About Us
Our Story
The Barb Farm is rich in beauty and history. Located five miles from historic Strasburg, Virginia, the farm is comprised of a two-story brick house, the cottage, the garage, and various outbuildings on 134 acres, spanning the area around the home and across Battlefield Road.
The house, known as the Jasper Barb House, is one of the county’s most fashionable antebellum houses. The two-story house on a stone foundation is capped by a low hipped roof and has four interior brick chimneys. The distinctive bracketed cornice has drop pendants. Greek Revival influence is seen in the wood portico on paired fluted Tuscan columns. West of the house is a two-story brick and stone guesthouse that originally was probably a kitchen. A double-pen log barn, one of the few surviving in the county, is located to the east. (1)
Construction of the home began in 1832, when a young, newly married couple named Hammond contracted with Jasper Barb to build the home. Unfortunately, Mr. Hammond passed away in the first couple of years of construction. Mrs. Hammond decided to continue the project. During the years that followed, Jasper Barb and the widow Hammond fell in love and married. The house construction was completed in 1839. The farm was originally known as the Hammond-Barb farm, but over time the Hammond name was dropped. It is now known as the Barb Farm.
The Battle of Fishers Hill was fought on the farm and surrounding area on September 21 and 22, 1864, and was considered a turning point in the civil war. During the war, the large brick house was used as a hospital, treating both Union and Confederate soldiers. It is said that amputations were common and the limbs were thrown out the back of the house where the screened in porch now stands. There is a blood stain hand print in the wood floor near the staircase. The lower stone porch was all dirt, and the horses were brought in below the house to hide.
The Foster family purchased the house and farm in 1965. They had indoor plumbing, electricity, and air conditioning installed and began the renovations inside the home. The original character of the house remains with all original wood floors, doorways, and ceiling architecture.
The cottage was once a summer kitchen. In later years it was used as an art studio by a painter who boarded here during the summers. When the farm was purchased by the Foster family in 1965, the summer kitchen was falling down. The Fosters had it rebuilt--adding the red brick--and had it decorated for a guest house. The stones used in the bottom portion of the cottage are from the original summer kitchen. It was completed in 1991.
The stone garage was built in 1975.
The farm is still active today, producing hay in the field directly behind the house. There are 45 head of cattle grazing on either side of Battlefield Road.
1. Buildings of Virginia: Valley, Piedmont, Southside, and Southwest, Anne Carter Lee and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, 70-70.