A bit of history goes to auction - with VIDEO
Nov. 28—The sprawling white house in the Second Creek area of Monroe County is quiet.
It hasn't always been that way.
"Just being on the property, it's one of those, 'if something could talk, the stories it would tell' kind of things," said David Crosier. "I would love to be privy to some of those conversations."
The house, of course, can't speak. At least not through words.
But if it could, it's not difficult to imagine it would spin tales of what it saw in the years after the American Revolution when it was just a log cabin on the frontier of what was then Virginia.
Perhaps it would speak of its time as a wagon stop, and of a visit from former United States Secretary of State Henry Clay.
Or maybe the stories would be about the Union soldiers who camped on its large front yard during the Civil War.
The big house at Spring Valley Farm can't speak, but if it could, the most important stories would likely be those of the generations of Dickson family members who farmed its land and called it home.
But those days are gone now.
For nearly two months, Crosier has watched as workers have sorted, boxed and carted away more than 200 years of life from the home.
And from Dec. 3-5, the marketing coordinator for Greenway's Real Estate & Auction in Covington, Va., will listen and watch as those items are displayed and handed over to the highest bidder.
The house, too, along with its more than 600 acres of land, will be up for grabs.
----Traces of the original two-room log cabin constructed by John Knox in 1793 are visible when pointed out.
"There are log beams in the attic over the dining room," Crosier said, explaining the home was built in three stages.
It wasn't Knox who converted the cabin into the large 14-room home it is today.
That began when Knox's brother-in-law Richard Dickson purchased the property in 1834. Then, from 1837 to 1841, Dickson converted the cabin into a dining room, constructed a kitchen and built the two-story "big" or "main" house.
"It's one of the most amazing places I've ever been to in all my years," Crosier said of the home and property.
Over the past 187 years, four generations of Richard Dickson's descendants have made Spring Valley Farm their home and livelihood.
It was early October when that chapter of the home's history ended.
That's when 87-year-old Page Dickson, who called Spring Valley Farm home for more than 60 years, closed the door behind her one final time.
"Page is sort of the end of the line of the Dickson family," said her brother John Myers.
----Page, who grew up in Virginia, married into the Dickson family after work brought her to Lewisburg.
"Bill (William) Dickson, came out of the service from the Korean War," Myers said of Page's late husband. "He was one of three brothers but he was the only brother who stayed."
Myers said Page and Bill, who served as president at First National Bank in Ronceverte during the day and farmed in the evenings, spent the first 10 or 15 years of their marriage living in a smaller home near the big house.
When Bill's father passed away, he and his mother inherited the farm. Eventually, Myers said, it was decided that his mother would move into their smaller home and the couple would take the original house.
And although the house was officially built in three stages, Page and Bill made their own mark on the historic home.
"They renovated it and Page proceeded to decorate it with a lot of antiques," Myers said.
The pages of the brochure announcing the farm's auction are covered in photos of items both original to the home and acquired by Page.
Myers said his sister scoured auctions for antique furniture and décor constructed by local craftsmen.
"Most of that furniture is (made) local, perhaps on a 3-4-county area," he said.
Page, according to Myers, became skilled with her hunt.
"She put a lot of work into it," Myers said. "She had an amazing ability to spot an antique. It got to the point she couldn't go to an auction and buy anything. She had to have people buy it for her. If people saw she started bidding, they would bid against her."
Page continued to care for the home, both through her inside décor and outside gardening, on her own after Bill passed away in 1994 when he was 64.
Bill's death marked the end of farming for the Dickson family, who had raised sheep, turkey and cattle through the generations.
"Page just couldn't do that (farm)," Myers said, adding she instead began renting a tract of land to a local cattle farmer.
Because Bill and Page had no children, Myers said the couple decided before he passed away that the land and house would eventually be sold.
In the event that Page ever had to move due to health reasons, Myers said he and his sister agreed that he would take power of attorney and assume responsibility for both her and the property.
It was an Alzheimer's diagnosis that led to Page's October move to an assisted living facility near Myers' home in Charleston, S.C.
"She wanted desperately to die in the house," Myers said. "Unfortunately that didn't happen."
----Myers said Page took a few items from the home when she moved, donated pieces to both the Monroe County Preservation Society and the Lewisburg Historical Society and designated the rest for sale.
Those who attend the auction can bid on everything from antique books to oil paintings, toys, hand-painted Masonic aprons dating back to the late 1700s, China sets, Gaudy Welsh dishware, antique crocs, rugs, furniture and other décor.
Crosier said an early 1800s Federal-style grandfather clock, similar to one in the Oval Office at the White House, as well as a Chickering piano that dates to the 1860s, are likely to draw a lot of attention.
But he said he expects everything to attract attention.
"Most auctions will have some nice pieces, but here, everything is nice," he said. "That's the amazing part. It was hard doing a paper brochure on this one. I could have done 40 pages, but I got it down to eight."
The auction for both the house and its contents will take place in the West Virginia Building at the West Virginia State Fairgrounds in Fairlea.
Pieces from the house will be sold throughout the day each of the three days of the sale, but the house will go up for auction Saturday at noon.
Although Spring Valley Farm includes more than 600 acres, for the sale, the land has been divided into four tracts, ranging in size from 6.02 acres to the 397.83-acre tract, which features, among other things, two outbuildings, a two-car garage and barn and the Dickson family home.
----The auction marks the end of an era for the Dickson family, the house is protected as it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
And with the future of the property in mind, in 2012, Page donated a conservation easement to the West Virginia Land Trust, permanently protecting 600 acres of Sweet Springs Farm.
"I want to make sure that future generations can enjoy what we have been so fortunate to inherit," Page said in 2014 when the agreement was completed.
The agreement restricts commercial development on the property and sets limits as to the size of new construction.
"It doesn't mean you can't enjoy the property," Crosier said. "It just protects it for the future and development that would take away from the natural beauty of it."
Myers, who visited his sister often, said he will miss the farm and that time of their lives.
"There's a degree of sadness," he said. "It marks the end of an era."
And though the next chapter of stories at Spring Valley Farm won't include the Dickson family, Myers said he hopes those who purchase the land and home fill it with their own stories and "appreciate and enjoy it" as much as Page and Bill and the generations before.
"Page loved the house," he said. "...I just hope somebody will buy it who is interested in maintaining the beauty of the farm and the atmosphere that is there because I think it has been and will continue to be a beautiful place."
----For more information on the auction, visit www.greenwaysrealestateandauction.com or call 1-800-420-1155.
— Email: mjames@register-herald.com
