Skip to main content

Full text of "Some Old Historic Landmarks of Virginia and Maryland: Described in a Hand ..."

See other formats 


This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 
to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 
to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 
are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 
publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 

We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain from automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attribution The Google "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 



at |http : //books . google . com/ 



VIRGINIA ANDl 




SOME OLD 




-^^ OF *♦- 




SIXTH CtolTlON • 0/V %•. ^ 



'^h 



COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED. 



A HAND-BOOK FOR THE TOURIST 



OVER THE 



Washington. i\lB^Bndi'ia and Jjoaqt hmn l^ailwai]. 



BV 



>V. II. SNt»VOh:X. 



SOME 



Old Historic Landmarks 



i 



OF 



VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



DESCRIBED IN 



A HAND-BOOK FOR THE TOURIST 



OVER THE 



Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon 
Electric Railway, 



BY 

W. H. SNOWDEN, A. M. 

OF ANDAIvUSIA, VA. 

MEMBER OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF 

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF NEW JERSEY, 

VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND, &C. 



Sixth Edition of Five Thousand. 

COPIOUSLY illustrated. 



SOLD ON TRAINS OF THE 

Washington, Aleicandria & Mt. Vernon Railway Co* 
Price, 25 Cents. 



Kf /Soo^ 



etc > 



■' ...kVARD 



Copyright, 1904, 

BY 

WlIXIAM H. Snowden. 



1 



To THE Reader. 



This Hand Book makes no pretentioijs to literary excellence, nor fine 
typographical display. The only aim of the author in its preparation • has 
been historical accuracy and the acceptable presentation of much and varied 
information in a little compass and at a small cost. It is merely an epitome 
of a Library Edition of much greater scope, with many more subjects and 
illustrations, now being published. 

While the Book is offered nominally as a guide to locate important 
places for the tourist, and to briefly narrate whatever of historic interest per- 
tains to each of them, it is also designed for more than a mere itinerary to be 
hastily read and then carelessly thrown aside as being of no further value. 

Some there may be of its readers it is hoped, who will find its contents of 
sufficient interest to take home for household reading and preservation. 

We are now in an age when there is a far greater desire among all classes 
of, our people than ever before for inquiry into whatever relates to or throws 
new light upon the work, the struggles, the progress, manners and usages of 
the generations of the earlier days. 

Some repetitions of facts and occurrences will be found in reading the 
different chapters on account of their having been written at different times, for 
which the reader's indulgence is asked. The thanks of the author is due to 
such of his friends as have contributed to the work, and especially to Miss 
Eugenie DeLand of Washington City for her numerous pictorial designs. 
In the book will be found not only a summary of the life, services, and char- 
acter of General Washington, and a description of his home, his farms, and 
his farming operations, and the changes which have been incident to his land 
estate since his passing away, but also descriptions of numerous other outlying 
historic landmarks on both shores of the Potomac. The writer trusts that the 
book, hastily prepared in brief intervals of pressing duties, may prpve an ac- 
ceptable companion to all strangers wayfaring among the many interesting 
historic points which will be open to them by this convenient and delight- 
ful route of travel to the Home and Tomb of the venerated Washington. 

W. H. S. 
Andalusia, Va. 



Washington Citg to Mount Vernon. 



Washington, Alexander Island, Arlington Junction, Addison, Four Mile Run, St. Elmo, 

St. Asaph, Del Ray, Lloyd, Braddock, Spring Tark, Alexandria, New 

Alexandria, Dyke, Bellmont, Wellington, Arcturus, Herbert 

Springs, Snowden, Grassymead, Hunter, 

Riverside, Mount Vernon. 

The tourist who boards the train of the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon 
Electric Railway at the corner of Twelfth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, in the 
National Capital, for a ride to the Home and Tomb of George Washington will pass 
through a region of country whose every locality bears the vivid impress of most inter- 
esting as well as important historical associations, reaching back through nearly three 
hundred years of the beginnings and progress of our country in the march of civilization 
and advancement. 

On every stream and thoroughfare, in every valley and on every hill crest there is 
some memento or land mark, in whatever direction the eye may range, to remind of the 
pioneers who transformed the wastes of the wilderness, marked the bounds of the 
homesteads, laid the hearth stones, established the neighborhoods and set up the altars 
of the Virginia Commonwealth. Aside from the great historic interest which pertains 
to every portion of the way of this desirable route to Mount Vernon, there is also for 
the tourist a pleasing diversity of natural scenery, of which the broad skirting river 
forms a very attractive part. 

