Audio
Ellwood Audio Walking Tour, #5, Plantation to Farm
Transcript
Located in front of you is the brooder barn. The brooder barn was b uilt around 1950 and used for raising poultry. It is one of many buildings added by the property’s last private owners. Over the course of the 1900s, Ellwood transformed from a plantation into a modern farm, then into a protected historical site. The catalyst for these changes was the end of the Lacy ownership.
As the Lacy children reached adulthood during the late 1800s, they moved away from Ellwood. In 1896, Horace and Betty moved to a house in Fredericksburg and left Ellwood under the management of another tenant farmer, Robert Duvall, who lived and worked at Ellwood until 1899. The Lacys hired farmer David Dempsey in Duvall’s place. After the deaths of Horace and Betty Lacy in 1906 and 1907, their children sold Ellwood to Hugh Evander Willis of Vermont. Willis’ goal was to transform Ellwood into a modern farm. In 1909, he invited his parents to take over the farm. In preparation for their arrival, Hugh renovated the house and removed the old outbuildings in the main service yard, including the former quarters for enslaved people. The Willis family raised many types of animals at Ellwood, including cattle, sheep, chickens, turkeys, and hogs.
During the 1920s, the Wilderness region experienced a period of rapid growth and development. The United States Marine Corps held a large demonstration on the Wilderness Battlefield in 1921. President Warren Harding traveled from Washington to observe the exercises. During the three-day event, soldiers made their way to Ellwood and stopped by the family cemetery. The Marines’ usage of the battlefield fits within a larger trend to preserve Civil War battlefields at the time. Local veterans began the process of preserving land during the 1890s, but their goal to transfer land to the federal government had not been realized. Finally in 1927, Congress established the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park under the War Department. The War Department transferred the park to the National Park Service in 1933.
During the development of the military park, the federal government took 96 acres of land from Hugh Willis under eminent domain. Willis tried to sue for his land but lost. No longer wanting to spend his retirement at Ellwood, Blanche moved into Ellwood with her husband, Leo, and son, Gordon. The Jones family, of no relation to the first owners of Ellwood, transformed Ellwood into a livestock farm, known as Ellwood Manor Farm. Through the 1950s, Leo Jones added numerous agricultural buildings to the farm, including this brooder barn, which he used to raise chickens. Also present nearby were two large laying houses, where chicken eggs were collected for sale.
Around the same time that farming operations at Ellwood ended, the state highway department made major changes to Routes 3 and 20, which encouraged additional development in the area. Developers built two large subdivisions nearby, impacting the rural landscape of the Wilderness Battlefield. Taking into consideration this development and his parents’ advanced age, Gordon Jones approached the National Park Service to plan for Ellwood’s future. In 1970, Gordon Jones sold Ellwood to the National Park Service, with the
The park carried out two restoration projects on the house and grounds, but additional work was required before the house could be opened to the public. In 1995, ten local residents formed the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield organization to assist the National Park Service in maintaining Ellwood and the Wilderness Battlefield. Through their generous efforts, the Friends of Wilderness Battlefield helped bring Ellwood to its present state. The park opened Ellwood to the public in 1998. Since 1998, people from around the world visit Ellwood each year to learn about its history.
Over the course of 400 years, the land on which Ellwood stands today has undergone periods of rapid change. Settlement and industry transformed this landscape from a mature forest into a region of dense woods known as the Wilderness. The Jones family built their plantation here, relying on enslaved labor to clear and cultivate the ground. During the Civil War, U.S. and Confederate armies fought through this formidable region and left behind signs of a deadly struggle. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the Lacy family helped mark the landscape with reminders of the war as they saw it. The final private owners of Ellwood changed this former plantation into a modern farm. These periods of change are not equally represented on the landscape today. Think about the features that you observed and the stories that you heard as you walked Ellwood’s grounds. Consider the missing features that prevent us from learning more information.
Ellwood’s story provides us with an opportunity to reflect on many harsh realities about our nation’s history. Today, we can learn from these past mistakes with hopes of improving our future. The more that we learn from those with different opinions and backgrounds than our own, the more knowledge we can impart on future generations. Today, the National Park Service aims to recognize its own missteps and strives towards telling the full story of Ellwood.
Description
In 1907, the Lacy family sold Ellwood, which ushered in a period of great change. The final owners of Ellwood transformed the former plantation into a modern farm. How did the surrounding region change during the 20th century? What steps did the National Park Service take to preserve Ellwood when the surrounding area was developing rapidly? How should we manage Ellwood today?
Credit
NPS
Date Created
03/21/2024
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