It is interesting to me as an amateur historian how random events sometimes tie together historical dates in history including Clifton Virginia. For instance; when I first arrived in the northern Virginia area I was a catastrophic storm adjuster. I was accessing storm damage on tin roofs and Metal Roofs in the historic town of Clifton. After climbing off of a very old tin roof I noticed a plaque on the side of this home proclaiming that this was “The Homestead House” once belonging to William E. Beckwith and serving for a brief period as General George Pope’s headquarters during the 2nd battle of Manassas. After a little research I learned that Beckwith was a slave owner and for this short period he had to house General Pope in his historic home. I was trying to get my mind around both men’s emotion. Here was a slave owner who was forced to house a military officer who was in charge of trying to destroy his way of life. Then I noticed another fact, Beckwith freed all 16 of his slaves upon his death and gave land and houses to them as an inheritance. The question has to be asked, which came first, the General or the idea to free the slaves?
We can, however, be certain that even though the tin roof I inspected on Beckwith’s house was very old (over 100 years old) it was at least the 4th or 5th roof that protected that home in its lifespan. Built in 1771 this was originally a 3 bedroom log cabin that probably had a thatched or wooden shake roof on it until the late 1800’s when the terned tin roof I inspected was installed. This begs another question, if we installed a pre painted standing seam metal roof today, with all our technological advances, how long would it last? We think with proper maintenance that they will last easily over 150 years. Please contact us if you have more questions or thoughts. Let our very skilled staff help you to learn the many benefits that one of our energy efficient Metal roofing Systems can offer.
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