The History of Bloomfield

Photo: 1890 Bloomfield

Bloomfield Farm was built in 1774 by the LaRue Family. It was originally over 15,000 acres granted by Lord Fairfax to Issac LaRue, Jacob LaRue's father. Jacob LaRue and Mary Frost built Bloomfield and in 1777, traded the house and lands to his brother James & Clara Billups LaRue for land in Kentucky. James raised 10 children in Bloomfield and left Bloomfield to his son Colonel John Billups LaRue in 1809. John Billups LaRue was born at Bloomfield in 1792. He was an officer in the War of 1812. He was married twice, raising 5 children in Bloomfield with Frances Haynie Major who died in 1836. John Billups LaRue then remarried Catherine Elizabeth Buck of Front Royal in 1842. They raised Catherine's nephew Walker Buck at Bloomfield as well. After the Civil War with John and Catherine in their late 70's, Bloomfield fell into decay and sale was forced after the death of John Billups in 1875 (women were not allowed to be land owners). One of John & Frances' sons, John LaRue, bought Bloomfield at auction sometime around 1890. Around 1900, Bloomfield changed hands to the Boyer Family; Hiram Boyer and his wife Lucie Humston Boyer. The Humston's were a prominent Berryville family and with that, she brought love and life to Bloomfield again. Lucie Boyer adored Bloomfield and decorated the home beautifully. They added a Kitchen wing with a chef's quarters above around 1900. They had 2 daughters born at Bloomfield. Lucymae was born in 1908 and inherited Bloomfield upon her father's death 1946. She was quite the social light living in Brooklyn and Manhattan from the 1930's thru the 1950's. Upon her father's death 1946 - Bloomfield sat empty for years. There is tale that in Lucymae's elderly years, she tried to live in Bloomfield but because the house had no heat or cooling she quickly moved to Winchester leaving Bloomfield abandoned for another 20 years. Lucymae Humston Boyer died in 1996 at 88 years old. She left Bloomfield to her great Nephew, Frank Crim who let Bloomfield sit empty for another 20 years. Sometime around 2014, Frank and his wife tried living in Bloomfield for 2 short years. Bloomfield had been abandoned since the 1950's. Nature had taken back over, rooms were stuffed to the ceiling with rotting boxes & furniture, decaying animal carcasses were in every room, water had destroyed much of the flooring and walls and termites had eaten through the center beam.  Frank unfortunately did not have the means to fix Bloomfield and died before his dream of restoring her could be met. In 2017 Bloomfield and 107 acres were auctioned off. Andy McEntire bought Bloomfield but only wanted the land and allowed us to aquire the house plus 6 acres. And so our journey of restoring Bloomfield began. This precious ole gal has seen The Revolutionary War, The War of 1812 and The Civil War. Housed dozens of births and quite a few deaths. She's been loved, forgotten, loved again and forgotten again... and is now on her 3rd owners and 3rd live. I hope you enjoy our restoration journey. We have loved this house from the moment we met her. We hope you love her too. Welcome to Bloomfield.