Wappocomo is a late 18th-century Georgian mansion overlooking the South Branch Potomac River north of Romney, West Virginia, United States.[1][2] Wappocomo lies along West Virginia Route 28 and the South Branch Valley Railroad. The train station for the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad heritage railroad is located on the South Branch Valley Railroad at Wappocomo.[2]
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Wappocomo was built by Nicholas Casey in 1774[1][2] with bricks made in England and used as ballast in vessels loading tobacco on the James River.[1] The bricks were transported to Wappocomo over the mountain ridges in oxcarts.[1] Casey named his plantation "Wappocomo" after a Native American word for the South Branch Potomac River, "Wappatomaka."[1]
Wappocomo was originally constructed as a square two-story Georgian-style structure with a cellar and an attic, conforming to the style prevalent in Virginia at the time of its construction.[1] The mansion's walls are 18 inches thick due to Wappocomo's use of large and heavy ballast bricks allowing for deep windows.[1] The wood sills and joists were all crafted at Wappocomo and the "rot nails" were also made at Wappocomo at the blacksmith shop.[1]
The mansion's mantels, wide-grooved window casings with panels, the sturdy paneled doors, and all other interior woodwork were made by hand on location.[1] Double inside chimneys originally stood high above Wappocomo's steep roof and every room contained a corner fireplace.[1] The fireplaces exhibit unusually tall mantels.[1]
Each room at Wappocomo is exactly like the other, all being an identical size and shape.[1] The four rooms on each of the original floors are large with high ceilings.[1] A grand central stairway in the mansion's central hall, with a handrail crafted of walnut, extends to the third attic floor.[1] A small portico covers the front doorway which opens into the living room.[1]
Wappocomo's cellar rooms are almost entirely above ground and is constructed of great stone foundation blocks.[1] The cellar contains a large open fireplace where most of the cooking was done.[1]
While all other plantation homes on the South Branch Potomac River were built facing the river, Wappocomo faces toward the western flanks of South Branch Mountain.[1]
In 1861, a stone addition was made to the original 1774 Georgian structure.[1] The addition's construction was under the supervision of a man with the surname of Ferrybe.[1] The stone was quarried from Mill Creek Mountain, hewed by hand, carried across the South Branch Potomac River, and lifted upon a scaffold with wheelbarrows.[1]
The 1861 addition consists of four rooms with two rooms per story.[1] The two rooms on the first story were used as a kitchen and dining room[1] while the two rooms on the second story were made into a ballroom.[1] The addition's rooms are large and have 12 feet tall ceilings.[1]
Wappocomo's addition exhibits deep double verandas extending across the mansion's front supported by columns extending from the ground level. A stairway connected the lower porch with the upper porch.[1]
Wappocomo was owned by Colonel Isaac Parsons until his death on 24 April 1862.[1] It was willed to his wife Susan Blue Parsons for the purpose of educating their children.[1] Susan Blue Parsons died on 2 October 1889, and on 20 December 1890, Wappocomo was sold to Colonel Parsons' son Garrett W. Parsons for the sum of $16,885.72.[1] The other Parsons heirs were paid their shares of the purchase.[1] After the death of Garrett W. Parsons, Wappocomo was inherited by his son Charles Heber Parsons I and was subsequently inherited by Charles Heber Parsons II.[1]
Wappocomo's ballroom in its 1861 stone addition was the scene of many parties.[1] It is claimed that as many as 100 couples have danced on the ballroom's floor.[1] It was the custom of guests who were visiting the mansion for the first time to write their names and the date on the mortar between the stones, of which many are still legible.[1]
Part of Wappocomo's original land located near the boundaries of the city of Romney was sold for residential building lots and for a cold storage plant for fruit stands along the South Branch Valley Railroad near the mansion.[1]