The historic home Bogota at 5375 Lynnwood Road in Port Republic, Virginia, is for sale. A post by Nest Realty Harrisonburg and Rockingham on Facebook describes it as “For those seeking sanctuary, Bogota offers a rare combination of seclusion, heritage, and natural beauty. Nestled on 52 acres of rolling fields shaded by trees and bordered by a quarter mile of Shenandoah River frontage, the estate is surrounded by land under conservation easement, ensuring privacy and unspoiled vistas for generations to come. Its wide porches, original outbuildings, and protected mountain views create a setting well-suited for everyday living and outdoor pursuits. Whether as a peaceful weekend escape or a full-time country retreat, Bogota is a place to slow down, recharge, and live surrounded by the enduring beauty of Virginia’s rural heritage in the Shenandoah Valley.” All of this is true but doesn’t detail the home’s historical significance. That was done in a series of articles published in 1992-1993, in the Harrisonburg Daily News Record written by Betty Skeens on historic homes in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. One of those homes covered in that series was Bogota, which was involved in the Battle of Port Republic the final battle of Stonewall Jackson’s historic 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. The Bogota Farm and slave quarters were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 (link). We’ll cover the rest of the homes in Ms. Skenes’ series that had relevance to the battles of Port Republic and Cross Keys in the future.

She wrote (the words in parentheses are my own)- One of Rockingham County’s best-known historic homes Bogota, a spacious, English-style mansion near Port Republic, was completed in 1845 by Jacob Strayer. Before the Battle of Port Republic, Union troops attempting to cross the South Fork of the Shenandoah River came through Bogota and ransacked the old presses (wardrobes) looking for Rebel soldiers. The presses, which are still in the wall of the house today, stand almost the height of the 11-foot ceilings of the mansion and could easily have hidden a man. Though they took all the hams from the smokehouse (still standing on the property), the Yankees did not torch the house. The morning of the battle, three families of Lewises, who lived at Lynnwood and two other neighboring plantations, fled to Bogota. One family was eating breakfast when a shell came through the kitchen, scattering china from a corner cupboard all over the breakfast table (Clara Strayer in her diary does not describe a direct hit on Bogota itself but wrote- A rifle shell passed about 15 feel from the southwest corner of this house (Bogota), another fell through the roof of a cabin on the upper edge of the orchard, within two feet of old Uncle Daniel who had been on the retired list. He yelled lustily, being more scared than hurt as the shell did not explode). With members of the Strayer family, the refugees tried to watch the fighting from Bogota’s balcony through the thick smoke of cannons. The Strayer graveyard, about 100 yards south of the present house (on the other side of Lynnwood Road no longer on Bogota property), is located near the site of a previous Williamsburg-style frame dwelling, built on the estate by the celebrated Gabriel Jones of Colonial and Revolutionary War days. Jones was king’s attorney for Frederick County, then commonwealth’s attorney for Augusta and Rockingham counties, and a member of the House of Burgesses and the Virginia Constitutional Convention. Jones and his neighbors, Thomas Lewis of Lynnwood and John Madison of Madison Hall, married sisters of the Strother family and established homes near each other on the Shenandoah River. George Washington’s diary indicates he visited Jones at his home and dined with him on Oct. 1, 1784, as he was returning through the area from a tour of the Cumberlands and Ohio. Jones lived on the farm 53 years and owned about 1,400 acres at the time of his death. Jacob Strayer purchased the estate in 1831 and lived in the old Gabriel Jones house (no longer standing) while he was building the present brick house. The estate is named after the Colombian city founded in 1538.

Pictures on Facebook from Nest Realty posts and Realtor.com

Seen in the next two images may be the bedroom closets that Ms. Skeens states the Yankees searched, looking for Confederate soldiers.

Sources

The Harrisonburg Daily News Record Betty Skeens January 23, 1993.

The home was also featured on Old House Life (link) in 2018 and the site has great pictures of the home as well.

The early history of the property can be found here and also from bogota-estate.com here

Portions of Clara Strayer’s transcribed diary during the Civil War from bogota-estate.com can be found here. Strayer, Clara, “A Civil War Diary,” transcription by Sanford S. Strayer, 1993, from original manuscript in possession of Graham C. Lilly, photocopy in archives of Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Notes

Gabriel Jones built the first house on the tract. Jones occupied the house from 1753 until his death in 1806.’ The property had previously been owned by Jacob Stover and then Christopher Francisco but it’s not known if either of them lived on the parcel now occupied by the present dwelling. The property has been known as Bogota since the Jones occupancy. The name derives from a South American Indian word: Bacata, which means planted fields. The word has since evolved into Bogota, which, of course, is also the name of the capital of Colombia. Born near Williamsburg, Gabriel Jones first moved to Fredericksburg where he served as King’s Attorney. In 1751 he settled in Augusta County and served as King’s Attorney for Augusta and later Rockingham County when the latter was split off from Augusta in 1778. In 1784 he was visited at Bogota by George Washington, whose diaries indicate that he dined there with Jones? The county road near Bogota is named Lawyer Road in recognition of the fact that the trace was regularly used by Jones on his travels to Harrisonburg, the county seat. Jones’s house stood south of the Strayer family cemetery on the western side of Lynnwood Road. The Jones house was demolished several years after the present main house was completed. The house site and the cemetery are on property not now part of Bogota.