Thread by @johnbryanesq

Some have asked for pics of the Revolutionary War fort we discovered inside an old plantation house in West Virginia. Almost none of the original Rev War frontier log forts survive. Historians believed an old log fort know as Byrnside’s Fort was still there, inside the walls of this large house. But…

We had to buy the property first before being able to take a crowbar to it to see if the logs were inside the walls. I was 90% sure they were there…

This is what the outside looked like at the beginning.

This is what it looks like now.

This is what the inside looked like in the beginning.

This is what it looked like during the demolition phase. The 1850s plaster was a royal PITFA to remove, and no doubt the inhalation of which will lead to my early demise…

The solid hand hewn white oak logs were, for the most part, all there (minus some portions removed for windows in the late 18th or early 19th century) and in perfect condition. Though they had been gathering dust since the 1850s, and had numerous generations of old whitewash paint. It all had to be hand scrubbed and then pressure washed - even the ceiling.

This is what it looks like now.

During the process I excavated a few holes in the yard and found some stuff.

Also, the inside of the house was full of interesting things we found. Basically an entire family’s belongings from the mid 19th century through 2016 were still in the house.

This included the fantastic 1840s-ish locally made book cabinet, still full of this family’s books. One book we found was an 18th century book belonging to a Rev War militia soldier who was garrisoned at this fort.

In the lower left drawer of that book cabinet, I found the World War 1 gas mask, patches and war mementos of the father of the elderly lady who last lived here - a local boy who was sent to France and saw action. Included in the items was a German binocular case full of German infantry buttons.

Generations of family photos were lying around - hundreds of them.

Behind the house is a cave spring, which is presumably why they chose the spot for a fort. It is still the primary water source for the house, which was continuously inhabited from 1770-2016.

At the mouth of the cave, a 1725 Spanish silver coin was found, cut to make change. More 18th century Spanish silver coins were found around the yard, some cut and some whole. This was the preferred coinage for early American settlers.

Here’s where my wife tried on the Civil War era mourning dress we found in the house.

Anyways, there’s a lot more… Why did we do this and what are our plans for this place? We have no idea. We just wanted to save it.

I believe it may be the only one left of its kind along the original Virginia frontier. Most, if not all, are nothing but stains in the ground (if archaeologists can even find them). This one, you can see and touch all the original architectural features that nobody living has ever seen.

Here I am showing it to Dr. Ron Ripley for the first time, the historian who predicted the fort would be found inside the walls.

Here’s some of the attic architecture. In 1770, six families helped build the original log fort, which was 3 stories, including the attic, with a full basement, built into the bedrock. About 33 feet tall, 35 feet long, and 20 feet wide. Then another 20 feet of length was added in the 1790s.

That addition enclosed one of the fort’s original gables, made with hand carved riven clapboards, held together with blacksmith made iron nails. So it’s still there.

A circa 1900 roof over the second story porch enclosed and preserved a section of the original (or at least really old) wooden shingle roof.

Here’s the full basement, which is almost never seen in original log structures. I’m 6’4 and can stand up in there. I believe it was used for storage for the military garrison, as several expeditions rendezvoused and departed from here. The stone walls are 3 feet thick in places.

Also, I found where someone scratched tally marks into the cut limestone, which is super hard stone to mark. Prisoner? Bored kids? Who knows…

This huge blacksmith made key was found by metal detector in the yard by my friend Bill Burns.

It was restored by electrolysis and ended up being a perfect fit for the door of the 19th century plantation smokehouse. But the door is 18th century and obviously retrofitted to the smokehouse.

It undoubtedly was an original fort door, before they installed larger doors at some point.

Here are the upstairs bedrooms. Note the original cabin windows, later enclosed by an addition. We left them so that you can see the original pegged (square pegs into round holes) construction, which used almost no nails.

Like everywhere else, everything you see was encased in 1850s plaster, including the ceilings.

Here’s the upright piano, still sitting in the same spot since 1896. We found the receipt where the family picked it up at a train station about 30 miles away, obviously transporting it the rest of the way by horse and carriage.

The woman playing it in the old photo would have been a child at that time. Her daughter then lived her entire life in the house and was the last resident, also playing this piano in this room (parlor).

The purchase price of $200, was large once adjusted for inflation. About $7,500 today.

There’s no known attack that occurred here during the Rev War, but we found a lot of spent rifle balls at one specific location, as if having been fired from the fort. Maybe target practice, maybe a firefight?

That’s a long way for casual shooting with a flintlock though, and certainly out of musket range (which what was generally carried by native war parties).

The first cabin that was here was attacked and was burned by the Shawnee under Cornstalk, in 1762. So it could also relate to that.

