3903 Free Union Road , Charlottesville, VA 22901(Albemarle County)

In 1977 commercial ventures in nearby Greene County planned for demolition of an old house that was built by Elisha Williams ca. 1820-1830. A far-sighted antique lover by the name of Penny McGee recognized the value and engaged Architect Jay Dalgliesh, FAIA of (then) Grigg, Wood and Browne Architects and Willie Drake founder of Mountain Lumber Company to save the house. With their guidance the old home was dismantled for reconstruction elsewhere. Penny McGee found river front land near Free Union that seemed an ideal fit because it, too, was an old homestead in need of a new house. Mrs. McGee completed reconstruction of Elisha Williams house in 1978. Renamed Whiskey Ridge, here is a wonderful Federal style manor situated on 83 riverfront acres near the village of Free Union just northwest of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia. Here, time and space are remarkably captured with an exterior of beaded weatherboard siding capped with a standing seam metal roof and copper gutters and downspouts. The original interior materials were carefully protected including hand-blown glass windows, heart pine floors, exposed beaded beams, original locks, heart pine doors and wainscotting. The restoration was complete with modern heating/cooling, wiring and plumbing. Hidden behind mature trees is an extensive solar panel providing elecricity to the residence. There are three floors plus a full basement and a total of three bedrooms, three full baths and five wood-burning fireplaces. The guest cottage is a log cabin dating to 1850 that was also dismantled from another site and brought to Whiskey Ridge in 1979. The first floor is a living room with stone fireplace and an adjoining full bath. The loft serves as the bedroom. A gunnite swimming pool is built in the eastern yard. In capturing an earlier homesite, the landscaping complements the manor with mature boxwood and deciduous native trees. Multiple barns, a run-in-shed and a detached garage complete the improvements. By survey the land is 83+ acres with about 20 acres in fertile pasture and the balance in mature mixed hardwood forest. Elevation is approximately 508' and there is long river frontage along the Moormans and the South Fork of the Rivanna rivers.