Graffiti 

After the Confederate army evacuated Manassas in the Spring 1862, Federal forces occupied the area, including Ben Lomond. Federal soldiers not only destroyed furniture in the house at that time, but also put graffiti on most of the interior of the house. In much of the house, the plaster walls are covered from floor to ceiling with graffiti. Today most of the graffiti in the house is covered to protect it from UV rays, but sections are still visible, including the signature of a Medal of Honor recipient.   Ben Lomond is a member of the Northern Virginia Civil War Graffiti Trail, a collection of historic homes and buildings that have all been vandalized during the war.  More information about the Graffiti Trail and its member sites can be found by visiting www.brandystationfoundation.com .

1732     Robert “King” Carter patents 8,000 acres of Prince William County to Robert Carter II. 

 

1745     Robert “Councillor” Carter inherits 70,000 acres in Virginia, 5,000 of which are in Prince William.

 

1791     “Councillor” Carter submits his “Deed of Gift” to Northumberland District Court, which sets in motion the gradual emancipation of 452 of his slaves, making Carter the largest slave-owner to voluntarily free his slaves in American history.  

 

1830     “Councillor” Carter’s grandson Benjamin Tasker Chinn inherits Cancer plantation. Settles in Prince William County with 10 slaves.

 

1832     The main house, smokehouse, dairy, and slave quarters are built.  

 

1836     Chinn marries Edmonia Randolph Carter who changes the plantation’s name to Ben Lomond, after her family’s ancestral home. 

 

1849     Chinn leases 1,800 acres to Horatio Andrews of New York.

 

1850     The Andrews family with the additional help of one slave and William Randall, William Hampshire, and Catherine Jackson, all hired out free blacks, grow corn and wheat and tend to 500 Merino sheep.   

 

1851     Chinns move to Hazel Plain and lease Ben Lomond to Benjamin Thornton. 

 

1852     Thornton leases Ben Lomond to the Pringle Family. 

 

1852     Pringles farm Ben Lomond, focusing on the 500 Merino sheep that are on the property.  

Lease out local enslaved workers and hire out free blacks to help with the work. 

 

1861     Main house is converted into the Pringle House Hospital treating wounded Confederate soldiers, after the Battle of First Manassas.

 

1862     Passing Union soldiers cover Ben Lomond with graffiti.

 

1865     The Civil War ends and the Pringles leave Ben Lomond.  

 

1870     The Chinns trade Ben Lomond and move into a townhouse in Washington, D.C.  

 

1901     John Rixey purchases the house, turning the grounds into a major dairying operation. 

 

1910     Rear-Admiral Presley Marion Rixey, Surgeon General of the United States, inherits the property. President Theodore Roosevelt visits the property many times.  

 

1915     Frederich and Emma Bruch buy the property, spending thousands of dollars to create “one of the finest dairy and horse-breeding estates in the country”.

 

1927     Ben Lomond is divided and auctioned off to several different buyers.  

  

1951     Robert Garner, Vice-President of the World Bank purchases the property that consists of the main house and outbuildings. 

  

1966     Garner sells 814 acres to the Weaver Brothers Corporation who develop the land.

 

1983     Ben Lomond is purchased by Prince William County.

 

2011     Ben Lomond is rededicated and opened to the public as a historic house museum.