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The Meadows, a 21-acre property nestled behind Main Street in Washington, was sold this month to Mr. and Mrs. Edward I. Barton of Houston, Texas.
Mr. Barton is a retired oil company executive. Though he and his tfife have lived in many places both ir> the United States and overseas, they both have family roots in Virginia and the South. i He is a native of Alexandria, and attended Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg and N.C. State University in Raleigh, N.C. Mrs. Barton hails from Halifax County, N.C. , » The Meadows, named for the rolling fields which surround the clapboard and fieldstone house, is one of the oldest homes in Washington. Records indicate that the first Structure, a log cabin, was built by Francis Browning sometime before W50. > George Washington’s description jof the Town of Washington, which he surveyed in 1749, include a refer<ence to “a cabin on the left” he noticed as he rode into the town. Since .his surveyor’s diary indicates he had done some work m Culpeper County Xwhich then included Rappahannock County as well), the young man oould well have ridden along the wagon track which is now Business 211, and the cabin he noticed could have been The Meadows.
Today, the original cabin is still part of the greatly-expanded residence. Its ground floor serves as a downstairs bar, still with the original pine mantel, and upstairs it is incorporated into a large bedroom, with the cabin’s logs still visible.
The double porch on the original house was added about 1781, when the cabin was expanded to a spacious four rooms by Barnett and William Porter Sr.
According to Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Johnson’s book oh Rappahannock County history, Washington’s first postmaster, John Strother Jr., sorted mail at the house from 1804 to 1808.
The Greek Revival wing on the south side of the house was added shortly after by James W. Porter, an architect who designed the county cpurthouse, jail, treasurer’s office a,nd clerk’s office. Mr. Porter’s angpstor owned and divided the land flfhich became the Tow n of Washing
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