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Pot House Has History on its Side J By Travis Shaw
ust a few miles north of Middleburg lies a tiny village that bears the curious name of Pot House. Though it now only consists of a few historic homes, it was once a busy industrial center and a bustling country crossroads. In July, the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area invited guests to explore this fascinating location and learn more about its history. The community of Pot House had its beginnings in the late 18th century. James Leith immigrated from Scotland as a young man, and sought his fortune in Virginia as a surveyor. In 1768, he purchased 620 acres in the vicinity of Goose Creek, and it’s likely the original structure at Pot House dates to this period. The settlement acquired its name from the manufactory that was built to produce ceramics and bricks for the local market. Over the years this business would rely on both paid and enslaved labor. In subsequent decades, Leith sold portions of the property to other planters. Among them was John Kyle, who used Pot House bricks to build Locust Hill, now a part of the Foxcroft School. Another portion of the property, including the Pot House itself, was sold in the early 1790s to Joseph Lane. A veteran officer of the Revolutionary War, Lane also used local bricks in the construction of Farmer’s Delight. During the 1790s, the first written descriptions of the Pot House appeared. In May, 1790 a sale advertisement in the Alexandria Gazette newspaper described the structure as a “two story building 60 feet in length, 20 feet in breadth” with a separate room laid off for family living quarters. Six years later, the Reverend Alexander McFarland recorded that he preached at the “Pot House” once a month as he made his circuit around Cameron Parish.
In 1834, the Pot House property was sold to the eminent builder William After immigrating from England as a young man, Benton found his Design Build Remodel Benton. calling as an architect, and many of his works still dot the Loudoun landscape. His most famous commission was Oak Hill, built for President James Monroe 540.439.8890 in the 1820s, using bricks made at Pot House.
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Other Benton works include the Episcopal and Methodist churches in Middleburg and the Methodist church in Unison. Benton also used Pot House bricks in the construction of his own home, New Lisbon (now known as Huntland). During the period of Benton’s ownership, a lively village grew around the Pot House, including several homes, a wheelwright’s shop, and a blacksmith’s shop. William Benton’s son Benjamin also ran a school at New Lisbon for several years before the Civil War. When that war broke out in 1861, the population around Pot House largely supported secession, and many young men from the area left to serve with the Confederate army. The village itself was frequented by soldiers on both sides throughout the war. On June 19, 1863 there was a small skirmish near the village that was a part of the much larger Battle of Middleburg. Union cavalry and artillery passed through the village that afternoon in an effort to move around the Confederates blocking the Ashby’s Gap Turnpike. Confederate troops of the 5th and 7th Virginia Cavalry encountered them on the west side of Pot House. One Confederate officer described the events that followed: “We had a skirmish with the enemy near the pot-house...I ordered the seventh to charge on the right flank, which was done with spirit. A stone fence was soon discovered in front, which had to be pulled down. We then
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MIDDLEBURG SUSTAINABLE COMMITTEE| Holiday 2023
