Locust Bottom
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
A view of the somewhat dilapidated main home in 2016 ((By JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons))
![A view of the somewhat dilapidated main home in 2016 ((By JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons))](https://storage.googleapis.com/clio-images/medium_25406.55734.jpg)
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The land that Locust Bottom occupies was originally part of a plot of land that was in Carter Burwell’s Bull Run Tract, dating back to 1724. James Green acquired the Locust Bottom plot of land in 1810 from Frederick County’s Nathaniel Burwell, who arranged for Green to pay off his debts by 1817. It is speculated that in order to pay off his debts and develop his land effectively, Green constructed Locust Bottom in two major phases, the first being the construction of a kitchen wing of his house in 1811 and 1812. By 1817, Green had paid off his debts, as in 1819 and 1820, Green’s property value increased significantly, indicating that he built the actual plantation home portion of Locust Bottom. Green and his family lived in the plantation house for some time, and in 1834, after Green had died, the property was split between his widow and children, with each getting a significant amount of acreage.
After the Civil War, the plantation house and 155 acres of land were purchased by the Bronaugh family at an unspecified date, and they sold the property again in 1882 to R. C. Latham. The Latham family set out to buy the rest of the land that had been divided up among the rest of Green’s children. The land was used to open a dairy farm on the Locust Bottom property, and the dairy farm remains to this day, for the most part. On December 13th, 1988, it was designated on the Virginia Landmark Register, and on February 11th, 1991, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, though the main house appears to be overgrown and vacant, other buildings on the farm property are still in use.