of his West Virginia home and a trove of historical treasures including a sword, blacksmith keys, silver coins, a Civil War-era mourning dress and hundreds of family photos
- A West Virginia man discovered a 253-year-old pre-Revolutionary War fort hidden in the walls of his home
- Known as Byrnside Fort after the man who built it in 1770, it was later converted into a plantation
- The home has been continuously occupied by only three families until 2019, when the last descendant
A small town lawyer from West Virginia was in for an extraordinary surprise when he discovered a 253-year-old pre-Revolutionary War fort hidden inside the walls of his Monroe County plantation home.
John Bryan, 43, a self-described history buff and amateur archeologist, purchased the property in 2019 with a hunch that the large white clapboard farmhouse was built around an old log fort known as Byrnside's Fort.
'We had to buy the property first before being able to take a crowbar to it to see if the logs were inside the walls.'
It was originally built in 1770 by an early settler of Virginia named James Byrnside after his cabin was burned to the ground by Shawnee Indians on the same site in 1763.
The fort — which never came under attack during the Revolutionary War — has been occupied ever since by three families until 2019, when the last descendant passed away.
It is believed to be the only one left of its kind along the original Virginia frontier. 'Most, if not all, are nothing but stains in the ground (if archaeologists can even find them),' Bryan says.
'This one, you can see and touch all the original architectural features that nobody living has ever seen.'
After purchasing the home, Bryan began the painstaking process of removing the 1850s plaster to reveal the solid hand-hewn white oak logs of the fort.
In the process, he unearthed a priceless trove of artifacts belonging to the previous owners from a Civil War-era mourning dress, to 18th century Spanish silver coins, brass buttons from colonial coats, inscribed books from a Revolutionary War soldier garrisoned at the fort, World War I mementos, and hundreds of family photos and daguerreotypes.
Bryan's passion for pre-Revolutionary War history in the Greenbriar Valley of West Virginia is a hobby bordering on obsession.
'Tracking down the old forts can be very difficult,' he told DailyMail.com. 'Some of them are known, some of them are unknown. And you have to do some investigation work, look at the old handwritten deeds and compare sources and metal detectors to actually locate sites.'
He first discovered the fort in 2019 after a metal-detecting pal received permission for them to explore the old Byrnside plantation farm.
'There was an old lady who had lived there and was very private and didn't let anyone in.'