Atchison House

On a hillside sits a tall and grand stone house directly on the old Indian trail, northwest of Edom in Rockingham County. There's no certainty when what is left of this structure was built, though Thomas Bryan Sr. had owed the land since 1762. The winding road from the west out through Brock's Gap was ridden by George Washington in 1784 following his presidency when he'd been out to Ohio to try to collect rents and run off squatters from his landholdings there. Washington was also infatuated with the idea of building a water bridge between eastern and western parts of the new nation through an extensive set of locks and channels where goods could be transported using the Potomac and Ohio Rivers. In his journal of his trip, Washington noted the "Bryan place", and this house seems to have been what he was referring to. There were many smaller building here, including a large stone spring-house and a grove of trees. Most all is gone now; the stonework no longer visible from a stucco covering applied by recent owners. This stone mansion was one of two houses which seemed to be on the 300 acre parcel of Thomas Bryan Sr. at Linville Creek, half of which went through several hands and was purchased by Eymans. It may be that Eymans owned this home. Alternatively, they may have owned the land on which the Baxter house stands --thought to have been a starter-home for Thomas Bryan Sr.

Trying to sort out Bryan land is a complex enterprise. Their land holdings seemed to come and go during key periods around the time of Eyman involvements in Linville lands. Land tax records for 1794 give Morgan, Cornelius, and John Bryant with 100 acres each while Thomas Bryant, Sr., the source of lands for Christian and Susanna Eyman had 900 in three different tracts. Not all of the Bryan lands however, were directly on the creek, and we learn from Eyman deeds that Christian and Susan had land that spanned both sides of the creek. We know from the deed that adjoining neighbors of the tract were Jacob Lincoln (the Lincoln Homestead lands), and John Bryan (on whose land the Penneybacker House had been or was to be built).

In the will of Thomas Bryan, describing the land he was leaving to his son Allen (the land which Allen sold to John Kring, who sold to Eyman), Thomas suggests that he was providing his own residence. It's difficult to know though, which of two Thomas Bryan residences might have fallen to Eyman. While the most logical location would involve the Baxter house lands, some believe that by his "residence", Thomas Bryan Sr. would have been referring to the very large stone house known as the "Atchison House". This seems unlikely, however, since by 1814, Eyman lands had gone to Jacob Lincoln who already had his own fine brick homestead and would seem to have had little incentive to add substantial improvements to the stately Atchison House.