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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

Sep
4
Sun
9:00 am Adventures in Preservation Works... @ Timberneck Farm
Adventures in Preservation Works... @ Timberneck Farm
Sep 4 @ 9:00 am – Sep 10 @ 5:00 pm
Adventures in Preservation (AiP) workshop at Timberneck Farm – September 4-9, 2022 You can be among the first to help conserve the c. 1793 Timberneck farmhouse, where exhibits will feature the history of the property[...]
Sep
10
Sat
10:00 am Open House and Public Archaeolog... @ Walter Reed Birthplace
Open House and Public Archaeolog... @ Walter Reed Birthplace
Sep 10 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
The Fairfield Foundation will host an Open House and activities at Dr. Walter Reed’s Birthplace, 4021 Hickory Fork Road in Gloucester County, on Saturday, September 10, from 10am-4pm. Dr. Reed was born in the small[...]
10:00 am Timberneck House Tours @ Machicomoco State Park
Timberneck House Tours @ Machicomoco State Park
Sep 10 @ 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Timberneck House in Machicomoco State Park will be open for tours from 10-2 every second Saturday of the month through October 2022. Visit the park and stop by to see the restoration progress at the[...]
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From the blog

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  • Lives from the Catlett Family Cemetery at Timberneck: Frances King Burwell Catlett (November 14, 1814-April 3, 1903) February 18, 2022
  • Archaeology at Timberneck House December 1, 2021
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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.
6783 Main Street
Gloucester, VA 23061

News From the Blog

  • Help Us Enrich the African American Story at Fairfield Archaeology Park June 17, 2022
  • Restoring the Timberneck House May 4, 2022
  • Lives from the Catlett Family Cemetery at Timberneck: Frances King Burwell Catlett (November 14, 1814-April 3, 1903) February 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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