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John White House

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1804–1806; 1814 or 1851 brick addition. 2151 N. Main St., 4.8 miles northwest of Washington

The John White house, built by a Scots-Irish miller between 1804 and 1806, was originally the heart of a 360-acre farm. The house illustrates the progress made by a rural family at the beginning of the nineteenth century as the area shifted from subsistence farming to a market economy. The original stone structure was a substantial thirty-two-foot square sited on a rise, with the land sloping away from the house on all sides for drainage. It had a side hall and two rooms on each story. Later, the house was almost doubled in size by the addition of two rooms on each story. The Whites built a flour mill in the early nineteenth century, but all the outbuildings are demolished. In 1916, the farm became the Washington County Fairgrounds and the house became an office and caretaker's residence. Since 1993, the house has been restored and leased by the Washington County History and Landmarks Foundation.

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, collecting and interpreting urban and interurban railcars for over fifty years, is directly across the street at 1 Museum Road. Another well-interpreted, two-story, brick house that opens for tours upon request was built by Enoch and Rachel Wright, a prosperous farm family with Virginia roots. It is located fifteen miles northeast of the fairgrounds and owned by the Peters Creek Historical Society (1816; 815 Venetia Road).

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lu Donnelly et al.
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Data

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Citation

Lu Donnelly et al., "John White House", [Washington, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-01-WS12.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 1

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, Lu Donnelly, H. David Brumble IV, and Franklin Toker. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010, 283-283.

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