This historic home was built in 1824 and was the residence of Lieutenant Colonel Silas Burke, his wife Hannah Coffer Burke, and two children, John Thomas and Ann Virginia. John T. Burke would go on to gain his own fame as Captain of the Fairfax Rifles, 17th Virginia Co. D Infantry, losing his life at the Battle of Antietam in 1862.
Silas Burke had the house built close to the time of their marriage. Burke’s many accomplishments include being a successful farmer, inn keeper and owner of a store, grist and lumber mills, a blacksmith shop, and a brick yard. He held many county offices including chief justice of the Fairfax County court, presiding justice and county sheriff, lieutenant colonel in the county militia, commissioner of public buildings and schools, trustee, guardian and appraiser, road surveyor and President of the Fairfax Agricultural Society. Burke donated the land for Burke Station, on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, which was named after Burke who served as a director of the railroad and the Fairfax Turnpike Company. At the time of his death in September 1854, he was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Fairfax County’s history.
This home was also once the home of the Henry Copperthite family, who owned the local race track in the early 1900s. In 1925, William and Nellie Simpson purchased the Silas Burke House. While Colonel Burke called his estate “Woodbury,” the Fowler family, Simpson descendants, call it “Top O’ The Hill.”
HERE is a link to the Historical Marker Database page for the Silas Burke House Marker.