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Coale's Blacksmith Shop
 This stone house served originally as a blacksmith shop. It was built around 1821, probably by Lewis Coale, who had married fellow Quaker Phebe Steer the previous year. From 1868 until the 1940s the shop was operated by blacksmiths Silas Corbin (1832-1905) and his son Tom, who ran a store there as well. In the 1940s, new owners converted the structure into a home and antique shop. It serves now as a residence only. |
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Reuben Schooley House
This dwelling may have been constructed by Ephraim Schooley (1786-1867), whose son Reuben ran a wagon and carriage works on the site in the mid-19th century. But the late historian John Divine speculated that the house was built c.1825 by Joseph Steer, whose daughter. Lucy married Reuben Schooley. The records are silent as to when Steer got the property, but he was living there at his death (1859). Reuben Schooley bought it from Joseph Steer's heirs. Not far from the house is a ruined foundation, all that remains of a brick fulling mill or "woolen manufactory" that may have been built by Mahlon Janney before 1795. |
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 Schooley House
This lot was the site of blacksmith and wheelwright shops before the house was built. The south end of town was the location of Steer and Schooley Cold Iron Works and several mills, blacksmith shops, and other industrial enterprises. At the blacksmith's, horses were lined up to be shod from morning until night on rainy summer days, the only times farmers could spare from the field.
Joseph Divine, grandfather of the late Waterford historian and author, John Divine, ran the wheelwright operation in the early 20th century. Joseph Divine had learned the trade from Reuben Schooley who lived next door and was a partner in Steer and Schooley. Fred Parker, who had succeeded his father and brother, operated the blacksmith shop in John Divine's time. It was then sold to Charles Elliott who had moved to Waterford from Indiana, following his daughters who had married local men. Mr. Elliott moved the blacksmith shop closer to the house by sliding it on poles. This is the building presently to the right of the house, which is now a guesthouse. The wheelwright shop was dismantled and moved nearby. Its whereabouts are unknown. It is said that in the 1940s Chester Frye, a house painter and barber, converted it to a chapel where he held religious revivals.
Little is known about the house. The best guess is that it was built circa 1880. The front part of the house is original-in the beginning, four rooms. Additions were made in the 1980s to add a bathroom upstairs and den downstairs.
The kitchen was probably in the cellar, as there is evidence of a fireplace.
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 Steer-Divine House
African-American James Lewis (born circa 1800) probably erected this house around 1850. In 1865 Quakers Frank and Mollie Steer bought it, then sold it to Joseph Divine (1841-1933) in 1875. Divine ran a wheelwright shop across the street for many years; he apprenticed with Reuben Schooley before joining the Union army and did not retire until he was 83. The home has been enlarged over the years. |
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 Loudoun Mutual Insurance Company
This is the fourth office for the venerable Waterford institution. Architect Albert Leuders designed the structure, basing it loosely on George Mason's Gunston Hall. It was opened in 1949, 100 years after the founding of the company, then enlarged in the 1990s. |
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