Step Inside Arlington’s Oldest Building at the Ball-Sellers House

Built in 1750 by farmer John Ball, the Ball-Sellers House at 5620 Third Street South in the Glencarlyn neighborhood is the oldest structure in Arlington County — a farmhouse restored to its colonial-era condition, with original logs, mud daubing, plank floors, and a rare oak clapboard roof that is one of the only surviving examples of its kind anywhere in the United States. The story of the house’s ownership is itself a remarkable thread through Arlington history: following John Ball’s death in 1766, the property passed to William Carlin — an Alexandria tailor whose clients included George Washington and George Mason — and through three generations of the Carlin family for more than 100 years, before being sold and eventually donated to the Arlington Historical Society in 1975 by its last private owner, Marian Sellers. The community that grew up around the Carlin property became Glencarlyn — the oldest subdivision in Arlington.

In October 2023, the Arlington Historical Society and Black Heritage Museum of Arlington dedicated their first “stumbling stones” — bronze markers honoring three individuals who were once enslaved at what is now the Ball-Sellers House — as part of their ongoing research project Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington, 1669–1865. These six-inch bronze plaques, created by students at Arlington Tech, sit just outside the house on 3rd Street South and add a vital layer of honesty to the site’s story.

Knowledgeable docents provide free guided tours of the main floor, loft, root cellar, and grounds on Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m., April through October; appointments at other times can be arranged by calling 703-942-9247. No admission fee, though donations support the Arlington Historical Society’s preservation work. Find more at Ball-Sellers House.