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Walter Reed Birthplace

The Fairfield Foundation manages preservation activities and educational programming at the Walter Reed Birthplace, which is owned by the Gloucester Preservation Foundation. Download the brochure to learn more, and check out our calendar for opening times.

Built in 1821, the birthplace represents a rare surviving example of a small, plain vernacular house that was once very common throughout Tidewater Virginia. This modest dwelling contains three rooms and is of a type often used by white professionals, craftsmen, and small land-owning farmers in the first half of the 19th century. The house stood behind a store and tavern at a crossroads community at the intersection of Hickory Fork Road (sometimes known as York River Road) and the road to Gloucester Courthouse. When a late 19th-century post office opened here, the crossroads was dubbed ‘Belroi’, a shortened version of the name given to the nearby 1852 home of William Roy and Isabella Taliaferro Jones, “Belle Roi.” 

Walter Reed Birthplace, 1927

When Lemuel Reed came to Gloucester in 1851 as a Methodist Church circuit rider assigned to Gloucester, Mathews, and King and Queen Counties, his family needed a home. The previous parsonage had recently burned down, and a new one was not yet ready, so the church procured this house for the Reed family. They lived in the small house temporarily, and their 5th child, Walter, was born here on September 13, 1851. Since circuit riders were reassigned every two years, the Reeds left Gloucester in 1852. 

Walter Reed
Walter Reed

Walter Reed attended the University of Virginia when his father took a position near Charlottesville. He received a degree in medicine there and another from Bellevue Hospital in New York City. He joined the U.S. Army as a surgeon and was assigned to Army forts in the Western Territories. During this period of national and imperial expansion, the Army experienced more losses from infectious diseases than warfare, and Reed, among others, became interested in the bacteriology. He was called to Washington, D.C. first to head a commission to study the cause of typhoid fever and later to study the cause of yellow fever. Following the commission’s identification of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito as the carrier of infectious bacteria, cleanup efforts greatly reduced Yellow Fever cases. 

After Walter Reed died in 1902, colleagues who recognized his leadership skills lobbied for the new Army Hospital to be named in his honor. Today, the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, continues to carry his name. Gloucester’s community hospital opened in 1977 and was also named in his honor.

The birthplace was purchased in 1926 by the Medical Society Virginia and restored to reflect its appearance in the mid-19th century. It was transferred to the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) in 1968, and managed by the local Joseph Bryan Branch. In 2004, the Gloucester Preservation Foundation (GPF) was formed to take over care of the birthplace. Since 2019, the Fairfield Foundation has partnered with the GPF to undertake preservation tasks and open the house to the public. 

You can also stay up to date with our progress by following us on social media and signing up for the blog. If you’d like to donate to help support programs and preservation at the birthplace you can give online www.fairfieldfoundation.org/become-a-member, or contact us for specific giving opportunities.

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Upcoming Events

Feb
1
Wed
10:00 am CAPE Artifact Wash Day @ CAPE
CAPE Artifact Wash Day @ CAPE
Feb 1 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
CAPE artifact wash days are returning and open to the public! In an extension of our popular volunteer lab nights, we will now host a variety of artifact wash days at the CAPE. Any volunteers[...]
Feb
4
Sat
10:30 am Artifact Wash Day at Gloucester ...
Artifact Wash Day at Gloucester ...
Feb 4 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Join us at the library for an artifact washing event! Call the Gloucester County Public Library for more information and to register! 804-693-2998
Feb
7
Tue
6:00 pm Volunteer Lab Night @ CAPE
Volunteer Lab Night @ CAPE
Feb 7 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Volunteer Lab Nights have returned to the CAPE! Join us from 6-9 pm on the first and third Tuesdays of each month to help wash artifacts, learn about archaeology, and more! Free and open to[...]
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From the blog

  • King William Courthouse and Quarles Tavern Archaeology January 25, 2023
  • Mary Willis Burwell’s Portrait Returns to Gloucester October 26, 2022
  • Looking Towards the Future: A Peek Inside the Development of Fairfield’s New Online Museum October 18, 2022
  • Summer Archaeology Camps 2022 October 5, 2022
  • Help Us Enrich the African American Story at Fairfield Archaeology Park June 17, 2022

Center for Archaeology, Preservation and Education (CAPE)

Opening Hours:

Grounds are open to the public to view our building exterior and signage. The CAPE is open for tours on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or at other times by appointment. Lab nights at the CAPE are on 1st and 3rd Tuesdays from 6-9pm.
6783 Main Street
Gloucester, VA 23061

News From the Blog

  • King William Courthouse and Quarles Tavern Archaeology January 25, 2023
  • Mary Willis Burwell’s Portrait Returns to Gloucester October 26, 2022
  • Looking Towards the Future: A Peek Inside the Development of Fairfield’s New Online Museum October 18, 2022

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Contact Us

For more information about Fairfield and other historic resources on the Middle Peninsula, please contact us. We can arrange tours of the Fairfield site and deliver presentations on a variety of topics related to local history and archaeology.

The Fairfield Foundation
P.O. Box 157 White Marsh VA 23183
Phone:
(804) 815-4467
Email:
fairfield@fairfieldfoundation.org
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