Barnes House

Originally built in 1797 in the Independent Hill area, this house stood along one of Prince William County's main east-west roads and was converted by the Adams family into a tavern for travelers. Later in the 1800s, the Copen family bought the house and returned it to use as a private residence. The Copen farm was worked mainly by enslaved laborers, including Jane Barnes, who before the Civil War had three children, among them Eppa Barnes, born in 1852. After the Civil War, Eppa left the area while his mother remained as a sharecropper for the Copen family. By the end of the century, Eppa had returned with his wife and growing family and bought the house and farm from the Copen estate. Eppa and his wife Amanda Lambert raised their family in the house where Eppa was likely born into slavery. After Eppa's death in 1930, the house passed to his son Bernard. Although Bernard never married, his mother, sister, and extended family lived there until his death in 1962. Afterward, the building became a storefront, and in 2014 it was moved to prevent its demolition.

Montclair, Virginia · United States