Welcome to the second segment of Restoring and Exploring Abingdon! If it’s getting restored, rebuilt, reimagined, or rediscovered—we’re going to talk about it. From historic landmarks getting a new lease on life to community improvements you’ve maybe driven by ten times without noticing, we're here to shine a light on all the good things happening behind the scenes.
Our second project we'd like to highlight is the rehabilitation of a circa 1808 building known as “Retirement” at the Abingdon Muster Grounds.
Retirement was likely constructed for Captain Robert Craig who was amongst the founding fathers of Washington County and Abingdon. A trustee of the town in 1778, and county tax commissioner in 1779, he served under William Campbell in the Battle of Kings Mountain. In 1802 he was a member of the Virginia General Assembly, and acted as coroner, road surveyor, and trustee of the Abingdon Academy at various times in his life. In the subsequent years Retirement was added onto during two other periods of significance being connected to Samuel Vance Fulkerson and The Fulkerson and Hurt families.
The Town of Abingdon was awarded a grant through the VA250 Preservation Fund to rehabilitate Retirement so the building can be open to the public for more educational and recreational programming at the site for our community and Southwest Virginia to interact with. We understand this is a foundational piece of Abingdon’s and Southwest Virginia’s history and we take great pride and respect in rehabilitating this building and implementing best preservation practices so the public can enjoy another piece your history.
As seen in the video, the first phase of this restoration is the repointing of the bricks. Repointing is the process of reapplying mortar to the mortar joints where it has deteriorated. A mortar analysis was completed to ensure an exact match could be made between the existing mortar and the replacement. The brick wall shown in the video shows the sample area. A match has been made and now we are adjusting the color as needed! All brick walls of Retirement will be evaluated and repointing will be completed on any necessary sections to ensure the preservation for generations to come!
For more information on the Abingdon Muster Grounds, please visit: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/abingdon-muster-grounds.htm Look for more exciting updates as this project continues to progress!