The old timers buried all their trash in the yard. Here I found the entire upper half of a worn-out 18th century iron kettle, now displayed with an intact larger one found in an outbuilding.

Buttons found in the yard, ranging from the 18th century through the Civil War era.

The older Rev War era ones generally have no writing on them, just designs stamped on brass. Those are the largest ones (ie, those colonial coats with all the big buttons down each lapel). As you get into the 1800s they began to import fancy commercial buttons from Europe that will have words on the back.

We also found numerous military buttons from the Civil War.

Here are some knives I found in the yard and restored- mostly table knives with bone grips. I found one intact folding knife that I sent to a blacksmith (Scott Summerville) to fabricate a contemporary version, showing what it looked like before it went in the ground.

Here are some of the equestrian items I found in the yard. Virginia was horse country.

I found a 1780s document stating that “Timothy grass” was imported from England and grown here, even on the remote frontier, just to provide high quality feed to their expensive horses.

There was not a single wagon road to the Greenbrier Valley until the late 1780s, so every item here, including fine imported ceramics, all transported via pack horses over tight mountain trails.

I found lots of little brass embellishments for the saddles and horse tack. Numerous iron stirrups, halters and bit pieces. Also horse shoes. The 18th century ones do not have that little lip on the ends. They’re also very thin, compared to later ones you find (which are absolutely everywhere in the ground).

Here are some of the numerous forks I found - all two-tined with bone grips, usually decorated with a zig zag checkering.

I’ve done my best to restore and preserve them. As soon as they exit the ground, they begin to quickly further decay due to the oxygen.

Here are some 18th century padlocks, including one key I found, and did my best to preserve. If you go to colonial Williamsburg, you’ll see contemporary versions of these used all over the place.

Here is some of the furniture that was still in the house, circa 1830s-50s. Probably locally made.

The book cabinet very well may have been assembled in this room, because the one thing the prior owner tried to remove was that…. Unsuccessfully.

The property came with two old draft horses, one 30 yo and the other 20. The farm was still farmed with horses until into the 2000s. But, I was told these two lazy ones never worked a day in their lives, mostly just being pets.

The property also came with 4 barn cats, Bobby, George, Jerry and Momma Cat. I have to feed these little freeloaders daily. We also built them a heated cat house.

Here’s a blacksmith made iron door latch I found in the yard - fancy hardware for an 18th century log cabin. I think this one’s known as a Suffolk Latch.

The attention to detail, just for cosmetic design, is unreal. To think it’s been in the ground for probably 200 years, is amazing. I ground the rust down with a soft dremel bristle brush, and then lubed it up with some wax. I’ve experimented with several methods of this, including electrolysis.

You’ll still find modern versions of these being made for newer colonial style homes.

It took me forever to figure out what this is. I’ll spare you all the wrong guesses…. It’s part of a “servant bell” system, from the fancier plantation era of the fort.

The iron spike would be driven into a log or timber and then a wire would run through the holes of the brass arm extensions.

At one end, the wire would eventually connect to a cloth pull, like you see on Downton Abbey (albeit likely much less fancy). The the wire out the other end, at least eventually, depending on the number of turns it had to make logistically, was a little bell.

I forgot I made this… BTW if you’re wondering how a guy with two jobs has time to even make this thread, I’ve been stuck in my daughter’s dance competition literally all day long - and it’s still going. 😐 So thanks for the interest in this.

This video is a time lapse I created while “removing” plaster from the second story of the fort, specifically from the West exterior wall. This entire wall, 33 feet tall, had no original windows or doors, but only a small spy hole, with a shooting platform on the attic level.

At times I had to entertain myself while doing demo work by making videos and taking pics, because it was just so tedious and time consuming.

My relic room at my law office where I began to compile and study everything, and that time we made it on Brad Smith’s awesome Traveling WV series on TV.

This is the hole in the ground that 90% of the ground finds came from. You can dig anywhere and find more, because they threw their trash in holes in the yard for 250 years.

This is really cool… I found this envelope in the house that contained a key. And it said, “keys to Major Samuel Clark’s sword case.” And I was like omfg and completely ransacked the house looking for the sword.

The elderly lady who was born and raised in this house, whose belongings filled the house, was named Margaret Clark. Samuel Clark was her 3 or 4x great grandfather who was a local Revolutionary War veteran.

But the sword was nowhere to be found. And nobody who knew her knew anything about it. Finally, I ended up finding it, after posting pics of the keys on Facebook.

It was indeed in a locked sword case, inside the local Masonic lodge. The encased sword had been screwed to the wall for as long as anyone there could remember… But, nobody had ever known where the key was. Thus, the case had never been opened.

