316 Amherst Street


This Queen Anne style home was built on land left to the heirs of Clark and Margaret Ann Cather (nee Lupton.) T. K. Cartmell mentions the family briefly in his Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Descendants in connection to the Luptons of Walnut Grove in Frederick County, a site that figured prominently in the Second Battle of Winchester. Clark Cather is the great-uncle of novelist Willa Cather.

Jonah Cather sold the land to Bessie McCann in 1897, and the house was erected on the lot sometime between her purchase and 1902, when she sold the property. The house itself is a fine example of the Queen Anne style, boasting two corbelled chimneys, a hipped slate roof, and expansive veranda-style porch. The interior retained the original oak woodwork, floors, and double sliding parlor doors. The five fireplaces display richly detailed overmantels, the original tile facings, and iron grates.