As the train passes down 14th street towards the Potomac, the beautifully diversi- 
fied grounds of the Agricultural Department, those of the Smithsonian Institute and 
of the National Museum and the Botanical Gardens, comprising a large area reaching 
to the foot of the Capitol may be seen on the left. The extensive and varied collec- 
tions in the spacious buildings of these grounds from all lands and climes amply illus- 
trating the mineral, animal and vegetable Kingdoms of nature will well repay a visit. 
On the right are the monumental grounds from which rises the great shaft erected to 
the memory of General George Washington. This structure rises to the height of a 
little over 555 feet above ground level and 600 feet above mean tide water, and is the 
highest work of masonry in the world. 

It is built of granite and marble and contained in its wall is a block of native copper 
weighing 2100 pounds from Lake Michigan. Its foundations are of blue stone laid 16 
feet in depth. . The topmost stone weighs over 3000 pounds. The whole structure is 
surmounted by a point of aluminium 95^ inches high and 55^ inches square at its base 
weighing 100 ounces, the* cost of which was $225. Whiter than silver and not liable to 
corrosion this point as the sunlight strikes it, glistens like a huge diamond or an 'intense 
electric light. The base of the shaft is 55 feet square, with walls 15 feet thick. The 
whole structure weighs more than 80000 tons. Just under the pyramidon or pinnace 
stone is a platform with an area of 1167 feet from which, through eight windows, the 
visitor has magnificent prospects of the surrounding country. Here, the walls are 18 
inches thick. The corner stone was laid July 4th, 1848, and the whole was finished in 
1885 at a cost of $1,500,000. On an average 500 visitors ascend the monument daily 
at a yearJv cost to the government of $20,000. 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 




The top of the great structure is reached by an 
elevator, and also a stairway. of 50 flights of steps, 
each flight consisting of eighteen steps — 900 in all. 
Within the walls of this structure there is room 
enough to contain a thousand persons. Like the 
great dome of the Capitol, this massive shaft from its 
commanding height is a conspicuous land mark for 
many miles distant in all the approaches to Washing- 
ton. Being so high and isolated from other sur- 
rounding objects it has been struck numbers of times 
by lightning but without material injury. Strange 
to say, but it is nevertheless a fact established by nice 
and careful experiments, that this massive monument 
so deeply and broadly founded, has a daily leaning 
movement toward the sun, amounting at times to 
four or five inches. 

In close proximity to the monument is the National 
Bureau of Printing and Engraving, where are printed 
all the paper currency and postage stamps of the 
i?overnment. 

Emerging from the National Capital the train 
crosses the Potomac River by the New Highway 
Bridge, into Alexandria county, Virginia. This 
Washington Monument. bridge, built in 1906, is 2,666 feet long and has a 

wide draw over the main channel of the stream through which large sailing vessels and 
steamers may pass up to the port of Georgetown two miles beyond, which place is at the 
head of a tide water navigation reaching down by a continually widening and deepening 
stream, until at its confluence with the waters of Chesapeake bay, 108 miles, it is seven 
miles in width. The distance from the Capital to the Atlantic Ocean is 185 miles. 
To Norfolk 210 miles. Fifty miles below the Capital the water becomes salty. The 
head waters of the Potomac are in the Alleghany mountains and its entire length is 
about 400 miles. This river was called by the Indians Cohangoruton. "River of 
Swans." Before the advent of the white man the haughty Algonquins had their tribal 
town or Capital where the superb city now lifts its 
domes and towers. The corner stone of the Capi- 
tol was laid with masonic ceremonies by George 
Washington in 1793. He was then serving the 
first year of his second term as president. Har- 
per's Ferry where the Shenandoah joins the Poto- 
mac is fifty miles distant. Great Falls eighteen 
miles. 

The first white man who ever gazed upon the 
fair face of the Potomac and its beautiful land- 
scapes was that renowned adventurer Captain 
John Smith, one of the Jamestown colony who 
with fourteen companions in an open barge in 
the Spring of 1608 explored its majestic course 
through the unbroken wilderness from the Chesa- 
peake to the head of tide water a few miles above 
the present site of the Capital. From his notes 
and observations he made a map of the lands 
bordering the stream, with their numerous afflu- 
ents and variou? Indian settlements, which is still 
extant in his quaint book of travels and explora 
tions. 

