Here’s a news story on the Chambers fire. Consistent with my e-mailer’s observation that many people in the county aren’t aware of their local history, this article doesn’t even mention Whittaker Chambers or that this was the house in which Witness was written.

The burned-down house, by the way, is owned by John Chambers and in recent years has been rented out. Chambers lives in another house on the same property, right by where the Pumpkin Papers were stashed.