Abram's Delight

About this property

Abram's Delight is a historic home located in Winchester, Virginia. Built in 1754, it is the oldest house in the city. It was owned by the Hollingsworth family for almost 200 years and is typical of the Shenandoah Valley architecture of the Scotch-Irish settlers. The property was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) in 1972 and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1973. Abram's Delight currently serves as a historic house museum. In 1728, Abraham Hollingsworth (born 1686), grandson of Valentine Hollingsworth, a Quaker immigrant from Ireland, arrived in the Shenandoah Valley and settled in present-day Winchester. He received a land grant of 582 acres (236 ha) around 1732 from Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan, though he had to later renegotiate the grant with Lord Fairfax, who owned all the land between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Some historians believe Hollingsworth was also required to pay local Shawnee members a cow, a calf, and a piece of red cloth for the land. Hollingsworth, considered the founder of Winchester, described his land a "delight to behold." He built a log cabin next to a natural spring and just west of where the current house is located. Although the cabin no longer stands, the cabin's hand-dug well is still visible. Historians believe a wooden stockade once surrounded his home and that he began construction of the present house before his death in 1748. His widow, Ann Robinson (born around 1690), inherited the property but died the following year. Their second son, Isaac (1722–1759), a Quaker minister, inherited the property and made plans for a house that could also serve as a Quaker meeting place. Simon Taylor was chosen to build the home. He had recently completed construction of Springdale for Colonel John Hite, now the oldest house in Frederick County, and the two homes share similar stonework. Quakers held meetings in the Hollingsworth house with men sitting in the parlor and women in the dining room. Isaac's son, Jonah Hollingsworth (1755–1801), later inherited the property. He and his wife, Hannah (1755–1836), had thirteen children and needed more living space. Around 1800, they added a west wing to the house and used stone closely resembling that of the original portion. In 1830, one of their sons, David (1789–1859), a wealthy businessman and community leader, took possession of the home. He made many improvements to the house and surrounding land, most notably the construction of a lake on the south side of the property. He built a summer house on one of the islands in the lake. David's three children inherited the property in 1863, two years after the Civil War began. During the war, many properties in Winchester and the surrounding area suffered, including the Hollingsworth home. Most of the property's trees were felled, the livestock was taken, and the farmland was left untended. The three children, none of whom ever married, continued living in the house until the youngest, Annie (1844–1930), was the last one remaining. In the 1910s, Annie made arrangements with two cousins that they could take ownership of the house if they would care for her in her old age. She moved out of the home, taking only her clothing, and the building sat unoccupied for almost thirty years.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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