Lang Sine Farm was originally part of a 456 acre Fairfax land grant, surveyed by George Washington in 1752, and awarded to Dr. John McCormick and his wife Ann on July 8, 1760. Francis McCormick, their son, purchased the land from his parents for 100 pounds ($172.13) on May 30, 1763. Later, Francis purchased additional surrounding property and called his farm "Weehaw". Presently, it is not known for sure if the stone house was built by Francis in the early 1760s or by his son, Province, in the early 1790s. (Some documents claim Francis' first wife, Ann Province (1735 - 1771), his second wife, Frances Frost (1750 - 1785), and Francis himself (1734 - 1794) all died at Lang Sine. This information has not yet been confirmed by the present owner.) 

When Francis died in July 1794, Weehaw farm was approximately 1,200 acres. In 1793, almost a year before his death, Francis subdivided his farm and sold the divisions to his sons. His daughters did not own property. Province McCormick (1771 - 1826), purchased the property on 500 acres where the stone house is located today. We know the house was occupied by Province and his wife, Maza Davenport McCormick (1782 - 1829), when they married on January 2, 1802. Province and Maza, along with their seven children, named their farm "Lang Sine". Upon Province's death in March 1826, Maza inherited the farmhouse, 211 acres of land, and one third of Province's possessions. 

When Maza died intestate in 1829, her possessions were divided by order of the court in Winchester, VA. Bushrod McCormick (1805 - 1877), her first born son, (second child after Lourenna (1804 - 1862), a female) received the "mansion house" with its gardens on four acres of land. The hand-dug well and a pond by the road was to be shared with brothers Thomas William (1820 - ?) and Province, Jr. (1822 - ?). Bushrod had access to the house via a fifteen foot wide road by the well and pond. The access road is today's driveway, next to the original hand-dug well and pond. 

The original house is a three story (two stories of living quarters and a third story attic) Federal Style, three bay, structure with two foot thick limestone walls. The basement has a dirt floor and seven foot ceiling. Large logs with bark intact laid across the basement form the floor joists for the first floor. There are eight fireplaces in the living quarters and one fireplace in the basement.

Bushrod McCormick and his siblings sold their property inheritance and the house in 1831 and all moved to Missouri about 1837. William Hurst purchased the house and additional land from the McCormick's on June 14, 1831. Mr. Hurst stayed at Lang Sine until October 16, 1837 when he sold it to Newton Bowley (1805 - 1848). Two years later, on October 30, 1839, Newton Bowley sold Lang Sine farm to Albert McCormick (1813 - 1846), Province McCormick's great nephew, for $5,400. Andrew died in the house in 1846. The farm, now 330 acres, was purchased by Paul and Sarah Estes Smith on July 28, 1847 for $8,738.16.

During the Civil War, Paul and Sarah E. Smith lived at Lang Sine with their four children. Paul died on June 2, 1862, leaving the farm of 330 acres, now called "Soldier's Retreat" to his family. Before his death, a stone addition was started on the north side of the original structure, about 1859. The added space was for a formal, three story entry and parlor downstairs with a large room (bedroom?) upstairs. Construction of the addition was halted during the War due to lack of labor, but continued at the end of the War. We know it was completed in 1865 because we have an inventory of Paul's estate from that time. (The parlor had venentian blinds on the windows and today's master bathroom was a storage closet with a bedstead in it.) During the Civil War, the house was used by the Union army intermittently as a headquarters location and possibly a hospital. Sarah Smith welcomed Confederate troops and hid them under a staircase and in the crawlspace below the incomplete addition.

On July 7, 1873, Charles R. and Lydia Hardesty purchased "Soldier's Retreat" from Sarah E. Smith for $12,000. The farm stayed in their family for 99 years until 1972. Charles and Lydia Hardesty built a stone addition on the East side of the original house in 1880. This addition gave the entire structure an "L" shape with the original 1700s building forming the corner of the "L". It included a dining room, kitchen, butler's pantry, and narrow staircase downstairs with a large bedroom, small hallway and two "servant's quarters" rooms upstairs. Charles also built a very large bank barn with two granaries in 1881. Today, it is the largest bank barn in Clarke County, VA towering 55 feet high, 65 feet wide and 110 feet long. The Hardesty's also built the garage and blacksmith shop in the 1880s.

After Charles Hardesty's death in 1901, Addison and Mary Hardesty Withers purchased "Soldier's Retreat" from Mary's mother, Lydia Hardesty, on January 25, 1902 for $16,000. Lydia continued living at Soldiers Retreat with her daughter and  family until her death. Mary Withers died on December 23, 1926 and her mother, Lydia Hardesty, passed away three weeks later on January 19, 1927. Addison Withers continued living at the farm with his four daughters. Addison died at the age of 90 at Soldier's Retreat on March 28, 1963, leaving the farm to two of his daughters, Elizabeth Withers Glascock and Elinor Withers Athey. Elizabeth's husband died 3 weeks before her father in March, 1963. Mrs. Glascock and Mrs. Athey kept the farm until 1972 when they sold it out of the family to Charles Barton.

     Mrs. Elizabeth Withers Glascock, age 92, at Lang Sine Farm

Elizabeth Glascock celebrated her 95th birthday in 2003. She spent many hours talking about the farm, her parents, and grandparents. She repeated many stories about the property during the Civil War from her grandmother as told to her by the previous owner, Sarah Estes Smith. During restoration of the house, the stories were confirmed by architectural details. i.e. Sarah told Lydia that they hid soldiers under a staircase in the northwest corner of the original house. The "shadow" of that staircase was found in the plaster after a storage closet and bookcases were removed from the northwest corner of that room. Lydia also told Elizabeth that the kitchen was a separate structure located behind the house and the door to access it was on the east parlor wall. When the stucco covering the house was removed from the exterior of the parlor, the outline of a door was found between the two east parlor windows where the door was removed and the opening filled with stone. 

Charles Barton owned the property until his death in 1989, when it was inherited by his two daughters, Betty Stine and Patsy Harrington. During Mr. Barton's tenure, the property fell into severe disrepair. It was uninhabited from 1987 when Mr. Barton was unable to live alone and left Soldier's Retreat to live with one of his daughters. After Mr. Barton's death, the 330 acre farm consisted of 24 acres of land in Jefferson County, West Virginia and 306 acres with house and outbuildings in Clarke County, Virginia. Betty and Patsy subdivided the farm and sold the West Virginia property in the 1990s. The present owner purchased the house and all outbuildings in Clarke County, Virginia on 101 acres of land on April 15, 2000. The remaining 205 acres was purchased by Stanley Stiles in 2001. Mr. Stiles further subdivided his 205 acres and sold 25 acres on Withers LaRue Road in 2002 where the owner built a log residence. He also sold 3 building lots in 2002 on Summit Point Road where houses were erected. His son, Christopher Stiles, also built a house on Summit Point Road on subdivided farm property. Stanley Stiles and his sons farm the remaining +/-169 acres and grow alfalfa and corn for their dairy cows.

Since April 15, 2000, the original farm has been undergoing extensive renovation and restoration. The stone house is expected to be largely completed by March, 2004. The name has been changed back to Lang Sine Farm. In addition to the restoration work, the present owner grows and bales timothy hay and mixed grasses for horses and keeps four horses on the farm.