Houses in this area often come with some history, maybe a role in the Civil War, or a historic figure listed in the chain of ownership.

The house at 11300 Astarita Ave. in Spotsylvania County has more recent history of a different sort, and it's because of that history that it's now being transformed into the luxury property it was always supposed to be.

The grand, 12,000-square-foot house sits on 30 acres and was built in 2001, suitable for someone of wealth seeking plenty of privacy. Astarita Avenue is located in Whelan Ridge subdivision, a large-lot community about 12 miles southwest of Spotsylvania Courthouse in an area of the county that residents would fondly describe as the middle of nowhere. It's probably closer to Partlow than anything else.

The company doing the transforming is Old Town Builders, which has been renovating and building area houses since 1994. Its agent, Danielle Davis, is listing the property at $2.225 million.

She said plumbers, electricians, climate-control contractors and structural engineers had deemed the house and its systems in excellent shape.

"This house isn't going anywhere. Someone is going to love it just for the solitude," Davis said.

SHORT-TERM HISTORY

It was the acreage and the remote location that made the home just the place for the prior owners. On Oct. 21, 2004, Spotsylvania sheriff's deputies, joined by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, raided the house. The raid was based on a tip that a number of high-powered weapons were inside the house.

The officers seized 26 high-caliber weapons. They included a Tech-9, an AK-47 and a fully automatic M-203 military rifle with a 40 mm grenade launcher attached to it, Sheriff Howard Smith said at the time.

Also found were 60 Rott-weilers in what was determined to be a legal dog-breeding operation.

The dogs were apparently allowed throughout the house. Davis recalled that when Old Town Builders first took on the rehabilitation project, the stench in the house was unbearable.

"The guys had to wear respirators when they first went in," she said. "Then we started noticing all of the oddities."

There were many features of the house that were first-rate. The kitchen was done in a handsome brown granite with top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances and a tile floor.

"We've decided that the kitchen was just fine, so we're leaving it alone," she said.

But there were ill-fitting windows in the kitchen, breakfast area and elsewhere that had to be replaced and refitted.

The master bathroom was handsomely tiled with an oversized, multi-head shower and a jetted tub. But the vanity was topped with inexpensive laminate and fixtures.

There are eight gas-fed fireplaces throughout the house, but many had no mantel, surround or trim of any kind with them.

A powder room has a rich-looking wood vanity and medicine cabinet, but a small, nondescript lighting fixture clings to the tall ceiling.