history

     Hillyrock Farm exemplifies through its previous owners, architecture and
continued farm operation the most notable attributes of the Greenbrier
Valley of West Virginia. The early settlements in the Valley spurred trans-
Allegheny settlements and became the gateway to the Ohio River and the
start of the westward expansion. Many of the homesteads were built using
the Midland American log construction, techniques with Old World roots, but
with a distinct American interpretation. The region had a history of struggle
between land speculators and yeoman farmers for control of the land, and
it was in the center of the sectional disputes in Virginia before the Civil War.
During the Civil War, the Valley was the site of some significant battles, and
after this War, it went through a wrenching Reconstruction period. Through it
all, the Valley yielded an abundant harvest to its productive farmers
because of the excellent soil and lay of the land. Hillyrock Farm’s
development followed this history: it was settled by a pioneer family who
build the original log home using the prevalent building techniques; it was
bought by a farmer-businessman who speculated on land. Then, during its
most significant period, a locally important Civil War captain expanded the
farm and the farmhouse and played a vital role in promoting agriculture
and civic life in the region. The farm has been in continued operation since
the early 1800’s and is an exceptional example of American homesteaders
pioneering, prospering and then preserving.
     The Samuel Price family settled the “savannah” area north of Lewisburg
and south of Frankford in the late 1700’s. The family is attributed with
building the original log dwelling at Hillyrock Farm. It has the same
dimensions and rooms as the original log home still standing on the
adjoining farm that was also part of the Price farm. As the Price family grew,
they added homes built using trees harvested on the property and with
family labor. Hillyrock’s location was likely chosen because of the strong
spring on the property and it is believed the cut limestone Spring House was
constructed even before the log home.
William McClung (b. Jan 1785, d. June 1855), known as Major McClung and
son of early Greenbrier pioneer Captain Samuel McClung, bought three
tracts of the Price farm from children of Samuel Price Jr., as recorded in a
deed dated September 7, 1836. Major McClung “owned a number of farms
in the Levels north of Lewisburg, including “Clifton”, which had a large
columned brick house. He also acted as a sort of commercial bank,
lending money to farmers and store owners. He married Elizabeth Wilson
Rader McClanahan shortly after her first husband died, and had three
children. His children each inherited large tracts of his land—and this farm,
known as William McClung’s Price Place was given to his oldest daughter,
Laura J., who married H.Frazier Dickson, whose family owned the notable
Greenbrier home, “Mountain Home”.

     In 1880, Laura and her half brother Charles (a son from Major McClung’s
first marriage) sold the farm to Alpheus Paris (A.P.) McClung, known as a
“favorite cousin”. McClung was well known in the region as the Captain of
the 14th Virginia Calvary, Company K, known as “Greenbrier Swifts”, and
who were highly regarded for their horsemanship. After the war, he farmed
and was a founding member of the Greenbrier Farmers Club, formed in
1874, a farming organization that predated the Granges in the region. He
was also a general agent for Deere & Company, a company that later
became known as the John Deere. (An interesting note: a new John Deere
dealership recently opened a few miles from the farm.)

     It is during A.P.’s and his family’s occupancy of the farm that the home
and barns were expanded. The house went from a four room utilitarian log
cabin to a large eight room house. Two large cut-limestone chimneys and
many fine artisan features, such as grain painted woodwork and a front
door wrapped in handsome transom windows, were added. More barns
were built, including the addition of a barn referred to as “the horse barn”. A.
P. and his wife Elizabeth (Betty) sold the farm to the McLaughlin family in
1892 after the deaths of their son Dennis in 1891 and Walter in 1892. They
moved to Lewisburg, and A.P. was elected County Sheriff in 1904 and served
until 1908.

     In 1892 the McLaughlins moved their family to Hillyrock Farm from
Monterey Virginia after the family home burned in a fire.

      In 1947, Jane and William (Bill) McNeel Browning purchased the farm
from the McLaughlin family. Bill was raised on his family farm in Hillsboro,
Pocahontas County and was an ancestor of the first settler, John McNeel, of
“Little Levels” as Hillsboro was known. His mother was the only daughter of
Isaac McNeel, a prominent farmer who owned the mill at Mill Point, West
Virginia. His father, William Augustus Browning, had come from Washington,
D.C. to oversee the family’s timber interest in Pocahontas County and he fell
in love with the land and the farmer’s daughter. The family farm was
deeded to the Browning’s oldest son, William McNeel Browning, a physician
in Hillsboro, who continues to manage that farm.

     The Brownings’ operated a diary, raised lambs, chickens, pigs and
Hereford cattle. Their most important contribution to the farm was a careful
restoration of the farm house that involved removing dropped ceilings and
stripping paint, revealing the outstanding native hardwood and hand
wrought iron fixtures used in constructing the home. They furnished the
home they named Hillyrock with handmade antique pieces, mostly from
the surrounding area. The Brownings had an exceptional appreciation for
the early American families that settled and farmed in this Alleghany
mountain valley and spent most of their lives preserving this farm as a
representation of this history for future generation. In 1992, they deeded the
farm to their son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Diane Browning, with the
understanding that the work of enhancing and preserving the farm and
farmhouse would continue and this ethic would be passed on the future
generations.

     At the turn of the century, clapboard was used to cover the logs of the
“log pens”: two on each side of the front part of the house and two in the
back.   Modern plumbing, electric wiring, and heating systems have been
added over the years, making the house comfortable and warm.