How the Arlington Historical Society Acquired the Ball-Sellers House
The Arlington Historical Society (AHS) was founded in 1956 with the goal of preserving Arlington County’s rapidly disappearing history. During its first two decades, the Society collected documents, artifacts, and photographs but did not have a permanent historic property to preserve or interpret. That changed dramatically in 1975 when it became the owner of what is now recognized as Arlington’s oldest surviving house.
The House’s Final Private Owner
The house at 5620 Third Street South had remained in the Carlin-Sellers family for generations. Although originally built by John Ball in the mid-eighteenth century, it eventually passed through the Carlin family before becoming the home of William and Julia Powell. Their niece, Marian Rhinehart Sellers, spent part of her childhood in the house after the deaths of her parents.
When William Powell died in 1969, he left the property to Marian Sellers. Living in Vienna, Virginia, she had no intention of returning to the aging farmhouse. Instead of selling the property for redevelopment—a common fate for historic buildings in Arlington during the postwar building boom—she chose to preserve it for future generations.
Donation to the Arlington Historical Society
In 1975, Marian Sellers donated the house to the Arlington Historical Society. Her gift provided the Society with its first permanent historic property and ensured the preservation of one of the county’s most important colonial structures. In recognition of both its original builder and its benefactor, the Society named it the Ball-Sellers House.
The donation came at a critical moment. Arlington was experiencing intense redevelopment, and many eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings had already disappeared. Without Marian Sellers’ generosity and the Society’s willingness to assume responsibility for the property, Arlington’s oldest surviving house might well have been lost.
Restoration and Preservation
After acquiring the property, the Arlington Historical Society undertook extensive restoration work. The eighteenth-century log section and its attached lean-to were preserved and interpreted as a museum, while the later nineteenth-century addition was rehabilitated for residential use to help support the property’s maintenance. This preservation approach was also described in the property’s National Register nomination.
The Society worked with preservation specialists to document the building’s remarkable architectural features, including:
- The original eighteenth-century log construction.
- One of Virginia’s few surviving clapboard roofs hidden within the attic.
- Evidence of the house’s gradual expansion over more than two centuries.
- Historic outbuildings and archaeological resources associated with the property.
National Recognition
The same year the Society acquired the property, the Ball-Sellers House was listed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. These designations recognized its exceptional importance as one of Northern Virginia’s few surviving examples of an ordinary eighteenth-century farmhouse rather than a grand plantation house.
Lasting Impact
The donation of the Ball-Sellers House transformed the Arlington Historical Society. Instead of being solely an organization devoted to collecting and publishing local history, it became the steward of Arlington’s oldest surviving building and an active preservation organization.
Today, the Ball-Sellers House serves as a museum interpreting nearly three centuries of Arlington history. Visitors learn not only about the Ball, Carlin, Powell, and Sellers families, but also about the broader stories of colonial settlement, agriculture, slavery, community development, and historic preservation in Arlington County. The house remains one of the Society’s most visible achievements and a lasting testament to Marian Sellers’ decision to place preservation above private ownership.
