Early land ownership Once part of Lord Fairfax's vast holdings, a parcel on Gravel Spring Run was granted to Isaac Zane in 1778, and from Zane conveyed the following year to Jacob Fry.  In 1787, some 375 acres were conveyed to Henry Richards, whose family held various interests in land, mills, and slaves.   1836-1855: Henry Richards builds house Henry Richards (1779-1853), whose namesake father had purchased the property half a century earlier, built the present house, Gravel Springs Farm, in 1836.  Richards owned several large tracts of land and businesses, including a fulling mill near Mountain Falls, cattle raising, farming, and a tavern (now a museum) in present-day Stephens City.  Married in 1803 to Lydia Russell, the family included some eight children. The 1840 Census records 33 people living at Gravel Springs Farm, about half of whom were slaves.  At his death in 1853, Richards owned 19 slaves.   In 1849, the Richards gave an adjoining parcel for the erection of the Gravel Springs Lutheran Church.  1855-1963: A century of Miley & Pifer family tenure After the death of Henry Richards, the property was conveyed in 1855 to Conrad Miley (1794-1879 ), who, with wife Catherine (1812-1892), are noted in Census records as immigrants from Switzerland.  Ten years later,  Miley conveyed the house and farm to son-in-law George Washington Pifer (1833-1917), but retained a life estate in the use of four upstairs rooms and part of the cellar and spring house.  The farm remained under Pifer family ownership for most of a century, and by World War I, had expanded to 650 acres.  Between 1870 and 1930, Census records show that the household varied in size from four to eight occupants, including, in 1930, two  public school teachers as boarders. Civil War Diaries of George Washington Pifer, Company G, 51st Regiment, Virginia Militia, 1861-1864:  Pifer's family owned property adjacent Gravel Springs Farm and acquired the farm by marriage to Mary Miley, daughter of Conrad and Catherine who purchased the farm in 1855.  Pifer's Civil War diaries conclude with this passage: "Started off again for home, came across the mountain, the road was so rough that I thought it would tear me to pieces.  At about 4 o'clock we landed at my old native home once moe.  I was absent from home 1 year, 2 months & 9 days. [Nine] months & 20 days of this time I was in prison, deprived of my freedom & of the society of friends. So this ends the history of my trip. I have just finished out the 2nd day of January, 1864, about half past six o'clock in the evening." 1963-2004: More recent owners  In 1963, the Pifer family sold the the house and 215 acres to M. Ross Farrar, Emory M. Gregg, and Mary Ellen Gregg (later Farrar.)  During their tenure the house was restored and various mechanical improvements made.  In subsequent years, the farm was sold and subdivided variously, until purchased, with nine acres, in 2004.  Sources: ~Cartmell, T.K.  Shenandoah Valley Pioneers & Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia, From its Formation in 1738 to 1908.  Berryville, Va.: Chesapeake Book Co., 1963 [later edition] ~Coates, Sally C.  'A Sketch and (Partial) Genealogy of the Richards Family of Southwestern Frederick County, Virginia'  Typescript in Handley Regional Library Archives, Winchester, Va.; 1999. ~Kalbian, Maral S.  Frederick County, Virginia: History Through Architecture.  Winchester, Va.: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1999. ~Miller, Virginia Lindsay, and Lewis, John G. Interior Woodwork of Winchester, Virginia, 1750-1850, with Some History and Tales. Privately published: Virginia Lindsay Miller, 1994. ~Norris, J.E.  History of the Lower Shenandoah Valley.  Chicago, Ill., 1890. ~Quarles, Garland R.  Some Old Homes in Frederick County, Virginia.  Winchester, Va.: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1990 [revised edition] ~U.S. Decennial Census Records, Frederick County, Virginia. Various.