Cherry Hill Farmhouse

Cherry Hill was originally a 248-acre tract patented to John Trammel by Lord Fairfax in 1729. The land passed through several owners and the original parcel was divided over the next century. It’s believed that William Harvey built the farmhouse in 1845.

In 1865, William Blaisdell moved his family into the farmhouse and made several improvements. Among these were a corn crib and a hand-hewn timber barn.  The house as it stands today reflects the era when the Blaisdells lived at Cherry Hill.

During the American Civil War, both Confederate and Union troops crossed Cherry Hill.  Blaisdell was one of 26 men in Falls Church who voted against secession with 44 voting in favor.

As Mrs. Blaisdell had given birth just two weeks before the Battle at Bull Run, it is believed that the family stayed through the war and sustained heavy losses to property. A secret compartment found in the children’s bedroom was most likely built after the fact, as it would have helped to save their valuables had it been built earlier.Blaisdell eventually made a profit on the farm, selling it in 1865, then moving back to Concord, Massachusetts in 1868.

The next residents were Joseph and Mary Pultz Riley. Mr. Riley subdivided the remaining land into lots and lobbied for the incorporation of Falls Church into a town. He also led fundraising efforts to pay for the first school in town, which was called The Jefferson Institute.

The Rileys had five children, the eldest of whom, Mary Edwards Riley, had the town library named after her. Margaret Riley was an aficionado of cookbooks and her collection remains in the house to this day. Kathleen Maude Riley and Jean Elizabeth Riley both married and lived in Falls Church. Joseph Harvey Riley, Joseph and Mary’s only son, was a prominent orinthologist for the Smithsonian Institute.

He inherited Cherry Hill upon his mother’s death and  willed the property to the University of Virginia, who owned it from 1946 until 1956. That year, they sold it to the City of Falls Church. The city took over the house in 1968 following the death of the final Riley heir, Kathleen Riley Gage.