CULPEPER With the steady hands of a surgeon, architectural conservator Chris Mills slowly unveils history one painstaking step at a time. His goals are to reveal and protect the Civil War-era signatures, drawings and scribbling found throughout the Brandy Station Graffiti House.
The circa-1858 structure is believed to have been used as a hospital by Confederate and Union forces during the war. For unknown reasons, patrons decided to mark up the walls with signatures, drawings and anything else that crossed their minds. Mills' challenge is to remove the post-historic paint and whitewash that subsequent owners attempted to cover the markings with, as well as stabilize the fragile plaster.
"You don't want to mess with the graffiti itself, everything affects it," Mills said of the tedious process. In addition to removing the cover layer with tools such as a razor and an elongated cotton swab, he stabilizes the plaster by injecting a synthetic resin and pinning it till it dries.
The room he is currently working in, coined the J.E.B. Stuart room because of a signature in the room, has posed a unique challenge to Mills because of a colored lime wash applied directly to the plaster in parts of the room. In cases where he has no way to reveal the graffiti, he leaves it alone.
"What seems impossible today might not be tomorrow," Mills said.
"You have to constantly be checking what works," he said of changing techniques to find the best way to preserve the graffiti. "For the most part, we're having a lot of luck."
Mills had been working 10-hour days on the room, and he expected it would take at least 80 more hours to complete the task.
"This was the hardest and most difficult removal I've ever done," he said. Much of the graffiti was scribed using charcoal from fireplaces and is very delicate once exposed, he said. He attributed the particularly nice examples to a layer of dirt on the wall that helped to preserve the markings.
"You just keep finding things. I think it's fascinating."
Peggy Misch, secretary for Brandy Station Foundation, said, "We feel we step back in time when we come to this house." The recently renovated Graffiti House is the headquarters for the foundation.
The foundation has identified several of the soldiers who signed their names.
"Every time we find the true story of a soldier, it's more exciting than the speculation," said foundation board member Barry Atchison. "The more you stare at the wall, the more you find."
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