Good Graffiti at the Historic Graffiti House

The signature of Sgt. Allen Bowman, a Confederate member of the 12th Virginia Cavalry Regiment. Public Domain

Rolling through the rural backroads of a 180-mile stretch from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Charlottesville, Virginia, referred to as the “Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area,” drivers might zip by what seems like just another of the innumerable 19th-century clapboard houses on that route. Yet, on Brandy Road in Brandy Station, Virginia, population around 200, a house built around 1858 holds historical significance because of the words written on its walls.

The Graffiti House was a Civil War field hospital in Brandy Station, Va. It's the site of hundreds of soldiers' signatures. Cecouchman/CC BY-SA 3.0

In fact, “Graffiti House” is listed as a site on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s also a National Historic Landmark with the National Park Service, and it’s on the Virginia Landmarks Register. Why? Well, every square inch of the plaster walls in three of the home’s second-story rooms are covered with graffiti. This isn’t the contemporary, bold graffiti often seen in metropolitan areas. Both Union and Confederate soldiers intermittently entered the house during the Civil War, between April 1861 and April 1865, and left their mark.

While the simple, square-shaped, tin-roofed, wood frame house may appear insignificant on the outside, inside are the fireplace-charcoal and pencil scribblings of historic notables on both sides of the conflict, such as Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia Cavalry, and Col. John Egbert Farnum, commander of the 70th New York Infantry.

Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. "Jeb" Stuart signed his name on the Graffiti house's wall. Public Domain

The reason so many Union and Confederates soldiers occupied the Brandy Station house—not at the same time, of course—was because a train track ran beside the house and the Brandy Station depot was once located less than a quarter mile away. Research by the Brandy Station Foundation, a 501(c)-3 nonprofit organization, determined that the house, owned by the James Barbour family, was most likely used for commercial purposes. It could have been an inn, eatery, or store.

A Change in Purpose

However, during the Civil War, military activity was relentless. The dwelling served as a field hospital for, alternately, both Union and Confederate soldiers, who may have been the first to begin writing on the walls. Then, on June 9, 1863, the Battle of Brandy Station occurred, after which some of the soldiers entered the house or recuperated there and scrawled their names and notes.

Perhaps so many soldiers left their mark for posterity on the thoroughfare house along a countryside road in Virginia because they thought the time they spent there might be their last. Whatever their reasons, their signatures remain. Visitors to Graffiti House can spend time perusing the walls to see the names, drawings (especially of horses and women), military units, and inscriptions—while at the same time reflecting on the historic time period.

A marker at the Graffiti House explains the history of the building and how it acquired so many signatures. Robert Kennicott/CC BY-SA 4.0

The house fell into disrepair and was almost lost to decay until the Foundation purchased and renovated it and currently maintains its preservation. At the Graffiti House and on the Foundation’s website is a list of identified names, ranks, and units of soldiers who wrote on the house’s walls. Enemies who might have fought one another on a battlefield stepped foot into the same house at different times. Units represented on the walls are:

Massachusetts Battery ‘C’ 2nd New York Militia Louisiana Tigers 2nd Division 3rd Corps 10th New Jersey Infantry Stuart Horse Artillery Army of the United States of America Hill’s Corps Gannett’s Battalion

On the house’s “modern-day” graffiti wall are flags representing each unit’s state as well as the signatures of some of the descendants of Civil War soldiers, including relatives of J.E.B. “Jeb” Stuart and Ulysses S. Grant.

The faded signature of Confederate Maj. General J.E.B. "Jeb" Stuart is visible in this photograph of a section of the Graffiti House's wall. Public Domain

Located at 19484 Brandy Road, in Brandy Station, Virginia, Graffiti House is a small but historically captivating museum worth adding to an off-the-beaten-path travel itinerary. A visit starts with introductory information in the entryway visitor’s center, then continues with an educational tour through the three graffitied rooms.

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