Built 1761 Opened 1761 Architectural style Federal architecture Nearest city Gerrardstown | NRHP Reference # 94001292 Area 5,261 m² Added to NRHP 21 November 1994 | |
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Similar Morgan‑Gold House, Continental Clay Brick Plant, Lick Run Plantation | ||
Cool Spring Farm — also known as Rockdale Spring Farm and Torytown — was a wilderness estate settled by Colonel Morgan Morgan (1688-1766), long celebrated as the first permanent European settler in what would become West Virginia. The Welch-born Morgan was granted 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) here in 1735, but he is believed to have first settled there in 1731. Recent research indicates that Morgan's settlement was not the first, but was preceded by a German settlement at what became "New Mecklinberg", possibly as early as 1726.
Morgan Morgan's fifth son, Zackquill Morgan (1735-1795), built the house in 1761, but sold the farm in 1765 and moved west to Monongalia County, Virginia, now West Virginia, to establish his namesake settlement of Morgantown in 1781.
After changing hands several times, the property was purchased by John McKown, Jr. in 1827. His son Edmund renamed the farm "Rockdale Spring Farm". The sons of John McKown owned considerable lands in the area of Gerrardstown during the late 19th century.