Ben Lomond/Pringle House Civil War Hospital

The weather couldn't have been more perfect for Saturday's reopening of the Ben Lomond Historic Site as the Pringle House Civil War Hospital.

Welcome remarks were made by Brendon Hanafin, Historic Preservation Division Cheif for the PWCo Department of Public Works; Corey A. Stewart, Chairman, and John T. Stirrup, Jr., Gainsville District Supervisor, PWCo Board of County Supervisors, and a moving key note speech on the importance of Civil War medicine in present-day emergency medical procedures by George Wunderlich, Executive Director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.

After the official ribbon cutting, the house was opened to the public for tours.  The new exhibits are mostly hands-on furnishings and displays of what the house may have looked like during it's tenure as a hospital for Confederate wounded after the First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run.  In addition to the main house built by Benjamin Tasker Chinn circa 1830, Ben Lomond Historic Site includes a lovely old rose garden, smokehouse and dairy, a kitchen garden, and slave quarters.

The grounds are open to the public from sunrise to sunset every day. Tours are offered Thursday through Monday from May 1 through October 31 from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. or by appointment.

Future events at the site include:

June 12 - Slavery on Sunday Tours (11am - 3pm, $7 per person, free for children under six) - Staff will provide unique hands-on tours and share details about the typical activities of a Sunday for the enslaved community of Ben Lomond.

July 21-24 - Pringle House Hospital 150th Anniversary - (11am - 3pm, $7 per person, free for children under six) - Join site staff and costumed intepreters as the field hospital comes alive once again.  Activities include Civil War-era medical demonstrations, making bandages, and civilian life during the war.

Website: Historical Marker Database

A little off the beaten path, the Historical Marker Database can sometimes provide information on a family and their location.  

Take the marker for the CHINN family, for instance, one of "Prince William County’s early African-American families."  The marker names several CHINNs as well as their association with the region.

Incidentally, the CHINN name pops up quite a bit in PWCo.  The Chinn Park Regional Library was named after Mary Jane Chinn, stating on their website that she "was born in 1827 and died in 1907. She is buried in the cemetery of Mt. Olive Baptist Church, still located on Telegraph Road in Woodbridge. Mary Jane and Tom Chinn were slaves who, after emancipation, purchased several hundred acres along what was formerly Davis Ford and Telegraph Roads in Woodbridge. They had eight sons."

The Chinn family is also associated with the Ben Lomond Historical Site, which will be one of the focal points of this year's 150th commemoration of the start of the Civil War.  Ben Lomond (also known as the PRINGLE house) was built in 1832 by Benjamin Tasker Chinn and Edmonia Carter Chinn and was used as a Confederate hospital during and after the Battle of First Manassas in July 1861.