Throughout the house, we've found dozens of pieces of the past: clay and hand-blown marbles, paper dolls, and an 1870s children's school book (no doubt issued by Hillsboro's first public school, the 1874 Arnold Grove Academy now known as Hillsboro's Old Stone School), china and pottery shards, dozens of oyster shells, bottles, pottery shards and an old tavern spoon. Up under the 1870 stairwell in the stone section (in a space we were trying to clear for wiring), we found what appears to be a workman's lunch: stuffed into a ca. 1917 flour bag from the flour mill that once stood at the west end of town were three items: a medicine bottle, an empty can of salmon, and a whiskey bottle (pictured above). Some lunch.

But it was the 1820 section attic that brought forth real treasure: one is an I.O.U. dated May of 1854, signed by then-Hillsboro resident Walter Friggins written to Hillsboro Shoemaker William Fritz who lived across the street. The I.O.U. is for the grand sum of 12 cents. Silly - until you realize a dozen eggs went for a penny, so the I.O.U.'s true value is twenty or twenty-five dollars. The second piece of paper is even more interesting. It has no date, yet there is no doubt it was written during the Civil War. "Samuel Arnit Dr." is written at the top with a list below: "87 pounds butter, 6.37; 66 pounds rags, .37, 74 chickens, 1.54; 64 doz eggs, 64." Then another of the same sorts of items for different amounts.

Without question this is a list of items Union soldiers took from the tavern. The huge number of rags is the first tip-off (bandages were ever in short supply), but the sinker is the phrase "at 75 cents per hundred." Seventy-five cents on the dollar is what the federal government compensated civilians for goods taken by Union soldiers. The Union Army passed through Hillsboro on the way to Antietam in 1862, and it's very likely this is when the goods were taken. The houes was clearly Confederate, and half way through the war Confederates gave up the idea of ever getting anything back from the government - that is, unless they swore an oath of allegiance to the United States. So the owner - one of Mary's sons-in-laws - "filed" the worthless receipt on the attic floor of the brick section of the house - allowing us to pick it up and solve a puzzle 130 years later.

The tavern deed is easily traced back from its modern owners, but there was a gap in the deed track - a chunk of empty space in the records between 1874 and 1928. I was volunteering at the Thomas Balch Library, cataloging entries from local newspapers, when I ran across a small advertisement: a notice of the sale at auction of "Birkitt's Hotel in Hillsboro" in 1874. It was sold for $1,000 to one Lydia Underwood.

Having finally found this connection, I easily traced the deed up to 1928 through the records of wills and deeds, and so the deed track is complete (Lydia Underwood gifted the tavern to Joseph Underwood in her will which went into effect in 1878, and Joseph willed the tavern to Harriet Underwood in 1893). An interesting piece of history is the forced sale of the Tavern in April of 1874: "Birkit [sic](Defendant), S.P. et al vs Reed, Harman et ux,’" of the Chancery Index 1875-1940 (No. M 3533). The chancery case lists, "John and Mary Birket" at the top of the page, then says Mary died intestat, "leaving no personal estate and but a small lot of ground in Hillsboro Loudoun County Virginia some 50 x 22 feet on the main street of aforesaid town and leaving no debts or liens so that said lot descended to her heirs at-law to writ your oratrix and Susan Birkit who has married D.M. Divine. Margaret - the wife of Wm. Allder. Sallie - the wife of J.W. Price. Cornelia - the wife of Wm. A. Baker (said Cornelia is insane). S.P. Birkit and John Birkit and Wm. Birkit - who is dead leaving a widow - Margaret Birkit - and children." It went on to say the lot couldn't be split, so he (Reed) demanded they sell. The case was settled and "Birkett's Hotel" was sold at public auction to Lydia Hough.

For more information on Birkett's Tavern, marriages, deaths, censuses, town history, or Loudoun history, please contact The Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA 20175 or visit the Loudoun County Clerk's Office.

Yes, it looks smaller from the street, but the home is quite large. The back of the house was added some time in the 1930s or 40s, probably to support the store (much like the stone section for Birkett's Tavern). Chuck and I restored these rooms one by one, and they now contain a library, full bath, and office. That leaves one room in the house unrestored: the back storage/workroom.

And in the full bath one finds the most valuable item in the entire house: the original full-flushing toilet. Plumbers have offered to buy this gem of a fifteen-galloner from us, but we wisely refused. The bathroom once had layers of grimy linoleum, cracked and peeling false tiles linoleum wallpaper, and a claw foot tub with no claw feet. After renovation, it has a painted wooden floor, the same wallpaper in excellent shape (the addition of a chair rail above hid a multitude of cracks and tears), and four pedestal feet for the tub courtesy of my brother, Lorenzo Bean.

Lorenzo and my husband created seven built-in library shelves throughout the house, including library and office shelving in the 1930s section.

In 1999, we added a back porch off the kitchen and stone sections. We'd found evidence of a porch along the south wall of the stone section. The original v-grouting stopped below the threshhold of a back door. We assumed if there were only stairs at the door, the v-grouting would have continued down to the ground on either side. Instead there was a clear line across the stonework. Also, up around the second story were two metal flanges - leftover supports for a back porch roof. We hired carpenter Paul Pronske to create a Hillsboro-style porch, and so he based the railing and columns on a home across the street. While the original back porch apparently only attached to the stone section, we chose to create an L-shape porch in order to make it possible to walk on to the porch from the kitchen. A stone patio completes the side yard.

Birkett's Tavern holds a fenced one-third of an acre. Beyond the back stone patio, the garden is set with scented roses, peonies, lilacs, wisteria, Hawthorne, Magnolia and Water Elm, among others. A cement platform for basketball and other games was set at the back right corner of the property.

At the front of the house, the most prominent garden items are the Double Lace Cap Hydrangea bushes whose magnificent flowers and changing hues have caused curious individuals to knock at the front door and ask about them. Front and backyard plantings were designed and implemented by Andrea Watson and her team of excellent workers at Gardens of Delight.

May Birkett's Tavern long stand and continue to delight all its visitors, residents and passersby alike.