Cool Spring Farm — also known as Rockdale Spring Farm and Torytown — was a wilderness estate settled by Colonel
Morgan Morgan (1688-1766), long celebrated as the first permanent European settler in what would become
West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
. The Welsh-born Morgan was granted here in 1735, but he is believed to have first settled there in 1731. Recent research indicates that Morgan's settlement was not the first, but was preceded by a German settlement at what became
"New Mecklinberg", possibly as early as 1726.
Morgan Morgan's seventh son,
Zackquill Morgan
Colonel Zackquill Morgan was the son of Welsh-born Colonel Morgan Morgan and Catherine Garretson, the first known white settlers in what would become the U.S. state of West Virginia. He was born in Orange est.html" ;"title="ow BerkeleyCounty ...
(1735-1795), built the house in 1761, but sold the farm in 1765 and moved west to
Monongalia County, Virginia
Monongalia County, known locally as Mon County, is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 105,822, making it West Virginia's third-most ...
, now West Virginia, to establish his namesake settlement of
Morgantown in 1781.
After changing hands several times, the property was purchased by John McKown, Jr. in 1827. His son Edmund renamed the farm "Rockdale Spring Farm". The sons of John McKown owned considerable lands in the area of Gerrardstown during the late 19th century.
See also
*
Cool Spring Farm (Charles Town, West Virginia)
References
External links
Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia
Federal architecture in West Virginia
Georgian architecture in West Virginia
Houses completed in 1761
Houses in Berkeley County, West Virginia
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia
Morgan family (West Virginia)
National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley County, West Virginia
Colonial architecture in West Virginia
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