time-being.

Finis: On the night of May 3-4, 2014, vandals completed their work. The Huntt home burned to the ground.


Laurie Verge
Great-granddaughter of Joseph Eli Huntt