Boydville
601 S. Queen St., Martinsburg, WVBoydville in Martinsburg, W.Va., is notable for its land, its buildings, and the people who lived in them.
The mansion, erected in 1812, but still, along with its numerous outbuildings in a remarkably fine state of preservation, stands on land granted by Lord Fairfax in 1754 to Morgan Morgan, West Virginia's first settler. The property later came into the possession of General Adam Stephen, long a military associate of George Washington, and then John Boyd, one of the earliest settlers of Berkeley County.
John Boyd's youngest son, Elisha, became a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate; commander of the Fourth Virginia Regiment in the War of 1812; and was elected Brigadier-General by the Virginia Assembly in 1830.
It was Elisha Boyd who built "Boydville," leaving it in his will to his daughter Mary at his death in 1841. Mary had been wedded.to Charles J. Faulkner I, son of Major James Faulkner of Martinsburg, a merchant who had distinguished himself in the defense of Craney Island, near Norfolk, as commander of a volunteer company in the War of 1812.
Faulkner (1806-1884), a graduate of Georgetown University, and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates urged the gradual abolition of slavery. He condemned the South Carolina doctrine of nullification but otherwise supported the state's rights doctrine of Calhoun. He earned a widespread reputation as an advocate of war with Mexico and the annexation of Texas, even to the extent of offering to pay volunteers for their services.
Regionally, Faulkner will be remembered for his skill in adjudicating the boundary dispute between Virginia and Maryland, acting as Governor John Floyd's commissioner.
on the national scene, Faulkner will be remembered for his service in the House of Representatives, 1851-59 and 1875-77, and for notable services rendered as Buchanan's Minister to France, 1859-61. During the Civil War, he served as assistant adjutant-general under Stonewall Jackson, preparing Jofficial battle reports from Jackson's rough notes. As temporary president of the West Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1872, he was influential in framing the constitution of that year.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.