Sunnyside

Kendal at Lexington is located on Sunnyside Farm, a lovely property with a beautiful old farmhouse called Sunnyside and an interesting history. The farmhouse has been extensively restored, through the generosity of a sole benefactor, and was dedicated on October 18th, 2006. It is being used as a guest house and for meeting and activity space by residents. READ MORE.

The Sunnyside property of 500 acres was purchased initially by John Moore from the Borden's Grant in 1747 who left it to his son, James in his will of 1802.   James had married in 1791 and may have constructed the early section of the present house sometime in the 1790's for his new bride.   Any previous dwellings probably would have been of log construction and long ago demolished.

The Moores' nephew, Alexander T. Barclay inherited Sunnyside in 1828 and expanded the house in the 1840's.   Sunnyside, then known as the Sycamores, was sold out of the family when Barclay died in 1849.   The farm changed owners several more times until 1861 when Eli Tutwiler, a Captain in the Confederate Army, purchased it.   The third major addition to the house was made sometime during this era.   In 1880 Colonel John Ross, a prominent Lexington businessman, purchased Sunnyside and it remained in his family until 1926.

At that time, Colonel James Anderson, a professor at the Virginia Military Institute, along with his wife's two sisters, Helen and Ella Webster purchased the farm.   They razed most of the old farm buildings and erected the current outbuildings for their newly established dairy operation.   The dairy business survived until the 1950s when they leased the fields for beef cattle grazing.   Small parts of the property were sold off for development but the majority of Sunnyside Farm remained intact.

General Anderson died in 1964 but his wife and two sisters remained living in the main house until the last sister, Ella, died in 1985.   The four grown children of the Andersons inherited the property at that time and decided to sell Sunnyside since none of them lived in Virginia.   By 1995, Isabel Bartenstein of New Jersey had bought out the interests of her siblings.   The Bartensteins worked with Lexington and Rockbridge County residents to create the retirement community that is now known as Kendal at Lexington.

Isabel's Cottage is named in memory of Isabel Bartenstein; the cottage has also served as a guest accommodation.