Built in Middleburg in 1830 by Hugh Smith, this house is known for holding the first Catholic services in Loudoun in 1852. Lorman Chancellor, at one time mayor of Middleburg, lived in this Federal-style stone house during the Civil War. With the town being regularly searched by Union troops looking for the Confederate guerilla Mosby, Mayor Chancellor and his fellow townsmen had a difficult time. In early 1863, a petition was sent to Mosby begging that he move his operations elsewhere lest the town be burned by federal forces. Mosby refused, and the mayor supported him in this. Here, Mosby enjoyed Sunday dinner before heading on his most famous raid to Fairfax Courthouse, March 8, 1863. Said Mosby to Chancellor before leaving for the rendezvous at Dover, "I shall mount the stars tonight or sink lower than the plummet ever sounded." Chancellor’s support for Mosby eventually led to his arrest.
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