The Ashby’s Gap Turnpike GeoTrail
The Caleb Rector House
Presented by the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area
This cache is part of a series that takes you along the former Ashby’s Gap Turnpike. For centuries, this path was a vital thoroughfare across Northern Virginia. From its beginnings as a Native American trail, through its use as a colonial road and 19th century turnpike, to its transformation into a modern highway, this road has seen a lot of history. The Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area invites you to follow in the footsteps of Native hunters, colonial settlers, enslaved African-Americans, Civil War soldiers, and more.
This stone farmhouse was built ca. 1801 for the Nichols family, Quakers who owned several mills in the area of Cromwell’s Run. Within a few decades, however, ownership passed to the Rector family, and their descendants continued to live here until the 1980s. The house was advantageously situated along the Ashby’s Gap Turnpike, and the original roadbed of the pike followed today’s Atoka Road and Rector’s Lane. You can also see the original roadbed if you look east from the parking lot towards the Civil War Trails sign.
By the time of the Civil War, the house was occupied by Caleb Rector, his wife Mary Ann, and their children, while eight enslaved workers lived in quarters on the property. Caleb was a prosperous farmer, and he supported the Confederate war effort by selling livestock to the army. His son, Caleb Jr. joined the 6th Virginia Cavalry, and was captured near Richmond in 1864. Caleb Jr. later died in a POW camp.
The house is most famously associated with events that occurred here during the Civil War. On June 10th, 1863, Colonel John S. Mosby met a group of officers in the parlor of the house and officially formed the 43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosby’s Rangers. The Rangers continued to use the Rector House as a rendezvous throughout the war, and many raids were launched from this crossroads. Less than two weeks later the Battle of Upperville raged along the Turnpike in front of the home. On two occasions during the battle the house was used as a headquarters by General JEB Stuart. It was here that Stuart received orders to head north in a campaign that would ultimately culminate at Gettysburg.
Following the Civil War, the house passed through several Rector descendants. In the early 20th century it was home to Maurice Rector. A veteran of WWI, Maurice ran the general store across the road for over 50 years. The motto of the store became “Everything from beans to jeans”, and both Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Onassis were frequent customers. The Rector House is now the headquarters of the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area, a non-profit that promotes education and preservation across five counties of Northern Virginia.
The Rector House was part of a historic village known as Rector’s Crossroads. Here the Ashby’s Gap Turnpike intersected roads leading south towards Salem (modern Marshall) and north towards Unison. A thriving community grew up here in the mid-nineteenth century, with a store, post office, blacksmith shop, doctor, and other amenities used by Turnpike travelers. In the 1890s, the village name was changed to Atoka, to avoid confusion with nearby Rectortown. When the highway was altered in 1958, it bypassed the village, and it gradually declined to the handful of buildings you see today.
Please seek the cache during daylight hours only. If you visit during the week between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM feel free to stop in and visit! There is educational material on the back porch, and a new exhibit space is being created inside.
VPHA’s mission is to educate and advocate for the preservation of the extraordinary historic landscape and culture of the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area for future generations. The Area includes all or parts of five counties in the northern Virginia Piedmont and lower Shenandoah Valley: Loudoun, Fauquier, Clarke, Prince William, and Warren Counties.
By telling our stories, we hope to inspire people to care for and protect our outstanding historical resources.