Cool Spring Farm
National Register of Historic Places

Cool Spring Farm

Gerrardstown, Berkeley County, West Virginia
Listed
November 21, 1994
Type
Building
Period
Colonial
Ref No.
94001292

About this property

Cool Spring Farm, also known as Rockdale Spring Farm and Torytown, was a wilderness estate settled by Colonel Morgan Morgan (1688–1766), long celebrated as the first permanent European settler in what would become West Virginia. The Welsh-born Morgan was granted 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) on the property in 1735, but he is believed to have first settled there in 1731. Recent research indicates that Morgan's settlement was not the first, but was preceded by a German settlement at what became "New Mecklinberg", possibly as early as 1726. Morgan Morgan's seventh son, Zackquill Morgan (1735–1795), built the house at Cool Spring Farm in 1761, but sold it in 1765 and moved west to Monongalia County, Virginia (now in West Virginia), to establish his namesake settlement of Morgantown in 1781. After changing hands several times, Cool Spring Farm was purchased by John McKown, Jr. in 1827. His son Edmund renamed the farm "Rockdale Spring Farm". The sons of John McKown owned considerable land in the area of Gerrardstown during the late 19th century. In 1994, the original house built by Zackquill Morgan at Cool Spring Farm was listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places.

Location

Gerrardstown, Berkeley County, West Virginia
39.33161, -78.10619

Categories

EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT
National Register nomination ›
Sources

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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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Nearby Historic Sites

Morgan, William G., House
Industrial
0.5 mi
Rees, John, David, and Jacob, House
Industrial
1.3 mi
Gold, Washington, House
Industrial
1.5 mi
Morgan-Gold House
Civil War
1.5 mi
Drinker, John, House
Listed
1.7 mi

Nearby Battles

Bunker Hill — Skirmish (November 1861)
1861Civil War
2.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Cool Spring Farm listed on the National Register?

Cool Spring Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 1994.

What type of historic resource is Cool Spring Farm?

Cool Spring Farm is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Cool Spring Farm?

The period of significance for Cool Spring Farm is recorded as the colonial era, specifically around 1688.

Can I research the history near Cool Spring Farm?

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