Evans Acres is a new community designed by the premier builder in the area, JDM Excavating & Construction LLC. Convenient to I-68 to the north, historic Ft. Ashby, West Virginia is the perfect venue for of this newly established subdivision consisting of eleven lots in phase one ranging in size from 2+ acres to 10+ acres, all offering views of the surrounding countryside and mountain ranges. Easily accessible, the oversized subdivision roads meander through the terrain offering parcels that are perfect for building a getaway or a permanent residence.

The subdivision design, the panoramic views, and the natural beauty of the area make Evans Acres the logical destination to consider for your mountain retreat or a place to call home. Plat maps and pricing below.

Brief History of Fort Ashby, WV

Fort Ashby is a monument to the defensive strategy of Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, sobered by the prospect of French and Indian attacks following Braddock's Defeat in the Battle of Monongahela in 1755.

Dinwiddie gave orders to build a score of forts from the upper Potomac valleys to the Holston River in Tennessee. Because of its extremely exposed position, Patterson Creek, in what is now Mineral County, was one of the first streams to be fortified.

In 1755 Fort Ashby was erected near the east bank of Patterson Creek, 12 miles up stream (and south) from where it empties into the Potomac. Fort Ashby was named for its commander, Captain John Ashby, son of Thomas Ashby, for whom Ashby's Bent in the Blue Ridge Mountains was named. George Washington was guest of Captain Ashby on the Shenandoah while surveying on March 12, 1748. It is presumed this is the same Captain Ashby who guided Washington for some distance during his 1784 visit to Western Virginia and who was later a guest at Mount Vernon.

Captain Ashby's company assisted Lieutenant Richard Bacon in the building of two strong 90-foot square forts ten miles from Ft. Ashby, on the South Branch of the Potomac. It is presumed from Washington's letters that Fort Ashby, like these forts, was stockaded, and that the present structure served as the barracks for the soldiers, who at times numbered up to seventy.

There are almost twenty references to Fort Ashby or its garrison in Washington's correspondence, but he considered the Patterson Creek stockades as a backup to the more heavily fortified structures on the South Branch. Fort Ashby was to provide cover for the Rangers "and receptacle now and then for provisions."

Washington's orders to Captain Ashby were stern. In 1755, if compelled to retreat, he was to go "no further than Joseph Edwards on Cacapehon." When Ashby reported four hundred Indians had surrounded his fort on April 15, 1756, demanding its surrender, Washington commanded him to defend at all costs, and if he retired, to blow up the fort.

Desertion from Fort Ashby was frequent, and at one juncture Washington ordered Ashby to send away his wife, "the chief of every mutiny," to regularize his handling of rum, and to forward a monthly accounting of his bills.

Family tradition relates John Ashby's close escape from a vengeful, long-legged Indian known locally as "The Crane." Surprised on the hill, Ashby outraced him to the fort.

In August of 1756, Lieutenant Robert Rutherford, with a company of Rangers he had organized, was defeated here by the Indians in a battle portrayed by bullets later dug out of the barracks walls. Rutherford, a native of Scotland, later served in both houses of the Virginia legislature and ultimately in the United States Congress (1793-1799). He played a prominent role in the organization of Virginia's government both before and after the Revolution. It is believed Rutherford was living in Jefferson County, Virginia, at the time of his death in 1805.

Other prominent leaders of events in or around Fort Ashby include Captain Charles Lewis, Colonel Henry Peyton, Lieutenant Newgent, and Captain William Cocke. Captain Lewis was killed in Dunmore's War. In 1794 General Daniel Morgan camped here on his way to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. At that time five hundred troops were held in reserve at Fort Ashby.

For many years after the Indian threat had ceased, the fort was used as a home. To prevent the fort's destruction, it was purchased in 1927 by the Potomac Valley Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. The fort was deeded to the Mineral County Court to make it eligible for restoration under the WPA in 1938. It was subsequently returned to the ownership of the D.A.R. and is now open to the public during the summer months. It has been furnished appropriately.

The community in which the fort stands was incorporated as Frankfort on December 5, 1787, with a post office later named Alaska. The name was changed to Fort Ashby in 1932.

Source: United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service