by Susanna McBee
Thursday, November 13, 1958
A 70-ton brick rambler sat last night on hickory planks in the middle of a stream near the Chantilly airport site.
The six-room house, 9 miles from its foundation near the center of the airfield and 2 miles from its destination near Centreville, is part of the changing landscape of the airport area.
Gone is the serene, bucolic setting of cedar-lined wheat fields, hay-filled barns, and neat suburban houses on the 9000 acres condemned by the Federal Government early this year for the Washington International Airport.
Cedars and oaks along Route 607 have been toppled by the Braddock Co. in their house-moving operations. Gasoline pumps have sprouted up near the headquarters of C. J. Langenfelder and Son, grading contractors.
Buildings Going Down
Fences on main routes are being torn down by the Penn¬sylvania Reclamation Co. And most of the 300 buildings in the levelled area are being demolished.
Relocation of less than 30 houses is adding to the bus¬tling atmosphere of Chantilly. Typical of this atmosphere was yesterday's 1 1/2 mile journey of the brick rambler which ended up in the Cub Run at Route 661.
"We have to take it through the creek because it's 28 feet wide and can't go across the 10-foot-wide bridge over the creek," John O. Duncan ex¬plained. He is vice president of Braddock Investment Corp., of which Braddock Co. is a subsidiary.
Duncan said the 11-mile trip was the longest distance a house in the Washington area had been moved.
Today the house, bought by Harold Young, a Centreville excavating contractor, will reach its new location on Route 620 after being "winched" from 'the stream bed.
Winching involves pulling with a cable attached to an¬other cable, or "bridle," around the house, Duncan said.
Move Leaves Wake
In the wake of the move lie large clods of mud hanging from upturned tree roots, dead limbs chopped from trees still standing, and deep furrows of sod where the 12-wheeled dol¬lies supporting the house went off the narrow roads.
Near the house's former foundation, where only a corner' of the front porch is left, the hulk of a destroyed barn stands beside a dirt mound.
Looking at dolly tracks near the foundation, Duncan remarked. "You would think a hurricane came through here. It's almost like the scorched earth policy."
Copyright 2009 The Washington Post Company