2 Aug 1750: Thomas Lord Fairfax to John Pennywitt

10 Jun 1805: Michael Sigler

15 Jan 1833 and 8 Oct 1849: William Sigler

15 Aug 1851: Joseph S. Pennybacker

10 Apr 1855: Solomon K. Moore and Ismonia A. Moore

30 Mar 1870: J. Simmons, at public auction

14 Sep 1871: J.W. Miller

22 Nov 1878: Joseph Triplett

11 Dec 1911: Jacob L. Williams

3 Sep 1914: George W. Wolfe and Manda, his wife

1 May 1933: Martha L. Haynes

The outside of this house is weather boarded over what is known as brick knog construction, which is a filling of brick and mortar placed between weatherboarding and the plaster. There are three chimneys; one on each side and one at the rear of the house; they are placed within the weatherboarding so the brick shows above the roof. The foundation of the chimneys in the cellar are stone as far as the floor, then brick the rest of the way.

George Wolfe built a long porch with square boxed columns across the front. After Mrs. Haynes bought the property, the highway was widened so she had the porch moved to the south side of the house as it was more private.

The kitchen was moved to the back porch and the square columns placed above it, and a sleeping porch thus formed. Ionic columns were placed on the side porch.

The front door is of the Christian type and has glass windows across the top and down the sides. There is a beautiful fan light stored in the cellar, but where it was used no one seems to know.

In the entrance hall is a continuous winding stairway beginning about four feet from the front door and ending in the attic. All of the stair treads are of one single board and are of a dark natural wood finish. The spindles are very narrow and the railing very dainty.

The living room is paneled all around the bottom of the wall, about twenty inches high. The fireplace is plain, a new mantel and frame having been placed there by Dr. Haynes. The fireplace upstairs had an iron fire back which has been removed.

The dining room has beaded cornices over all the doors and windows. A winding stairway also leads from this room to the ones above, and it is built like the one in the hall. The side wall of the stairway is paneled and molded with a narrow wainscoting, which is about eighteen inches deep.

The doors in this room are of the two vertical panel type, with heavily beaded frames. A small fireplace in one of the upper rooms has the Adams design frame. The woodwork is plain with squares in the corners, and the doors are of the double cross design. All locks and hinges are more or less modern. The floors are of wide boards nailed with shop made nails. All of the woodwork elsewhere is put together with large wooden dowels.

There is some contention as to who built this house, but according to the records in the Court House at Woodstock, the house was built during the ownership of Michael Sigler, in 1805. However, the older residents of Mt. Jackson claim that Mr. John Pennywitt told them that he built it.

A story is told that when the soldiers came through town that Miss Effie Moore and her mother would come across the river from their home and hide in this house with their prize chickens. On one occasion, when they hid the chickens in the attic, they discovered an opening the ladies had forgotten to close and escaped to the roof where the soldiers saw them and shot every one.

Source: Virginia W.P.A. Historical Inventory Project, 1937

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