If you are planning to attend the Little Levels Heritage Fair in Hillsboro, West Virginia........be sure to attend the Open House at "The Briar Patch", home of Briary Antiques and Briary Knob Builders. Open house will be on Saturday, June 26, 2010, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
The Little Levels Heritage Fair in Hillsboro, WV.... "A Place to Come Home To" ....will be June 25-27, 2010. For more information, call 304-653-8563.
The Briar Patch is located on Route 219 North, Hillsboro, WV, two driveways south of the birthplace of Pearl Buck, renowned author of The Good Earth, and first female recipient of both the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. Driving towards Hillsboro you will see new signs that have been erected on US Rt. 219 - "1886, Welcome to Hillsboro, Birthplace of Pearl S. Buck." The signs will be dedicated June 26, 2010, the birthdate of Pearl Buck.
Below are photos of before and after renovation by Briary Knob Builders. The owner, Mary Moore McLaughlin, said that when she first purchased "The Briar Patch" at auction, the building was covered up with vinyl siding on top of chestnut boards on the exterior. Inside were panelling, many layers of wallpaper, boards, and the earliest layers with newspaper (the old Greenbrier Independent) ~ plus rats' nests throughout. Local lore supported that the building was made of logs.
Following the Battle of Droop Mountain on November 6, 1863, the building now called 'The Briar Patch" was located north of Hillsboro. A pioneer cabin, probably dating to the late18th century, it served as a wayside hospital for wounded soldiers. In early November, of that year, Brig. Gens. W.W. Averell and Alfred Napoleon Alexander Duffié embarked on a raid into southwestern Virginia to disrupt the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad. While Duffié’s column destroyed military property en route, Averell encountered and defeated a Confederate brigade under Brig. Gen. John Echols at Droop Mountain. The Union columns reunited at Lewisburg the next day but were in no condition to continue their raid. After this battle, Confederate resistance in West Virginia collapsed. Most of Pocahontas County's residents supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. The Battle of Droop Mountain left 526 total casualties.
Later the cabin was used as ante in a local poker game. The winner tore down the structure and moved it to its present location north of town. The logs were "scabbed" back into place with boards to cover them on the outside. The inside walls were papered with old copies of the Greenbrier Independent. On the Briar Patch property stone slabs with "Hen and Chicks" plants may be found on the north side of the cabin. These plants were old-time cemetery markers.
Mary Moore's McLaughlin's favorite nephew, Andrew Must, did all the work with the help of his Pocahontas County friends: Ezra Cedarleaf, Clay Condon, Caleb Diller, Harley Squires, David Kershner, Adrieanne Jergens, Wes Burke, Adam Cumashot, and from Texas, Gabe Pino. A good gig for a county with 16% unemployment!
Mary Moore moved to Hillsboro three summers ago from Lewisburg WV. Her antique shop there was called "Estate Antiques", a business that she relocated to West Virginia from Charleston, South Carolina. She likes to say that she ran with the big dogs on King Street, just north of Broad. Her business started 18 years ago when she began conducting estate sales, antique appraisals and consignment while working for the Preservation Society of Charleston.
During her time at the Preservation Society, McLaughlin wrote and edited The Churches of Charleston and the Lowcountry (under her former moniker, Mary Moore Jacoby), published by University of South Carolina Press. She also collaborated with John Meffert on A Charleston Album for the Charleston Museum published by Arcadia Press.
Upon moving to Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties, Mary Moore re-connected with her extended West Virginia family ~ sister Ginger Must, and many cousins from the McLaughlin/Arbuckle family tree. She also enjoys cultivating new colleagues and friends in both counties. She likes to relax and "invite the spirits" through landscape painting,gardening and making wine. For the last few years, she has worked as the editor for the Journal of the Greenbrier Historical Society. Her poetry is published on a regular basis in The Pamphlet, an online literary magazine.
Going to Little Levels Heritage Fair, stop by the Briar Patch and visit Mary at her new business, the Briary Antiques in Hillsboro, West Virginia.
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If I can assist you in any way with your real estate needs in Lewisburg, WV Greenbrier County or the surrounding areas, please feel free to contact me by phone at (304) 520-2133, email or visit my website at www.lewisburgwvrealestate4you.com
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Rebecca,
What a wonderful localism post. It's so interesting to read about historical houses and its neat to hear about their restoration. Pretty cool.
Thanks for sharing,
Lori Cofer
Lori, thank you!
Rebecca it looks like there was a lot of hard work put into restoring this place! I can see there is a lot of rich history.
Bill, yes a lot of work and lots of history in the Briar Patch and Hillsboro WV.