The Van Pelt House was located on the high ground half a mile west of Bull Run and the Stone Bridge. The 71 year old New Jersey native Abraham Van Pelt, his 69 year old wife Jeminia, and their 36 year old daughter Elizabeth tended the 230 acre farm that was first settled in the 1850s by his grandparents Abraham and Anna. Along with producing cash crops of corn, rye, oats, and wheat, the Van Pelts also produced dairy products, honey, wool, and various fruit from orchards. On July 18th, Nathan Evans established his 7th Brigade headquarters on the Van Pelt property and Confederate Capt. Edward Porter Alexander located one of four signal stations on the grounds nearby. During the Second Battle of Bull Run the house and outbuildings became a Union hospital, and the Van Pelts temporarily moved to a nearby farm. Abraham and his wife eventually returned to New Jersey later in the war leaving their daughter Elizabeth behind to manage the farm. Elizabeth eventually filed a claim for damages to the estate of her father, who died in 1866, but much of the claim was disallowed.The house was destroyed by fire in 1932. The National Park Service acquired the site in 1936.
