We were thrilled to find this 1870s photograph of Weston at the Virginia Historical Society, confirming expectations of outbuildings on the grounds. Besides the large structure in the foreground, the gable of another appears faintly through the porch, on the far side of the mansion. According to architectural historian Susan Horner, the style of the structure suggests it is contemporary with the late eighteenth-century mansion. Located on the same side of the house as the dining room and the bulkhead entrance to the service space in the cellar, the outbuilding originally may have served as a kitchen. Though the cropping of the photograph obscures a possible chimney—obviously essential for a kitchen—archaeologists did find brick rubble in this general area of the yard.

(Fred Bell negatives, Virginia Historical Society)