So they took it down for me and set it in the floor. I tried the key and voila, the damn thing opened right up.

Knowing a little bit about swords, I immediately recognized it was not actually a Rev War era sword, but rather a War of 1812-ish sword. Turns out, Major Clark was the head of the local militia unit during that period. This fancy dress sword was likely gifted to him by his men, as he was an older man by that time, and a decorated combat vet.

Margaret’s father was also named Samuel Clark. Both her father and his predecessor were Masons, so being extremely generous and dedicated to the community (lifelong local teacher), she had donated the sword, with little fanfare.

The sword still hangs there. But now they have the key. 🙂

Here's video footage showing what Byrnside's Fort looked like on day one that we owned it - in April of 2019. We literally closed on the place and then drove immediately out there and started busting into one of the walls with a crowbar.

This actually shows that very spot, in one of the upstairs bedrooms, where the first portion of white oak log first saw the light of day since being enclosed prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

You can also see what a mess the place was, and all the plaster that was destined for removal.

ETA: My initial belief of the log addition being circa 1810, which I mention in the video, was wrong. I now believe it was at least circa 1790ish, or possibly earlier.

1780s “Artois” brass shoe buckle, which became popular in England in that decade, having been copied from the French. Not quite what you’d expect frontiersmen to be wearing in what was still essentially a war zone in this area at the time. But this proves that at least one of them did.

Is there a limit on how long a thread can be? Because I can keep going… And I don’t want to go back to discussing law for at least another 12 hours… This is the view from the fort this evening as I fed the cats.

This shows a mix of 1850s woodwork (originally over plaster) with the original 1770 fort logs. The original fort did not have a fancy stairway, but rather a small corner one with steep treads and a single landing.

This is one of the creepier things I found in the attic. Old dolls, melted from the heat over a long period of time. This trunk hadn’t been opened since probably the 20s or early 30s, I’m guessing.

At first, I had no idea what this thing was. Then I realized it must be a compass, used to chart and measure distances. It appears to be blacksmith made of wrought iron - something fabricated on the frontier, since one obviously wasn’t available for purchase. It cleaned up nicely, but is permanently rusted shut.

If they needed it, they made it.

This is another Civil War era dress we found in the house that I talked my wife into trying on - though I couldn't get her to turn around for the pic. From what I was told, this was sort of a "day dress" for daily wear, made to get dirty, etc. It has a really tiny waist, which is why she wouldn't turn around. And she's a former ballet dancer with a tiny waist, so I'm not sure if this belonged to a kid, or what.

Some of the shoes found inside the house, including some military shoes and boots from the Civil War. Cavalry boots were cut down to be used as shoes, and were repaired multiple times where they contact the stirrups.

One shoemaker form was found, as well as a matching Victorian era woman’s shoe.

Ok, you asked for the footage, well here it is, from beginning to end.

This 18th century window was hidden behind plaster. It predated glass being used and would have been just a piece of wood that opens or closes. Early 1800s, it was modified for a glass window. When they expanded the house at the rear with an addition, the window was no longer needed.

Removing the plaster revealed this name that had not been seen since before the Civil War.

Carved into the sill in large letters is the name of a guy who was most likely one of the laborers to do the plastering in 1858, when I believe it was installed. It was an unusual name: Erastus R. Vaughn.

We were able to identify him… Erastus R. (Reese) Vaughn, born on Turkey Creek in Monroe County, (West) Virginia in 1837. He subsequently enlisted in the confederate army in 1861 in Chapmanville, (West) Virginia. He was captured early on in one of the big battles in Virginia and spent several years in a POW camp, which he survived, living to old age. He was buried out West somewhere.

He had no relation at all to the family who lived in the house, which is why I believe he was a laborer who decided to leave his mark before covering up this old window.

Here's the full video of the West Virginia log fort discovery and renovation, hosted directly on @X . 🍺

@X And I thought I’d point out that this thread made the news. Thanks for the interest, and for sharing. It’s been a lot of fun.

I suppose I can keep going, because there’s just much… The chinking between the logs were a PITA for the old timers, which is one of the reasons they plastered over them in 1858. I believe they enlisted people from the “neighborhood,” including children, to help re-chink them every decade or so.

Throughout the interior of the log structure, you can see where little fingers had left designs, names, and even dates.

One is even written in perfect cursive, and says “Ellen E. Tolbert 1855.” I identified her as a girl who grew up a few miles away, born in Monroe County, Virginia (here - now WV) in 1832, making her probably 22/23 years old at the time she left her name.

We left all the original chinking, writing included, that was stable, and just installed new chinking around it. While it looks like a patchwork, it preserved stuff like this that I couldn’t bear to destroy.