It was 1854 when Samuel Rees Pritchard built the Greek Revival house on the farm that had been in his family since 1756. In 1858 he married Helen Johnson of New Jersey and brought her to Kernstown to start a new life. Samuel, a fourth generation Pritchard to live on this land, was a prosperous farmer. He was also a wheelwright for the wagon builders in Newtown (now Stephens City) and had a lucrative business hauling freight up and down the east coast. Life was very good for Helen and Samuel, and they quickly had three children, but difficult times would soon be upon them.

As the winds of secession began to grip Virginia, Samuel just wanted to  be left alone to pursue his way of life and to build on his many successful business ventures. As if to say...leave me out of this...he did not vote in the 1860 presidential election, nor did he vote that year in the local election for a representative to the Virginia Secession Convention.

But then the great struggle began and the war between North and South took on a life of its own. Everyone was involved one way or another and the once peaceful Shenandoah Valley turned bloody and brutal.

For Samuel and Helen, it became very personal on March 23, 1862, when their quiet farm was overrun with troops, both Northern and Southern. Union cannon were in place atop Pritchard's Hill just behind their home. Confederate troops were advancing from the south across their farmland toward the hill. Cannon fire roared in a constant rumble, and the sharp report of musket fire cut through the Valley felling men in those once peaceful fields. Through all this turmoil Helen (pregnant with her fourth child), Samuel and their three young children huddled together in their cellar awaiting the end of the battle.

By nightfall all was quiet again. The Southern men, having run out of ammunition, had been routed. The next day townspeople came to collect survivors and to bury the dead. Many wounded were brought to the Pritchard home where they were nursed and comforted by Helen and Samuel. This was to be the case throughout the war. Time and again, as the armies crossed back and forth across their land, the Pritchards cared for countless wounded and dying soldiers in both blue and gray uniforms.

In the summer of 1863 just prior to the Second Battle of Winchester, Union artillery again was placed on Pritchard's Hill to keep the Confederate army at bay. Luckily for the Pritchards, the battle quickly moved on to Winchester and they sighed in relief. 

But on July 24, 1864, the stage was reset, and the players were again in place for the Second Battle of Kernstown. On that day Union artillery, in a commanding position atop Pritchard's Hill, was firing at the Confederate Army facing them. Swarming over the Pritchard Farm and in the nearby vicinity there were over 12,000 Union soldiers and nearly 17,000 Confederates, who were aggressively countering the Union attack. The once tranquil Pritchard Farm had once more become a raging, roaring, bleeding battleground between two opposing forces.

Helen, Samuel and their children again took refuge in the cellar, waiting for the battle to end. This time it was the Northern men who were routed from the field. Once more, the Pritchard home became a hospital for the wounded and dying.  Not long after the roar of the battle had ended, the mortally wounded Union Col. Mulligan died in Samuel's arms.

Later that year, after the terrible destruction resulting from Union Gen. Sheridan's Valley Campaign, the Pritchards' home was used as a headquarters by Sheridan's cavalry chief, Gen. Albert Torbert, while the Pritchard farm and countless other farms in the Valley for miles around were turned into a massive Union camp. What resources remained on these farms were largely consumed by the Union forces occupying these short-lived winter camps, leaving the once prosperous farms and families of the Lower Shenandoah Valley in shambles. The Pritchards were now penniless. The war ended a few months later.

In the years that followed Samuel and Helen worked to rebuild their farm and business, but the times were difficult for everyone in the South. In 1875, the individual who held the Pritchard home mortgage and other loans died and his family called the loans. In desperation, Samuel, unable to generate enough cash to repay the loans, filed a claim for restitution with the Southern Claims Commission for loss of property suffered at the hands of the Union Army. In this process, claimants needed to prove they were true Unionists, something that was probably true of Helen but practically impossible for Samuel to prove. In the end, the Commission ruled that Samuel had been "disloyal to the Union," thus denying his claim in its entirety.  Sadly,  Samuel never heard the ruling as he had died soon after filing the claim. After Samuel's death, the farm was sold to his brother-in-law, John M. Miller, and his wife Elizabeth (Betty) Pritchard Miller. Helen moved with her four children into a small house on Cork Street in Winchester where she remained until her death in 1881.

In 1879 Col. James H. Burton bought the 205-acre Pritchard Farm from Miller. Burton was highly respected and very well-known in the arms industry. Besides his initial employment at the U.S. Armory at Harpers Ferry, he later worked at the Springfield Armory in Chicopee, MA, followed by a stint as the Chief Engineer of the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, England. When the Civil War began, he was commissioned Lt. Col. of Ordnance and ultimately was appointed Superintendent of Armories for the Confederacy. In 1862 he opened an armory at Macon, GA for the manufacture of arms, powder, ammunition and all ordnance stores, and he remained there until the end of hostilities.

After the war years Burton returned to England with his family until illness forced his return to Virginia in 1868. Later he was contracted by the Czarist Russian government to establish an armory in Tula, Russia. He returned to Europe where he designed much of the equipment for that enterprise, but illness forced his return to Virginia. Soon afterward he purchased the Pritchard Farm and delved into farming.

Burton and his third wife Eugenia had seven living children when they moved into the Pritchard House. Their last child was born in the house. Col. Burton became very prominent in the community and was said to be the "…smartest man who ever lived in Winchester." Sadly, after only eleven years on the farm, illness again demanded that the Colonel retire to a less stressful lifestyle. The farm was sold and the Burton family moved to Winchester.

