Visiting Ben Lomond Historic Site Manassas, VA.

Ben Lomond is a historic site located in Manassas, Va. It was originally part of the land holdings of Robert “Councillor” Carter III who was the grandson of Robert “King” Carter. At his death, his massive holdings were divided among his heirs, one of whom was his grandson, Benjamin Tasker Chinn. Guests who have visited the Manassas Battlefield will recognize the name Chinn as one of the hills that the battle took place on.

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When Robert Carter III owned the property, it was used to grow tobacco. It was named Cancer Plantation, he named his plantations after the signs of the zodiac. Oakland Plantation was originally called Leo. Robert Carter III freed his slaves in a document he filed with the Northumberland District Court.

When Benjamin Chinn inherited, he decided to build a house on the property, which is the house that stands today, well sort of. The original house was covered in stucco and had a two-two-story over the entire front. His wife did not like the name of the property and to please his wife, Benjamin changed the name to Ben Lomond after a property that had been the ancestral home of her family.



With only ten slaves, tobacco was out of the question, instead, the plantation raised merino sheep.



Today, an original slave cabin stands on the property and is the only one extant in the county and one of only a few in the area. It was divided into two apartments and was big enough to provide space for all the slaves. Made of stone, each of the sides has a fireplace making it nicer than the homes most small farmers would have had. The entire building was moved from the other side of the property to its current location when the modern world began encroaching on it.

The tour of the grounds is self-guided except for the slave quarters. The tour begins in the gift shop and moves outside to the front of the house. It then moves to the slave cabin and you are welcome to go inside.



By the time of the Battle of Manassas, the Chinn family had moved to a bigger, newer home on Chinn Hill. Ben Lomond was being leased to the Pringle family. The house sits adjacent to the road that Stonewall Jackson brought his troops along to the battle. After the battle, the Confederates took possession of the house and turned it into a field hospital. Ben Lomond remained in their hands until the end of August 1961.




In 1862 when the Union occupied the area they came to the house and destroyed all the furniture and left graffiti on the walls, which survives to this day. They had heard that the Pringles were Confederate sympathizers.

The house that is seen today is set up as it would have been at the time right after the First Battle of Manassas, as a field hospital. A lot of information is imparted about what the patients endured and the medicine and procedures they were forced to endure.

This was a very interesting place to visit. The tour was excellent and it is the perfect place to visit to coordinate with a visit to the battlefield.



The rose garden was not in bloom in October but visitors can enter the smokehouse and the dairy. The stone outline of the kitchen is also visible in the yard. In the early 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt was a frequent visitor to the house. It has been in the possession of Prince William County since the 1980s. There is a small fee to visit.