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This aerial view of Rock Stop and Cottage Woods, in the cleared area, was taken last fall. An edge of Haymount is at the top.
The cleared area is mostly flat and grass-covered. The main house is in the distance.
The smaller Cottage Woods house backs up
Many of the interior features of the main house
A barn, which is being repainted, and other outbuildings are located on the adjacent Cottage Woods property.
The house was built to last, but a new owner would probably want to pursue a renovation project.
The porch, now screened, made a worthwhile addition to the 1791 farmhouse at Rock Stop Farm. |
BY RICHARD AMRHINE
On a perfect early May day, Rock Stop Farm is Eden-like. Acres of freshly mowed lawn with scattered mature trees graduate to more acreage of natural grassland, which is backed by many more acres of near-virgin hardwood forest.
White clapboard homes, barns and other outbuildings stand in contrast to the sea of green under a near-cloudless blue sky.
Rock Stop Farm and its companion property, Cottage Woods, are nestled along that strand of Caroline County between Fort A.P. Hill and the Rappahannock River. The address is 22335 Hicks Landing Road in the Rappa-hannock Academy area, just north of U.S. 17 and about 20 minutes from Fredericksburg. Port Royal lies four miles farther down U.S. 17.
Rock Stop is the larger of the two properties at 112 acres, with a house that dates to 1791. There is 180 feet of frontage on the Rappahannock but no easy river access. The topography starts out flat, but quickly becomes hilly in the surrounding forest and drops off sharply into the river valley.
Nearby Hicks Landing provides ready river access.
Cottage Woods, the neighboring property, totals 30 acres and includes a smaller house and barn.
The properties are listed for sale with Alex Long of Weichert Realtors in Fredericksburg and can be sold separately or together. Rock Stop Farm has an asking price of $1.15 million, while Cottage Woods is priced at $495,000.
Though it can be seen only through bare trees, the properties abut the dormant 1,700-acre Haymount development, which enjoys much greater river frontage. Proffered by the developers of that project was a 900-acre green-space buffer between it and Rock Stop Farm.
The meaning of the term Rock Stop, and whether it relates to the steamboat traffic that carried tobacco and other goods down the river and north to Baltimore, is unclear. The known history of the property reaches back to 1722, when Richard Buckner gained title to 4,500 acres along the river that included part of what is now Fort A.P. Hill. He served in the House of Burgesses from Caroline after the county was established in 1727, and died in 1733 or '34.
A subsequent owner built the main house in 1791. It is a standard center-hall, two-over-two manor home with an English basement. It is listed as having three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. An extra room was attached to the rear as a single-story addition, and a columned porch, later screened in, also was built on the rear of the house.
There are six fireplaces, stacked two over two over two. They would all need to be inspected prior to use.
In the basement room that once served as the kitchen, the existing fireplace is probably a smaller version of the original one that was used for cooking. The opposite basement room, with walkout door, was the original dining room.
The main house would require significant restoration by a new owner, but the swimming pool to the side of the house is ready to use.
A short distance away is the Cottage Woods home, a single-story affair with two bedrooms, one bathroom and a sun room that was created by enclosing a porch. It would make an ideal guest house.
The entire property was bought in 1959 by U.S. Army Col. Philip St. G. Cocke IV and his wife, Emma Arntzenius Cocke. Emma Cocke retained the property after her husband's death, and upon her death in 2005 at age 92, the property was divided between their two sons. Philip St. G. Cocke V received the main portion and John R. Cocke received Cottage Woods. John Cocke and his wife live at the Cottage Woods house, and the main house is occupied by a caretaker.
For nature aficionados, the property is a wonderland of plants, trees and wildlife. Over the years the woodlands have been selectively cut, never clear-cut, leaving them full of valuable hardwoods. Old logging trails are quite steep and overgrown, and accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicle or on foot.
A multitude of options await the next owner, but they do not include further subdividing the property. Caroline County rural zoning allows one house per 25 acres, but further subdividing of the property is prohibited except under "family subdivision" rules.
Restoring the houses is one option. Long suggested that the main house could benefit from a level of restoration costing anywhere from the low to mid-six-figure range and become a historic residence. If listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places, the work could qualify for a 25 percent state tax credit, Long said.
If the properties are bought together, the Cottage Woods house could serve as temporary quarters while the main house is restored or a new home is built elsewhere on the property. Long has several potential home sites to point out.
Richard Amrhine: 540/374-5406
Email: ramrhine@freelancestar.com
