Historic Easement To Be Pursued
The board of trustees of Historic Lexington Foundation recently announced the acquisition of the house at 708 N. Main St. known as “The Old Stone House.”
This historic stone dwelling near Jordans Point Park is a prominent landmark on the southbound approach of U.S. 11 into downtown Lexington, after crossing the Maury River.
One of the earliest buildings in Lexington, the Old Stone House was built in the late 18th or early 19th century. According to an HLF spokesperson, “The Foundation acquired the Old Stone House to ensure its continuing survival as a part of the historic fabric of Lexington and of Virginia. We are currently undertaking some required maintenance and updates to the property and intend to put in place a historic easement to prevent the property’s destruction or renovation in a nonhistoric manner at any time in the future.”
HLF had reached out to the most recent owners of the house, Donna Welch and Bill DeLatt, about buying the house. “Donna and Bill were delighted to receive the call from HLF that we were interested in purchasing the house,” said the spokesperson. “We share a mutual interest in historic properties and their preservation; with this sale both parties see these interests fulfilled.”
While work toward putting historic easements on the house proceeds, HLF currently has the house for rent with selling the property the long-term goal. -Standing at the base of a rocky promontory that is now known as “Jordans Point,” the Old Stone House occupies a small tract that was once part of a larger property acquired by Irish immigrant Moses Trimble from Benjamin Borden in 1740. Trimble sold the land to George Brown in 1779, and Brown’s family later sold it to local industrialist/builder John Jordan in 1805.
Jordan spent the first half of the 19th century developing the area around Jordans Point as a transportation and manufacturing hub for the region, and in 1818 built a Federal style brick home, Stono, at the highest elevation of his property. Among the outbuildings at Stono is a distinctive round icehouse constructed of undressed limestone.
The Old Stone House is a minimally detailed, vernacular two-story structure built, like the icehouse at Stono, of roughly dressed coursed limestone. Another of the city’s oldest buildings, “The Castle” ‒ built ca. 1778 on South Randolph Street ‒ also exhibits rough fieldstone construction.
HLF was established in 1966 to preserve Lexington’s historic character by acquiring and protecting properties threatened with demolition or inappropriate change.
Acquisition of the Old Stone House is HLF’s most recent opportunity to benefit the community through the application of protective covenants and a perpetual preservation easement, said the spokesperson. Other properties that have benefited from this longstanding HLF program include the Alexander-Withrow House, the Dold Building, and the Reid-White-Philbin House.
For more information about HLF’s preservation programs, call the office at (540) 4636832.
THIS PHOTO of the Old Stone House has 1974 written on the back of it. During this time the limestone was covered by stucco, which was removed in 1996.
