Revealing and Recalling Warrenton’s Hidden Rosedale

Revealing and Recalling Warrenton’s Hidden Rosedale

Faithfully restored, the old Rosedale wine cooling building is now part of Eastwood Farm.

Courtesy of Joe Allen Jr.

An avid foxhunter, Frederick A. B. Portman was photographed at the corner of Culpeper and Hotel streets with a pack of Warrenton Hunt hounds in 1905.

An accomplished horsewoman, Caroline Portman rode with the Warrenton Hunt for many years. From left are hunt members Harry Edmonds, William Emory, Mrs. Portman, J. Chauncey Williams and Richard Barrett. These Portman photos appeared in A Century of Foxhunting: the War-renton Hunt, 1887-1987, courtesy of the National Sporting Library and Museum.

By John Toler

For many years, the overgrown thicket seen by drivers headed south on Warrenton’s east bypass as they approach the Meetze Road turnoff has been just that—a tangle of trees and vines. A closer look reveals a crumbling house and a barn or shed, hidden by the trees.

The once structures were part of a large farm encompassing part of southeastern Warrenton. Over the years, the property was divided and bisected by new roads, and ultimately reduced to its now 11.57acre tract owned by Remland LLC and targeted for future development.

Originally 274 acres with a circa-1830 main house, the property was owned in the mid-19th century by John J. Bronough.

In A Pride of Place, Rural Residences of Fauquier County, Virginia (2003), author Kimberley Protho Williams noted that the original section of the house was a “…small, one-and-a-half story log building, typical of the vernacular domestic architecture of Fauquier County, and added onto over the years.”

In 1874 Bronough sold the farm to Robert Mott, who gave his daughter and son-in-law 27½ acres and the house. They renamed it Rosedale. The property later passed to the deVerges family of New Orleans, then to the Lansdales. Both families made significant additions.

The next owner was Frederick Arthur Berkeley Portman (1867-1907). Born in Somersetshire, England, he was a cousin of Seymour B. Portman, 6th Viscount of Bryanston.

A frequent world traveler, Portman first came to the U.S. as a teenager, and in 1894 married Caroline H. Luke (1868-1956), a native of Christchurch, Australia.

While little is known about Portman’s livelihood, he did love equestrian sports and was involved with the Warrenton Hunt during his brief lifetime.

The Hunt was organized in 1887 and incorporated in 1889. Portman served first as whipper-in, and was Master of Foxhounds from 1899-1903 and 19061907. He also was a starter and participant in many steeplechases, often aboard his favorite hunter, “Titmouse.”

Fauquier Democrat columnist M. Louise Evans was a close friend of Mrs. Portman before and after her husband’s death, and a frequent Rosedale visitor. She once described the house as being filled with “…antique furniture, needlepoint brought from England, one of the first iron stirrups made in the U.S., and a wealth of hunting prints.”

Also displayed was a sword carried by one of Mrs. Portman’s ancestors in the Battle of Waterloo and a Confederate officer’s sword.

The grounds were given special attention by the Portmans, with “…flagged walks, gardens and flowers, and so improved the lawn around the house until it looks like velvet,” wrote Miss Evans.

Especially noteworthy was the gigantic white oak on the front lawn, the base measuring 19 feet in circumference with a 54-foot spread of its lower branches.

Frederick Portman contracted pneumonia in early 1907, and died shortly thereafter. His death, at age 40, shocked and saddened friends and many others in the hunting world. He was buried in the Warrenton Cemetery.

As reported in Hunts of the United States (1907): “Of the many good sportsmen who have hunted the hounds, Mr. F.A. B. Portman was undoubtedly the most popular Master, being a man of gentle disposition, iron nerve, and a sportsman to the core.”

Mrs. Portman lived at Rosedale the rest of her life. She remained active in the Warrenton Hunt and managed the farm, where she raised and trained her own horses.

She continued to ride nationally and internationally, often competing with the best, including Lady Astor, in venues like Madison Square Garden. She also contributed many articles to equestrian publications. After an illness of several months, she died on Sept. 28, 1956, and was buried next to her husband.

What followed was a succession of different owners. At some point, the 14-foot by 14-foot stone building on the property believed to have been used for wine cooling was moved to nearby Eastwood, along with the monument dedicated to “Titmouse.”

When Kimberly Proto Williams surveyed the house at Rosedale nearly 20 years ago, she noted that “…little remains of the additions. Ruins of numerous buildings surround the house; the entire property is in a ruinous state.”

The magnificent trees are gone, and what remains of the decrepit main house and outbuildings of Rosedale await what will happen next.