Aetna Hill (Midlothian, Virginia house)

Aetna Hill is a house in Midlothian, Virginia. It was built soon after 1791 by Thompson Blunt, who had just married Frances Morrisette, a granddaughter of Pierre Morrisette, one of the early Huguenot settlers.[1][2] This original building consisted of "a 1 1/2 story Huguenot-style structure with a three-bay facade and twin front doors".[3]

Aetna Hill
Alternative namesEtna Hill
EtymologyAetna Mines (Mt. Aetna)
General information
StatusStanding
LocationMidlothian, Virginia
Address1700 Salisbury Drive
Coordinates37.512256°N 77.640920°W / 37.512256; -77.640920
Elevation350 feet

In 1831 Thompson Blunt retired to Powhatan County and left Aetna Hill and its lands to his daughter Moriah and her husband, Elijah Brummall. A large addition was made to the house around 1840, when a 2 1/2 story, side passage house adjoining the west side of the original house was completed. In 1928, the house was in the possession of a local preacher named Robert H. Winfree. How the house came into the possession of Rev. Winfree is unclear, but it might have been inherited by his wife, Maria P. Watlington Winfree. Maria was the daughter of John O. W. Watlington and Ann Maria Brummall, who was the daughter of Elijah and Moriah.[4]

Winfree was the pastor of nearby Jerusalem Baptist Church (later renamed Winfree Memorial Baptist Church, in honor of him and his father David B. Winfree, Jerusalem's first pastor), where he preached at for more than 30 years.[5] The Midlothian and Chesterfield County historian, Bettie Woodson Weaver, also lived here with her mother, who was Robert H. Winfree's daughter, in her early years.[6]

After going to college and marrying Albert Weaver, Bettie returned to Aetna Hill after World War II and started renovated the building over the next three years, adding heating, electricity, and indoor plumbing to the 150-year-old house.[7] The facade of the original 1791 house was altered when one of the front doors was taken off and replaced with a wide double window.[8] Weaver lived at the house until very shortly before her death, writing and publishing 11 books and countless articles.[9]

In the present day, Aetna Hill is largely untouched and the main house appears as it did in the 1840s, with slight alterations. Its lands are one of the largest sections of still standing forests in central Midlothian.

References
  1. Moseley, Lucille C. "Huguenot Houses in Powhatan and Chesterfield Counties - Aetna Hill". huguenot-manakin.org. The Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  2. "Virginia, Historical Society Papers, 1607-2007". familysearch.org. Family Search. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  3. Moseley, Lucille C. "Huguenot Houses in Powhatan and Chesterfield Counties - Aetna Hill". huguenot-manakin.org. The Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  4. "Virginia, Historical Society Papers, 1607-2007 - Bible Records, 1700-1900 - Box 07, Bland - Bottimore". familysearch.org. Family Search.org. pp. images 90–101. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  5. Weaver, Bettie (2002). Winfree Memorial Baptist Church Midlothian, Virginia 1852-2002 150 Years of Reaching Out (1 ed.). p. 25,27,35. ISBN 0-9644306-1-4.
  6. Griset, Rich (June 27, 2018). "The bluebird takes flight". Chesterfield Observer. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  7. Griset, Rich (June 27, 2018). "The bluebird takes flight". Chesterfield Observer. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  8. Moseley, Lucille C. "Huguenot Houses in Powhatan and Chesterfield Counties - Aetna Hill". huguenot-manakin.org. The Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin in the Colony of Virginia. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  9. Griset, Rich (June 27, 2018). "The bluebird takes flight". Chesterfield Observer. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
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