Landmarks: Friendship Valley Farm

For years, I have driven by this partially hidden structure, admiring the grounds and house. With the log structure in the front yard and the architectural lines, it is obvious that 950 Gist Road is a historic spot in Westminster. Doing a bit of research, I find that it is indeed on the National Register known as Friendship Valley Farm. This may be well-known to natives of Westminster, but not to us coming from other areas.

It was the homestead of the Gist family, the same that the road itself is named for. Originally surveyed in 1741, the land was purchased in 1774 by Thomas Gist and conveyed by will to his son Joshua, who was living there in in a log structure 1787. It was patented as Long Farm. Tradition holds that the original log structure was burned to the ground when a woman slave set the house on fire, hoping to force a move to Baltimore. It was replaced by a brick over a stone foundation designed in a T-shape with 2 1/2 stories. The log structure visible from the road was a slave cabin and smoke house. The main house was later added on to and formed a rare H-shape house by the 1860’s and was remodeled to suit changing tastes.

The Gist family was prominent in historical annals:

Father, Thomas Gist fought in the French and Indian Wars. Uncle Christopher Gist was a guide to George Washington when he went to western Virginia to establish trade with the Indians. Cousin Nathaniel was a frontiersman. Brother Mordecai was a Revolutionary War hero. And Colonel Joshua of Long/Friendship Valley Farm was instrumental in guarding against Tory uprisings during the Revolutionary War. During President John Adam’s term, an uprising occurred against excise duties placed on stills (remember this was a grain growing area and liquor was another product). Called the “Whiskey Rebellion”, some of the local Boys against the tax raised a Liberty Pole in Westminster. Joshua had little sympathy for the uprising and called upon by authorities to do something, had the pole chopped down.

.