Ed Wright Remembers

The Duffey name is quite familiar to many of my fellow long-time Middleburg residents, mostly because it belonged to two old homes on Washington St.

One of them, the Anna Duffey house, is still standing. That’s where the Sporting Gallery, with so many wonderful paintings displayed on its walls, has been located for 37 years. The other Duffey home was owned by Ned Duffey. It was right across the street from the Methodist church, and sadly was razed to make room for a corner of the Safeway parking lot many years ago.

Ned Duffey lived there, and right next door was a little news stand he owned where you could buy newspapers and magazines and satisfy your sweet tooth, too. Mr. Duffey was a member of the vestry for 40 years at Middleburg’s Emmanuel Episcopal Church and there’s a plaque on the wall in his memory.

He also had a clock and watch repair business and I remember many years ago when somebody came into the Middleburg bank when I worked there and said he’d had one of his clocks repaired by Mr. Duffey. When it had all been put back together, there was still one piece left over. 

Mr. Duffey said ‘oh, that’s all right. It won’t matter much.”

By the way, there was another Duffey, Mr. Harry Duffey, who was a charter member of the Middleburg Bank’s original board in 1924.

Miss Anna Duffey’s house also goes way back. Greg Dubinetz, who owns the Sporting Gallery with his wife, Liz, said he’s seen old tax records that trace the building to 1790, and other records that say 1820. Either way, it’s been there for a long time.

Miss Duffey never married, and after she died, the house was renovated and re-wired in 1950 by a local architect so that the Chronicle of the Horse could set up its offices in that space. When the Chronicle moved, it was a real estate office for a few years occupied by the late Lef Lefferts.

G. Gordon Barton, Liz Dubinetz’s late father, opened the Sporting Gallery in that building in 1978 and it’s been in that space ever since. Greg and Liz took over the business in 1986 and Greg said that if you look in one of the front windows overlooking Washington Street you can just make out the words “Merry Christmas 1899.”  A different pane of glass is signed by another Duffey, also at the turn of the century.

There are a number of old buildings like that all around Middleburg and thankfully, many of them are still standing and being put to good use either as private residences or places of business. It’s what makes our town such a special place.