Stone Eden

Stone Eden Farm was first deeded in 1765 to the Hatcher family.  At the time, a small stone house was built, which consisted of one downstairs room with a loft upstairs. That is now the center section of the house. Circa 1820, the first addition, also of stone, was added to the house. This is the current day living room, two side rooms, and the upstairs to this section. The style of this section of the home represents early American vernacular architecture. Typical to the period, one can observe front and back doors directly opposite one another and the two side rooms, seen in many homes built in Loudoun around this time.  

 

The farm remained in the Hatcher family from 1765 until the Browns purchased the farm in the mid-1930s. It was the Browns who named the land formerly known as Hatchers' heirs land to Stone Eden Farm. The Browns were dairy farmers, and three generations of Browns raised dairy cattle and crops until the family patriarch, Sam Brown, passed away in the late 1990s. Due to the encroaching development coming from western Loudoun, the Browns decided to subdivide the property and relocate. In 1999, the Cochran family bought what remained of Stone Eden Farm. Allen Cochran, of Cochran's Stone Masonry (located in the olde Janney's Store Building) is both resident and creator of the log portion of the home. A smaller log portion/summer kitchen had once existed in a similar spot. Mr. Cochran purchased a log cabin, dismantled it, and reassembled it as the addition. He and his crew built the mammoth stone wall at the north end of the log portion, and the family moved in in 2013. It is still a work in progress, as you will see some retaining wall beginnings; also, some continued restoration and addition of a powder room to the 1765 portion will take place in the near future.

 

Historically, the home stood through the American Revolution and the War of Northern Aggression. During the burning raid that began in late November of 1864, the barn, which stood directly in front of the current barn, was destroyed. A new barn was built in 1869 and is the barn you see today. The Battle of Katy's Hollow took place near Stone Eden. It was Mosby's last skirmish of the war in Loudoun, taking place in March 1865. A local story has been passed down that a bullet entered the home and became lodged in a cast iron frying pan. 

 

Allen, Nancy, and their daughters, Emily and Montana, reside at Stone Eden Farm. They have continued with the agricultural tradition of the farm raising sheep and a small hen laying flock.