History of Long Branch

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Early History

In 1788, Robert Carter Burwell, a descendant of Robert “King” Carter, inherited the land sitting along a stream known as Long Branch in Clarke County, Virginia. Using the labor of enslaved people, Burwell started a wheat plantation on 600 acres of land he inherited and co-farmed with adjoining land owned by his sister and brother in-law, called Rosney. About twenty years later, around 1810, he began to construct a mansion on the site. Burwell, along with the help of a local builder-architect, designed and constructed the house in the Federal style. He sought out comments on his design from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol, in letters dated July 1811. Latrobe's recommendations included adding a second servant’s staircase and that the dining room and chamber be oriented to the south side of the house, which are in place today.

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Burwell did not have much time to enjoy his new home, for he fell fatally ill in the filthy camps around Norfolk, Virginia while serving in the military during the War of 1812.

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Following Burwell’s death, the property passed into the ownership of his sister, Sarah, and her husband Philip Nelson.  While Burwell had died in 1813, it appears that the Nelson’s did not move in until around 1820.  Details on their early tenancy are scarce, but by the 1830s sources indicate they operated the house as a school for girls and maintained the grounds as a wheat plantation.  Philip’s son Thomas then opened a boy’s school at Rosney, the Nelson's  plantation home immediately north of Long Branch.  It is likely that Philip was responsible for the addition of an open-air loggia to the house – the eastern brick addition.

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Philip’s ownership of Long Branch was mainly characterized by difficult economic conditions, including the Panic of 1825 and 1837.  While Philip, like Robert Burwell before him, used enslaved laborers and servants to run his plantation, he still struggled to make Long Branch extremely profitable, and by the early 1840s, he was apparently forced to sell to his nephew, Hugh Mortimer Nelson.  Philip and Sarah would live the rest of their lives back at Rosney, the home that they had lived in before moving to Long Branch.

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In 1842, Hugh M. Nelson paid $32,000 for Long Branch, and by the late 1840s, he oversaw a series of updates and changes to the home and plantation.  Hugh and his wife Adelaide enclosed the loggia making a larger “kitchen” space and oversaw a comprehensive Greek revival renovation which included construction of the central hall's spiral staircase, interior window and door trim based on the designs of architect Minard Lafever, new windows and window casings, and both north and south columned porticos.​​​​

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Hugh, one of Clarke County’s delegates to the Virginia secession convention, was a pro-Union delegate as were many residents of the Valley.  All of Hugh’s speeches from the debates survive, including an impassioned speech concerning the impact of a war on his native region:

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​Despite Hugh’s position during the debates, following Virginia’s decision to secede in the spring of 1861, he sided with his native state and commanded the 6th Virginia Cavalry.  Hugh rose through the ranks and ultimately gained a position as Aide-de-Camp on Confederate General Richard Ewell’s staff.  Hugh was severely wounded during the Seven Days’ Campaign of the Civil War, June 25 – July 1, 1862, and ultimately died of infection a little over a month later in August.

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Following Hugh M. Nelson’s death, Adelaide Nelson discovered large debts on the property, and she and her son, Hugh Jr., struggled to maintain ownership of the property and years of legal wrangling ensued.  Added to this was the downturn of the farm's sustainability with the  loss of enslaved laborers and the  in a struggling southern post war economy.

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Ultimately, Adelaide Nelson rose to the challenge, fought back against creditors, and was able to buy back Long Branch at auction, which was forced by creditors to settle the debts against them.

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The Nelson family ultimately held on to the house until the 1950s – but the financial deprivations caused by the destruction of the pre-war economy forced the family to live a much different lifestyle. Unlike their antebellum predecessors, the Nelsons of the late 19th century, primarily Hugh Nelson Jr. and his wife Sallie Page Nelson, were unable to redecorate the house and acquire much new furniture. The result was that house and its interior furnishings remained remarkably unchanged from the 1860s until 1951.

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20th Century Change

When Sallie Page Nelson passed away in 1951, the Nelson heirs to the house decided to sell Long Branch.  The Nelson family’s 144-year ownership of Long Branch officially ended in 1957 when Abram and Dorothy Hewitt purchased the home for $125,000.

Abram Hewitt was a corporate financial advisor who served for the Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor to the CIA) during World War II. His wife, Dorothy Hewitt, was originally from New Orleans and served as a ferry pilot in England during World War II.  Together, Abram and Dorothy raised four sons while living at Long Branch.  They modernized the heating and electrics of the house and also rebuilt the summer kitchen structure, which Abram used as his office.  While raising their family at Long Branch, the Hewitts also raised beef and grew corn, alfalfa, and other crops.  Due to financial difficulties in the late 1970s, Abram and Dorothy reluctantly sold Long Branch in 1978.

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A Renewal and Future

After the Hewitt’s ownership, the house passed through several subsequent owners and speculators, ultimately landing once again on the courthouse steps in 1986 at an auction where Harry Z. Isaacs, a Baltimore textile executive, purchased the estate for $1.3 million. At the time, the house was in very bad shape, and  only a visionary like Isaacs saw what Long Branch could once again be.  He embarked on a massive restoration and rehabilitation of the house that spared no expense or detail.  It is due to him that Long Branch stands today.

 

At the outset, Isaacs intended to live at Long Branch, but shortly after the renovations began, he learned he had terminal cancer.  He raced to complete the home, with a new vision for its future. Before his death in 1990, Isaacs created and endowed the Harry Z. Isaacs Foundation “to hold, preserve, maintain and operate Long Branch Farm… for charitable purposes.”  It is now run by the nonprofit Historic Long Branch, a 501c3 organization, in partnership with the Harry Z. Isaacs Foundation.

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Today, Long Branch delivers on Harry Isaacs vision by serving the local and regional community as an open space resource on its 400 acres, which is  open free of charge from dawn to dusk, as an educational and celebratory venue for many public and private events, and as a horse retirement facility where we host equine friends living out their remaining years.