Draft:Kernstown Battlefield Historic District: Difference between revisions

The Kernstown Battlefield Historic District consists of the 315-acre Pritchard-Grim Farm and the non-contiguous 37.5-acre Sandy Ridge Tract, both located in Frederick County, Virginia with portions of the farm tract located in the independent City of Winchester. The farm property is comprised mainly of open fields and rolling meadows, a large hill and some wooded areas. The Sandy Ridge Tract is mostly forested, with field/meadow areas along its narrow north-south ridge.

The farm property features as its principal dwelling the Pritchard House, a three-story, five-bay, Greek Revival-style brick building constructed in 1854 that rests on a full-story, raised English basement and has a shallow-pitched, gabled roof clad in standing-seam metal. On the Southeast façade is a two-story entrance porch which was largely replaced in 2018. At the southwest elevation facing the farmyard, a two-story ell addition along with its covered porch and staircase was removed from the building in the mid-20th century. In general, the house has been well-maintained and is in fine condition with many original features.

In close proximity to the Pritchard House is the Pritchard Cabin, a one-and-one-half-story log structure originally constructed ca. 1790 of hewn members joined with V-notches at the corners, supported on a roughly coursed stone foundation that encloses a full walk-out basement. It most likely served as a service building (i.e., kitchen and storage) for the main household and was later modified to serve as a residence, most likely for enslaved (and one or more free) workers on the property. Unfortunately, this historically significant structure was set on fire by vandals in Oct. 2000, destroying later modifications to the building and damaging its original features. The remaining structure was encased in plywood for preservation purposes. Restoration efforts began in 2021 with stabilizing and repointing the foundation, and a 2023 study is being used by the not-for profit Kernstown Battlefield Association (KBA) to plan its further restoration and historical interpretation.

The Pritchard-Grim Farm (which includes the contributing site of a bank barn present during the American Civil War), and the later-acquired Sandy Ridge Tract (which includes traces of a road present during the Civil War), are contributing sites by virtue of their connections with the First Battle of Kernstown (1862), the Second Battle of Winchester (1863), and the Second Battle of Kernstown (1864). The farm property also includes a contributing house (referred to as the “Tenant House”) constructed by/for another member of the Pritchard family and which was most likely present during the Civil War period, a contributing stone wall which figured prominently in the Second Battle of Kernstown, and several non-contributing farm outbuildings and one dilapidated living structure which postdate the property’s period of significance.

The KBA has owned the Pritchard-Grim Farm property since 2000 and maintains it primarily for historic preservation and interpretation. The farm property features three separate color-coded historical walking trails, each with multiple historical interpretive markers, and includes a Visitor Center with museum displays, a Conference Center and an Artillery Building which houses ordnance and artifacts.

The Kernstown Battlefield Historic District was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register on Sept. 19, 2024 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 17, 2024.

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