The flats in front of the city and over which 
Long Bridge and its causeway passes consist of 




Captain John Smith. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 7 

about 1000 acres, and are now being transformed by the government into a vast insular 
park and when laid out with roads and walks and planted with trees and shrubbery as 
contemplated, will be a place of great beauty and attraction. 

Over the famous Long Bridge most of the great armies marching for the defence of 
the Union from the loyal states of the republic, entered Virginia during the civil war 
from 1861 to 1865. Not far from the western end of the bridge along the Columbia turn- 
pike may still be seen remains of Old Fort Runyon, built by the union troops — the 
first military works raised for the protection of Washington against the advance of the 
secession forces, and which was then the base of the first picketing and skirmishing 
operations of the great conflict. These defences were commenced by daylight of May 
24th, 1861. To Runyon's New Jersey brigade, second, third and fourth regiments be- 
longs the honor of constructing this, one of the strongest of the forts, and it was named 
for the brigade's commanding officer — Gen'l Theodore Runyon. The old works are now 
in the midst of the extensive brick yards of Brick Haven and Waterloo. A portion of 
them yet remain, but the greater part of the historic clay thrown up here by the boys 
in blue of '6i now does service in the walls of Washington houses. The perimeter of 
this fort exceeded that of any of the other forts in the chain, covering an area of about 
twelve acres, and its armament consisted of twenty-three guns, one of which was a 
thirty pounder rifled Parrott, eight were eight inch sea coast howitzers, ten were thirty- 
two pounders and four six pounder field guns, all mounted on barbette carriages. These 
were manned by 315 men. A strong stockade fronted the marsh between the fort and 
the river. Fort Albany was in the immediate vicinity to the westward and Fort Jackson 
was to the northward. 

While the great line of defences was in course of construction by the armed multi- 
tudes who swarmed all the hills and valleys from Washington to Great Hunting creek, 
the Long Bridge* played a very prominent part in the startling activities of the war. 
Over its broad thoroughfare passed unceasingly, night and day, railway military trains, 
commissary supply wagons, hurrying regiments of infantry, cavalry and artillery, dash- 
ing couriers and clattering mounted orderlies. The Capital was filled with contractors, 
speculators and adventurers of every description, and with relatives and friends of the 
soldiers, all of whom found their way over the river by this bridge to the numerous 
encampments. 

A new steel bridge with capacity to accommodate the great and increasing railway 
and other travel over the stream, and of architectural design in harmony with the pro- 
posed plans for the beautifying of the National Capital, is already in course of construc- 
tion to take the place of the old structure. 




The Old Long .Bridge across the Potomac. 



*If any of the boys in blue who came down from the loyal states in the early sixties for the defence of 
the Union, crossing the bridge, had imagined that they were on a holiday excursion to see gay and easy- 
times their visions were soon dispelled when they began the incessant drills and the laborious work of 
erecting the great lines of defences about the National Capital. 



8 SOME 01.0 HISTORIC I.ANDMARKS 

On either side of the river, both in Virginia and Maryland, the hills presented a 
continuation of heights which commanded the territory lying beyond, and these were 
quickly taken advantage of by the engineering department of the United States army. 
Strong embankments were thrown up, powerful guns were placed in position, and in 
order to give the widest range for execution, forests were leveled and in some instances 
houses and barns removed, «o that the enemy would have no chance to come upon the 
city unawares. The forts were constructed of earth, timber and masonry in the most 
careful and thorough manner. They contained wells, bombproof s and magazines; 
were surrounded by ditches, fringed and planted with abbatis of sharp-pointed branches 
and were armed variously. Well nigh forty years of peace have passed since these 
defences were constructed. To-day, hardly one of them remsfins intact as when the 
notes of reveille and tattoo sounded in their midst. Nearly all of them have been de- 
molished. The ramparts have been leveled, the ditches and Tifle pits filled: and the 
plowshare of the farmer is again passing over them as before the war. As the forts 
were erected and provided with their armaments, they were as quickly garrisoned by the 
troops that poured into Washington from the north, and many of the bravest and best 
of the soldiers who fought for the perpetuity of the government saw their first service 
in the forts around Washington. 

THE SYSTEM OF DEFENCES. 

