For Sale: Homestead of Lincoln's Virginia Grandparents!

James N.

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While motoring through western Virginia on my way from the historic resort of Orkney Springs to the scene of Stonewall Jackson's maneuvers against the army of John C. Fremont in the vicinity of Franklin, West Virginia, I came upon the historical marker below and the now-vacant Federal-style brick home seen above. The house was built ca. 18oo on the land owned and farmed by Abraham Lincoln's Virginia grandparents. Lincoln's father Thomas Lincoln had already moved to Kentucky and married Nancy Hanks before it was built, as detailed on the marker.

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The house itself looks to be in sound condition, though needing paint and some repair, but the land around it is going fallow and unkempt, as can be seen in the photo below.

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Interesting. The listing says there's a slave cemetery on the property and it's been for sale since October, 2013 with at least one price reduction. They're asking $450,000 for a house on less than ten acres, far from any job that can support that kind of mortgage. The deferred maintenance is obvious on the outside and they don't dare show pics of the inside of the house. The roof looks good, though.

Maybe a sucker with more money than sense will be along, sometime. But hey, it's Lincoln's relatives. Hope springs eternal.
 
If you look carefully at the overhead map, it's not only close to the highway, but the neighbor to the east by a couple hundred yards is operating a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). I can't tell without visiting, but the green lagoon in the satellite pic suggests hogs. It may be chickens. That means flies, smells and probably heavy truck traffic in and out of the place.

If you've got 450 grand to buy the place, perhaps half of that to restore/renovate and you can put up with the neighbors, this place is for you. But you'll really need to love history to do so. Me, I'm passing on it.
 
It's not in DC, but there are more than enough jobs in the "Valley" to support that type of mortgage. It's just north of Harrisonburg and with JMU and other industries in the area, incomes are decent.
Interesting. The listing says there's a slave cemetery on the property and it's been for sale since October, 2013 with at least one price reduction. They're asking $450,000 for a house on less than ten acres, far from any job that can support that kind of mortgage. The deferred maintenance is obvious on the outside and they don't dare show pics of the inside of the house. The roof looks good, though.

Maybe a sucker with more money than sense will be along, sometime. But hey, it's Lincoln's relatives. Hope springs eternal.

Obviously, the property needs extensive repairs and upkeep. Just because this is a rural area of VA doesn't mean we're all hill-billies.
 
It's not in DC, but there are more than enough jobs in the "Valley" to support that type of mortgage. It's just north of Harrisonburg and with JMU and other industries in the area, incomes are decent.


Obviously, the property needs extensive repairs and upkeep. Just because this is a rural area of VA doesn't mean we're all hill-billies.


Just drove through that area on the way to Charlottesville and back last week, and it reminds me of where I grew up in SE Pennsylvania. Small towns, but not the boonies. I think it's a gorgeous area.

I asked my husband, and he's not interested in buying, even though he generally is tolerant of my CW interest. He's not much of a fixer-upper kind of guy!:smile:
 
Obviously, the property needs extensive repairs and upkeep. Just because this is a rural area of VA doesn't mean we're all hill-billies.

Of course not, truthckr, that's not what I meant at all. Only that there's a huge amount of money being asked for a property that clearly needs a lot of work. That it's been for sale nearly two years indicates it's wildly overpriced, Lincoln or not.

Maybe I'm just bitter because I can't afford it. If I could, I'd rather not live next to the or hog or chicken operation apparent in the overhead photos. If there's a comparable property down the road, I'm all over it, at the right price. Cheers.
 
no problem, Virginia has strict codes when it comes to dealing with historic properties. This would have to be a labor of love by someone or a non-profit entity.
 
No B&B. Not with the CAFOs in the area, more than one from what I can tell. I'm quite familiar with said operations. The photographer did a good job on visually selling it. Good catch on looking at the google earth satellite view.

The only person IMO that could live there is another farmer used to CAFO smells and 10 acres isn't going to offset the cost of the house, nor would a farmer have the time or money to dump into it. I'd be courios to know how long ago the house and 10 acres was part of a surrounding farm, and on which side. Just my own curiosity as I've watched five generations of farms in my family get flattened then divided, or absorbed.
 
But, E. there's a lot of square feet to convert. I have the same in 1500 square feet.

The listing that Andy Hall posted says 3,900 square feet. So, there's room to do about anything you want, but the undertaking of renovation has got "divorce" written all over it. Maybe that's why the place is for sale...
 
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