Sitting deep in the woods, far from any road, and long ago abandoned is the John T. Williams House. Built in the Italianate architectural style and of red sandstone, the home was built for John by his father – John M. Williams, who lived in a farmhouse nearby (and also still standing).
It is believed that John M. Williams had purchased the sandstone to build this house – and another very similar one for his other son – from the C&O Canal engineer who had excess stones down at the canal in the 1830s.
The location of the home put it very near a Civil War encampment, and there is no doubt that John, his wife Ann, and their four children would have interacted with troops during the war. In fact, many Civil War relics have been recorded found on the property by metal detectors decades ago.
John T. Williams died in 1863 and his wife Ann ran the farm for another 20 years before it passed through successive generations of the Williams and Davis Families until the 1930s. Between 1937 and 1960 the home was rented to tenant farmers and is believed to have been abandoned since then.
