Hello, world!
If you’re reading this blog, it is likely you are a friend or family of either Chad or myself. As such, you likely know about our dream of moving into Edge Hill, an 1840s plantation in Quicksburg, Virginia. In its current state, the house is neither glamorous nor move-in ready. Many of its original historical elements have been diligently preserved…and not much else. On the way out is a truck stop whose office was run out of an addition built onto the original structure in the 1960s, and on the way in are Chad, myself, and our Great Dane, Afton.
I am finishing up my second year of law school at the University of Richmond this Friday (!), and after a year of living apart, Chad and I will be moving back in together for the summer. Those of you who have seen the state of Edge Hill know that along with this transition comes the challenge of making the house liveable…with a lot of elbow grease and TLC. See, for example, this pic from the day-after shoot with our wedding photographer in one of Edge Hill’s out buildings:
Luckily, the main house doesn’t look quite this bad and mainly craves some strong bleach and lots of scrubbing.
We are looking forward to sharing this journey with you – the ups, the downs, and the unexpected surprises. Thanks in advance for all of your interest and advice! Buckle your seat belts!!!
– Rachel, Chad, and Afton
Living on the Edge(Hill) 
Rachel & Chad,
Jo and I enjoyed the story and pictures.
Love, Grandpa Rod
Thank you! We’re trying to post AT LEAST once a week, so check back in for further updates! We now have linoleum in the kitchen, which is a HUGE improvement! Love, Rachel
You guys are the cutestttt! Send my love to precious Afton, too! Can’t wait till trucker party :)
This will be such a work of love between you, rachel and Dee-Dee. Keep writing.
Love, Patsy Robbins, Dee=Dee’s roommate in MCV.
I think you’re nuts. Chad, surely you remember the plank in your Mom’s house, the dead cat in the reservoir, the groundhog in the kitchen trap because the wall had been torn down in the brick room. And you’re going to tackle your OWN HOME????? Not really!! Good luck and keep me posted.
(But I can’t believe your Mom is going through it again, it must be because she doesn’t have to LIVE there) Love, Donna
I am cousin to Nancy Stewart of Broadway and am a Stiegel researcher. Yesterday I found a Harrisonburg newspaper article from 1904 that contained new information that might be of interest to you, but also generate more research into Samuel Moore’s farm. Here is text from the article, referring to Jacob Stiegel: “He sleeps today under the shadow of the Massanutten on the Samuel Moore farm near Quicksburg.” My research shows that this Stiegel left the Quicksburg area about 1809 and moved to Augusta county, finally settling on a farm on the Middle River near New Hope that he bought in 1819. So it was a surprise to me that when he died in 1827-28 that he was buried back near his original estate at Boiling Spring. If this newspaper article contains true facts you may have my ancestor’s grave on your land. Question: have you made progress on your Samuel Moore research and if so, have you learned anything about a family cemetery on the property? If you give me a way to reach you I can send you a PNG file of the newspaper page and a Word transcription. Thanks, Richard
sorry about contacting you through a comment page….
Richard- Wow, sorry for the extremely delayed response. We weren’t using the blog much for the past two years and apparently missed several comments. We’d love to see a picture of the newspaper page if you still have it around. There are no grave sites at Edge Hill other than the slave/african american cometary that we are aware of (we don’t know about burials there post-civil war).