Liberia, human settlement in United States of America
Liberia is a brick house built in 1825 in Manassas with two stories and Federal-style features including a side-gabled roof and decorative brick cornice with a saw-tooth pattern. The house sits on about 50 acres of land with a central hallway and rooms on each side, reflecting typical early 19th century domestic design.
The house was built in 1825 for William and Harriet Weir and served as headquarters for both sides during the Civil War. Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard used the house in 1861, and a year later the Union made it their command post, with President Abraham Lincoln visiting in 1862.
The house was once a working plantation with over 80 enslaved people whose names are mostly lost to history. The Naylor family is one of the few whose story is now remembered in an exhibit at the Manassas Museum called Sentry to the Ages.
The house opens for visits on Saturdays from spring through late summer, 2 to 4 in the afternoon, while the grounds are open daily from sunrise to sunset. Private tours, special events, and lawn rentals can be arranged through the Manassas Museum.
The house served as a hospital after the First Battle of Manassas in 1861 and is one of the few buildings that survived the war unscathed. After the conflict, the land was converted into a dairy farm by Robert Portner, a brewer from Alexandria who later employed some of the Naylor family descendants.
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