So far in our look at mansions, we have come across a number of family names that keep popping up. One of them is the Fletchers. Something like 30 Fletchers rest peacefully at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Upperville. In 1887, Willie Fletcher acquired Green Garden.
Now we come to Joshua Fletcher (1810-1862). He and his wife Eliza built The Maples, a c. 1853 beauty at 33688 John Mosby Highway in Upperville. It’s hidden from Route 50, so we were not able to get a photo.
There isn’t much on the Fletchers on the web, but in the book, “Makers of America” (Edited by Leonard Wilson), the author has a chapter on Robert Fletcher. He was the son of Joshua Fletcher and Eliza. Joshua was a large farmer and landowner. Robert is believed to be the great-great-grandson of Joshua Fletcher, the Immigrant from Wales.
The author writes Fletcher was educated at the neighboring military academy known as Armstrong’s. He served as a Captain in the Confederacy in Welby Carter’s Company A of the First Virginia Calvary. Two of his brothers, John and Clinton, were also in the war. They were both killed in the war and Robert’s father also died in 1862. This made him the matriarch of the large family.
The author also writes that Robert Fletcher had a favorite Kentucky mare, was a great judge of steer, and treasurer of the church.
As mentioned, The Maples is not on the National Register for Historic Places, but it is mentioned briefly in the NRHP form for the Unison Battlefield. It tells us the two-story, three-bay stone house was built c. 1856, and is “an extremely well-preserved example of the Greek Revival style.” It features a portico, bank barn, machine shed, granary, summer kitchen, the slave quarters made of stone.
Anyone at The Maples would have seen Battle of Unison action on Day 3 when the Union advanced on General Stuart’s positions. The form tells us The Maples marked the end of Stuart’s line, the extreme left flank. Inside the home, rebel rifles shot at the advancing New York soldiers. The Federal infantrymen, “drove the sharpshooters from the house and broke Stuart’s line. Rosser ordered a retreat toward Upperville.”
The house remained a Fletcher seat until 1999 when Andy and Michele Stevens acquired it. As told by The Washington Times, they meticulously restored the main manor home, as well as eight other buildings. The three-level bank barn is unique.
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