In 1890, Col. Burton sold the farm to Charles Henry Grim, a farmer, former building contractor and Confederate Army veteran. Charles Henry and his wife, Hattie, had two children, Charles Hardy and Edmonia. In 1923 their son, Hardy Grim  inherited the farm. He and his wife, Etha, had one son, Charles Hardy Grim. 

In 1931, Charles Hardy inherited the farm upon the death of his father who had been instantly killed by a bolt of lightning while loading a wagon with hay. Charles Hardy married Emily Grove in 1958. They had no children. The farm prospered under his management and included many acres of fruit orchards, a beef cattle operation, and fields brimming with grain and hay. After the death of Charles Hardy's mother Etha in 1945, the old Pritchard House was never again occupied. The couple both wanted to live in the house, but it was over 100 years old and required considerable updating and renovation. Since they couldn't agree on how it should be done, they chose to live in the home in Winchester which Charles Hardy had inherited from his aunt Edmonia. He continued to farm the land until his death in 1989 and by the terms of his will the farm was placed in a trust.

Long before it was a Civil War battlefield, this property was a working farm.  In 1732, William Hoge I, his wife Barbara and their adult children migrated from Eastern Pennsylvania to the Opequon area of Virginia. In 1735, Hoge received a land patent for 411 acres in the Kernstown area where he built a log home and lived there until his death in 1749. John Hoge I inherited his father’s farm and, seven years later, conveyed 206 acres to Rees Pritchard (1708-1758). Rees’s oldest son, Stephen Pritchard Sr. (1745(?)-1819) came of age in 1765 and acquired a major portion of his father’s property. He married Margaret Kenner (1748-1797), and together they had nine children, all living to adulthood. According to the 1810 census, they had seven family members living in a large log/wood-frame house on the farm and had 16 slaves. Stephen Pritchard Jr. (1777(?)-1858) became owner when Stephen Sr. died. He married Mary (Polly) Cartmell (1796-1872) in 1814 and had seven children, all of them living to adulthood. Like his father, Stephen Jr. was a successful farmer and also a banker. The 1850 slave schedule shows that he owned ten adults and seven children ranging in age from 1 year old to 80 years old. Three of their sons became heirs to the land upon the 1858 death of their father, two of whom conveyed their interest to their brother, Samuel Reese  Pritchard (1815-1875). Stephen Jr., along with eldest son Samuel, built the Pritchard House in 1854.

This rare piece of preserved land, marked by grazing cattle, historic buildings, majestic trees, a wide variety of wildlife, a stream and a rambling stone wall, came perilously close to being sold to developers. Had this occurred, the original battlefield and the historic farm viewsheds and landscape would be lost forever.

Straddling the boundary between the City of Winchester and Frederick County, this land was known in 1995 as the Grim Farm. At that time, the land and buildings were in the hands of F&M bank, which was handling the family trust on behalf of Mr. Grim’s widow, Emily.  The bank was readying the farm for auction and many developers were eyeing the property. When local governmental bodies and concerned citizens became aware that development was imminent, they banded together to save this pristine battlefield land and green oasis.   

Government officials often do not get credit for taking the long view, but that is what happened in the case of the Kernstown land. Winchester City Planner Tim Youmans and former Frederick County Planner Bob Watkins came to realize that development pressure was rapidly encroaching and that purchase of the land by some entity that could operate it for the public good was the only way to preserve it. Youmans and Watkins reportedly collaborated to apply for federal funding under the Internodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991,  resulting in nearly $1.5 million of seed money for acquisition of the battlefield. 

The Kernstown Battlefield Association was formed in 1996 to spearhead the acquisition and preservation effort. The first KBA Board officers of the KBA board were Larry Duncan, who led the organization as president for its first 12 years; Dr. David Powers, vice president; Gary Crawford, who began as secretary and later became Board president; and JoAnn Ridings, treasurer. Gary and his wife Donna are still active members of the KBA Board.

By September 2000, 60 acres of the farm had been sold off to two other entities. After four years of persistence, negotiations and legal maneuvering, the KBA had amassed over $3 million of local, state and federal preservation grants, and took out loans for the balance of the $4 million purchase price for the remaining 315 acres. The actual purchase of the land took place Sept. 28, 2000, a full five years after the first meetings outlining the idea were held.  By August 2003, the last mortgage payment was made with grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farmland Protection Program and Frederick County. The complete and permanent protection of the Kernstown Battlefield and historic Pritchard-Grim Farm was finally a reality.

In 2001, after taking possession of the property, the KBA established a Visitor Center in one of the farm buildings and opened to the public. Walking trails were established, battlefield interpretive signage installed, and cleanup of the Pritchard House and other endangered buildings commenced. In 2005, restoration of the Pritchard House began and continues to this day. 

Since 2000, many other restoration projects have been undertaken to preserve and repurpose many of the farm buildings.  A Conference Center and an Artillery Exhibition Building were added to enhance the visitor experience. In 2022, the KBA acquired the 37.5-acre Sandy Ridge property where key parts of the First Battle of Kernstown occurred. More recently, our historic walking trails have also been improved and expanded, with new and improved interpretive signage. Today, there are three color-coded trails on the farm property depicted on a detailed trail map available to visitors, and one new trail on Sandy Ridge. Today the land appears much as it did during the Civil War, and the KBA will continue to present the story it tells for generations to come.