All that remains

By Rhonda Simmons

Published: April 21, 2008

A 20-foot stone chimney is the only remnant of an 18th-century two-story home in northern Culpeper County.

The Spilman Homestead — built during the mid 1700s in Jeffersonton — featured a small porch, spacious rooms, a kitchen, a narrow circular staircase and four chimneys at one point.Today, the property houses Spilman Park, a 27-acre recreational area on Colvin Road off of Route 229.

The park features a pavilion, charcoal grills, scenic graveled trails, a multipurpose athletic field and a playground.

Nine people — mainly historians and Spilman descendants — gathered underneath a small white tent during continuous rain Sunday for the unveiling of a new interpretive marker in honor of the Spilman homestead as part of the Remembrance Days: “Honoring Heroes and History” festivities.

This three-day celebration acknowledges heroes from the Revolutionary War period to the present and commemorates Culpeper’s history.

After three years of research, Perry J. Cabot, co-chair of the Society for the Preservation of Culpeper History, seemed pleased with the ceremony as he admired a black-and-white photo of the home.

“It was pretty sizeable,” said Cabot, pointing out the kitchen chimney and upstairs bedrooms. “It was quite a bit there.”

John Barrett III, Culpeper County Parks & Recreation director, opened the ceremony with a little history about the residence.

About 10 years ago, Barrett said, the property was proffered to the county when developers became interested in the area.

Unable to support the home financially, the Culpeper Historical Society helplessly watched as construction crews demolished the 2400-square-foot home in 1998, according to Barrett.

“And at that point it became a safety issue with having it standing the way it was — and that’s the unfortunate part about buildings like this,” he said. “They just happen to get to a certain point when someone doesn’t keep up on it.”

Meanwhile, Barrett said, he’s satisfied to see the chimney still intact.

“It’s showing the fact that the actual homestead itself was pretty strongly built,” he said.

Barrett said future plans for the park include expanded parking, a little league baseball field and additional trails.

County Supervisor Brad Rosenberger, of the Jefferson District, recalled walking past the Spilman homestead as a youngster on his way to the bus stop.

“I think it’s a good thing to maintain the history of this residence,” he said. “And it’s good to have community involvement, and I hope that can continue because it’s a very important thing.”

The Spilman Homestead
During the mid 1720s, German immigrants relocated from Germanna to settlements in Germantown (Fauquier), Little Fork Colony (Jeffersonton) and the Hebron Colony (Madison).

Of the 13 original Little Fork families, the Spilman (Speilmann) and Fishbacks (Fischbach) were the first to settle in what is now known as Jeffersonton around 1734.

“Slowly and with great effort they cleared this land,” said Cabot. “We know that the community here was self sustaining at least by 1743.”

After Germantown’s Johannes Speilmann (born 1675) married Little Fork Colony’s Mary Elizabeth Fischbach (born 1691), their sons, John and James, were the first Speilmanns to cross the Rappahannock River landing in Culpeper, according to Cabot.

John Speilmann’s son, John Jr. (1740-1815), was a Revolutionary War patriot about 15 years after the home was constructed.

The two-story house was built in stages, according to Cabot’s research.

At first, two fieldstone chimneys adorned the south side of the residence.

The main beams — 8-by-8 inch — featured Roman numeral chisel marks mirroring the classic framing technique used in Europe before the 1800s.

The home stayed in the family until 1928. According to Cabot, there were three periods of ownership during the 20th century: John Armstrong of England, Col. Albert Pierce, a Chicago utility magnate, and New York movie producer John Clark.

Rhonda Simmons can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 125 or .