Bond Street Barn, Waterford

Bond Street Barn in Waterford appears on the 1875 James Oden Survey of Waterford, indicating that it dates from that time or earlier. In 1986, the Waterford Foundation purchased the barn and the 1 1/2 acres of land it occupies, and in 1992 it was added to the Loudoun County Historic and Cultural Conservation District. The barn was acquired as part of the Foundation's mission to preserve the historic buildings and open spaces of the National Historic Landmark of Waterford, Virginia, and through education to increase public knowledge of life and work in an early American community. Bond Street Barn is a two story bank barn, with a rubble stone lower level and a board and batten frame upper level. Because it is built into a hillside, each story opens to ground level on opposite sides of the structure, and there is also an ice house on the property. Waterford was established around 1733 by Amos Janney, a Quaker from Pennsylvania, who purchased 400 acres on the south ford of Catoctin Creek and established mills there in the 1740s. The success of the mills made the settlement, first known as Janney's Mill, a center of commerce for grain growers, and by the 1790s the village was known as Waterford, named after Waterford, Ireland, where some town founders had once lived. Sixty-four percent of Waterford's 97 homes were built before 1861, and only four were built after 1922. In 1970, Waterford and a significant portion of its surrounding countryside were declared a National Historic Landmark in recognition of their well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century architecture and landscape. In 1974, the Waterford Foundation helped create an innovative land preservation program protecting historic properties through open space and façade easements. Since beginning in 1944 as a fundraiser to help preserve the National Landmark, the Waterford Fair has drawn thousands of visitors every October and provides a forum for locally and nationally acclaimed artisans, artists, crafters, and food producers while also allowing visitors to tour historic homes, walk the village, and learn Waterford's history and significance.

Waterford, Virginia · United States