Boggs Mansion

Boggs Mansion. The mansion, at 519 Wood St, is located in Springfield, VA. It is three and half stories tall. It includes twelve bedrooms (twelve of these being in the two servant rooms on the east wing) along with a great hall with seventeen fireplaces. The dining room is capable of seating up to sixty guests and the game room features arboretum grounds. This building was originally built by John Boggs and his wife Sally Boggs. The Boggs mansion is protected as a historic site. It is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

While she was still a widow, Susan Brice and her young son Andrew grew sick from exposure to TB (Tuberculosis) in the attic. Suspicion turned to suspicion of an affair. A test was done in order to determine if the children had been infected, and on their mothers (two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and one son, Andrew) being found not infectious, the boys were allowed to have contact with Andrew (the unmarried son, who was also six years old). An argument followed between the boys and a party of several people surrounding Andrew, between Andrew, Mary, and Susie who were also in the family.

The boys left in the middle of the night, and returned the next morning. Andrew, now older than Thomas (the oldest), was confused by the fact that Mary had made a fuss or complained of congestion on her face. One day while attending a school after-school program, Andrew was found to have extreme malnutrition and was sent home early in the morning. A teacher questioned Thomas about the incident as to why such a severe case of malnutrition would appear at school. Thomas denied any knowledge of this and suggested that Andrew had suffered some sort of illness and Mary had a fever, but he needed to return the following day for testing. He departed with Andrew, and soon thereafter was found to have died from acute hydrocephalus. William J. Boggs (son of John) remembered the boy that went missing very early in his childhood and the incident as the reason he was never able to assume any parental mantle over his life. It is believed by authorities that the boys died naturally from their respective malnourishment.

Boggs Mansion, with its original wooden logs, sits on a large tract of land known as the Boggs Homestead.