Robert Higgins House

Open Saturday Only

One of the oldest extant structures in Moorefield, the Higgins House was built in the late 18th century by Captain Robert Higgins, a Revolutionary War veteran.
Established in 1777, Moorefield’s trustees sold half-acre lots with the condition that the purchasers build a small dwelling with a brick or stone chimney. On April 10, 1787, Robert Higgins purchased the 10th lot sold in the new Town of Moorefield, Lot No. 33.
Initially it was required that the house be built within two years of the lot’s purchase, but that condition was relaxed to five years and later to nine years due to “the difficulty of procuring materials.” Knowledge of this difficulty answered a mystery. Dendroarchaeology research confirmed that the logs used to construct the house were dated 1790 and 1827. Additional research may confirm evidence of a fire that could have precipitated the partial rebuilding of the house after 1827.
Additions to the original structure were first built in 1840-50 and later in the 1890s, incorporating the Higgins House into a larger “L” shaped home that wrapped from Winchester Avenue onto N. Elm Street. In 1983, Duffy United Memorial Church owned the property and wanted to raze the entire structure to make room for a much-needed parking lot. After a community uproar, the additions to the Higgins House were removed, leaving the original 18th century structure clad in lapped siding. Now, in the 21st century, the Higgins House is being restored. Standing as a link between today and the 18th century, the House has many stories to tell, not the least of which is its witnessing of our nation’s earliest days. Tightly focused on the architecture of the House and the life of Robert Higgins, a farmer, soldier, settler, and
founder of a frontier town, the Higgins House Museum, scheduled to open in 2022, will be documented by the architectural clues left within the structure and Robert Higgins’ legacy to Hardy County, his life as it was woven into the fabric of our country.
Open courtesy of the Town of Moorefield and the Hardy County Convention & Visitors
Bureau
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