Photo - Littlepage Stone Mansion in Charleston, West Virginia - Fine Art Photo Reproduction

The house was built in 1845 for Major Robert Thornton by Charleston builders Harrop L. Joy and J. Carson, whose names are carved on blocks at both ends of the house. The house was constructed of stones from a local quarry, and some weigh more than a ton. In 1848, the house was sold to Adam Brown Dickinson Littlepage, in whose family the home remained until 1932. According to tradition, Confederate General Henry Wise wanted to use it as his headquarters during the Civil War, but Rebecca Littlepage refused. When Wise threatened to blow up the house, Rebecca stood on the porch with her children, and her home was spared. Adam Littlepage was killed during the war, and his widow was forced to sell large portions of the surrounding farm. The Housing Authority of Charleston purchased the house in 1939 and used it as an office for many years. | Credit line: West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.|Purchase; Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc.; 2015; (DLC/PP-2015:055).|Forms part of: West Virginia Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.