Foundation eyes December opening of Mosby Museum

By Bill Walsh

By Bill Walsh

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

Endless hours of scraping and sanding are coming to an end, and by the middle of last week, workers were beginning to re-apply a historically accurate coat of off-white paint to the walls of Brentmoor, the Mosby-Spilman house on Main Street in Warrenton.

To some of the walls, at any rate.

Painting an upstairs bedroom and the lower half of the upstairs hall is on hold pending a determination about the age and historical significance — if any — of some penciled graffiti discovered when the circa 1920-30's wallpaper was removed.

Some nine years after its 1999 purchase by the Town of Warrenton, the Mosby residence/museum is closing in on a soft opening date currently projected for early December. Grand opening ceremonies probably won't take place until next spring.

"We are really getting down to the final stages," Mosby Foundation President Birge Watkins said last week, "the painting, getting our light fixtures up, polishing up the floors a little bit."

Early visitors will see an admittedly bare bones museum that will include both period pieces and Mosby artifacts, Watkins said, but he is confident that the museum will grow fairly quickly.

"We have a number of items," Watkins said. "One of our board members is descended from Mosby, and he's got his sword and a pistol. We've got letters."

Additionally, archaeologist and foundation Executive Director Kay McCarron has been in contact with the Museum of the Confederacy and Virginia Historical Society, both in Richmond, about borrowing from their collections.

See the Sept. 17 Times-Democrat for the complete story.