Moorefield Article: R.I.P.!

Moorefield House, possibly Vienna's most historic home, was disassembled in 2003. Its labeled parts are stored in Madison, Virginia, while its bricks remain under plastic behind Vienna Baptist Church, all awaiting its final destiny. For more than two centuries the house stood on its hilltop site, now a grassy knoll ringed by a path and old trees-an oasis surrounded by townhouses, parking areas, and play lots. Stones from the cellar mark the corners where the house stood. The nearby family cemetery is overgrown with weeds and ivy climbs its stucco wall. A brass plaque placed by Historic Vienna in 2000 replaced an earlier marker given by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The plaque read: "Within this enclosure are buried the Rev. Jeremiah Moore (1746-1815) and his wife Lydia Renno Moore (1745-1835) and some of their children and grandchildren."

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Moorefield House was built in 1790 on 600 acres conveyed to Jeremiah Moore for the sum of $6,000. Calder Loth of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources described the house in which Moore, his wife, and nine children lived as a "vernacular frame farmhouse with end chimneys, two massive living rooms downstairs, and two bedrooms upstairs." Side and back wings were added and in 1950 brick veneer applied.

Jeremiah Moore, raised Episcopalian, converted to the Baptist faith in 1772 at the age of 26. He preached his doctrine before the American Revolution when it was illegal to preach any but the Church of England, an activity for which he was imprisoned. He was one of the earliest Baptist preachers in Fairfax, traveling the area until his death preaching, establishing Baptist churches, and leading the causes of religious freedom and separation of church and state. Seeking support for his beliefs, he sought out political leaders of the day, notably Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and James Madison.

At Lydia Moore's death, 313 acres were divided among her children. In October 1874, the property was sold to James Hunter, Jr., of Banff, Scotland, who was sent by his mother, Grace Hunter, to procure a farm in the United States. She and her husband, James, Sr., renamed the property Bothwell for the town in Scotland where they were married. In 1902 the home returned to the Moore family when it was acquired by Frederick Cline and Florence Moore Cline, a great-great-granddaughter of Jeremiah.

William Cabell Moore in 1933 described the family homestead thusly: "It is situated on a hilltop, in plain view of the road, an old, gray frame house one and a half stories in height, on a brick foundation with a brick chimney at each end. It has dormer windows high up in the south end, one on each side of the chimney. . . ." He went on to describe trees from Jeremiah's time, a spring, and the graveyard.

In 1955 Mr. And Mrs. Leroy Blackwelder bought the last 124 acres and sold most of the land to form Moorefield subdivision. In 1968 the final 44 acres, including the house, were sold to Paris Properties, which sold it in 1969 to DeLuca Enterprises, developer of the Townes of Moorefield. In 1975 DeLuca deeded the house and 0.7 acre to the town of Vienna.

As the house sat vacant and deteriorating, town officials and Historic Vienna grappled with the problem of determining a viable use for the building. Estimated cost of renovations was then $160,000. Its location amid clusters of townhouses made it unsuitable as a private home or historic tourist attraction. Uses such as wedding receptions or a meeting center were ruled out. It failed to meet requirements for preservation grants. A plan to move the house to Nottoway Park proved too costly. A 1983 preservation study commissioned by Historic Vienna considered all of these ideas and concluded that restoration would cost too much and lacked investment appeal. By 2003 the house had become a hazard and demolition was imminent.

A group of interested people formed the Jeremiah Moore Historical and Educational Association to save the house and raise funds for its relocation. Regrettably, this will not be in Vienna. In May the Executive Committee of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board voted to permit restoration of the historic house on the grounds of Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center near Lynchburg. When sufficient funds are obtained it will be rebuilt as it was when the Moore family lived there. Moorefield will then serve as a memorial to Jeremiah Moore and a center for teaching the role of religious freedom in our national history.