View of front of house as you come up the driveway. Front of house downstairs built 1804.
Second story front added 1830's & remodeled 1880's. Back two stories, 1880's, along with front and side porches.
That particular chapter in history is not
known to most people. The operation was known as The Ohio Company. George
Washington and his brother Lawrence were stockholders in the company, and
it is why George Washington came here in 1754 with soldiers to move the
French out of the Forks of the Ohio, as Pittsburgh was known, so that they
could settle farmers here, conduct trade with the Indians, and control
access to the western frontier for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The farm is known in local history books as Custard's Delight, named after the owner Benjamin Custard. It is part of a larger piece of land that was deeded out by Virginia when they claimed part of Southwestern Pennsylvania in the middle 1700's.
The Custard (originally Kuester) family came from Kaldenkirche, Germany, in 1685. They settled in Germantown, near Philadelphia. Some of the family, later called Castor, moved from Philadelphia on to Ohio. From Ohio there came George Armstrong Custer, as in Custer's Last Stand. The rest of the Kuester family, still in Germantown, moved from Germantown to Rockingham County and Augusta County, Virginia. The Ohio Company expanded Augusta County to become the District of West Augusta, Virginia. Benjamin Custard then came to this area, now known as Yohogania County, with a land grant.
Benjamin Custard received his land patent from Virginia in the middle 1700's. When Pennsylvania took over the area from Virginia, in the mid 1780's everyone with Virginia patents went up to Fort Cox, by Stone Chapel, to have Pennsylvania recognize their claim. They made some small adjustments. Custard lost 8 acres. Yohogania County disappeared as an administrative entity, and became known as The Lost County.