Redmoor

At the close of the Civil War, Redmoor was the home of Edmund Ruffin Jr. and his father, agronomist Edmund Ruffin. From 1833 through 1842, the senior Ruffin published the Farmer's Register, thereby creating a nucleus of scientific information for Southside and, to a lesser degree, the Piedmont. A fierce advocate of state's rights, as time passed he more fervently defended slavery. When war came, he was chosen to discharge one of the first shots at Fort Sumpter. Unwilling to live under Yankee rule and in failing health, at Redmoor he wrote an extraordinary treatise on suicide, draped the Confederate flag over his body, and in June 1865 shot himself.

Times here have changed. Chickens and beef cattle are now raised on this former tobacco plantation, which is now part of a thriving Mennonite community in the area. The two-story central section of the three-part house is unusual in that it does not project but stands flush with the one-story wings. The right wing, as indicated by a break in the Flemish bond brickwork of the facade, predates the central block and the left wing. The modillion cornices are gone, the lunette in the central pediment is no longer glazed, and the original wooden sash windows have been replaced.