By the ist of January, 1862, the entire defensive line, mounting about 500 guns, was 
in an advanced condition, although not completed. It was not, indeed, until the summer 
of 1865 that they were in anything like a finished shape. When completed the works 
comprised 62 forts with 44 supporting batteries, the whole having an armament of over 
1,000 guns and requiring 16,000 men to properly man them. The first suggestion to 
erect fortifications was made early in May, 1861, by Gen. Mansfield, who was then in 
command of the troops in the city, and he indicated Arlington Heights as the best 
place to begin. By the 24th of that month Forts Ellsworth, Runyon, Albany and 
Corcoran were established for the special purpose of protection to the approaches 
of the bridges and ferries on the Potomac. It was not until the first battle of Bull 
Run had been fought, however, that a systematic plan of defense was thought of. 
After the battle of Bull Run the cluster of commanding heights, four miles west of 
Alexandria and six miles from Washington, were occupied by the confederates, but in 
October of that year the hills were again taken possession of and fortified by the Union 
troops. The system of works constituting what are called the defenses of Washington 
were divided into four groups: First, those south of the Potomac, commencing with 
Fort Willard below Alexandria, and terminating with Fort Smith, opposite George- 
town, comprising twenty-nine forts and eleven supporting batteries; second. Forts 
Ethan Allen and Marcy at the Virginia end of the Chain bridge, with their five bat- 
teries for field guns: third, those north of the Potomac and between that river and the 
Anacostia, commencing with Fort Sumner and terminating with Fort Lincoln, com- 
prising nineteen forts, four batteries armed with heavy guns and twenty-three batteries 
of field guns; fourth, those south of the Anacostia, commencing with Fort Mahon at 
Benning and terminating with Fort Greble at Oxon run, nearly opposite Alexandria, 
comprising twelve forts and one armed battery. 

Looking to the left beyond the reclaimed flats from this end of the bridge may be 
seen at the junction of Anacostia with the Potomac, the Arsenal, containing a museum 
of heavy and small arms, antique and modern, in which may be studied by the curious 
in such things, their wonderful evolution from their primitive forms and processes of 
loading and firing. Among the artillery are many guns which have been captured in 
various battles and sieges. The arsenal grounds are notable as having been the place 
where the chief conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln were hanged. 

In full view to the right of the bridge on an elevation overlooking a vast and 
varied landscape of cities, highlands and river, stands the classic home of George 
Washington Parke Custis, adopted son of George Washington and grandson of Martha 
Washington, erected in 1802. The place is known as Arlington. The large estate 
consisting of 1160 acres on the death of Mr. Custis in 1857 became the property of 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI<AND 



9 




Arlington Mansion. 



Gen. Robt. E. Lee who had married his daughter and only child Mary Ann. Mr. 
Custis had inherited his estate from his father, John Parke Custis who purchased it of 
Gerrard Alexander in 1745. 

General Lee became the leader of the seces- 
sion armies and the estate in those troublous 
times being unoccupied by its owner was ii> 
1863 sold under the confiscation act for the 
payment of the direct tax which had been lev- 
ied upon it for $92.00 and became the prop- 
erty of the U. S. Government which took pos- 
session of the premises and set apart 200 acres 
of the domain for the interment of dead sol- 
diers of the Union Army. In this National 
Cemetery specially laid out and beautified with 
reference to the patriotic purposes in view, 
nearly 20,000 soldiers have been buried from 
battle fields, hospitals and homes. The cere- 
monies at this beautiful place on every Decora- 
tion Day under the direction and loving care 
of the Grand Army of the Republic are very imposing and always attract many thou- 
sands of the surviving veterans and friends of the departed. South Carolina seceded 
from the Union in December, i860, and Col. Lee remained at his post in the United 
States army. Other States followed and he kept his place. Fort Sumpter was fired 
upon and the United States troops had a collision with the citizens of Baltimore and 
still he adhered to the government. But on the 19th of April, 1861, the convention in 
session in Virginia, passed the ordinance of secession and united her fate with that of 
the south. Col. Lee then believing that his allegiance was first due to his native state, 
resigned his commission and joined the Southern confederacy. 

The title of the Government to all of the Arling- 
ton domain has been perfected since the convey- 
ance by the confiscation act, by acknowledged sat- 
isfactory values $150,000, to the legal heirs of the 
property. This interesting locality with its great 
natural beauties, its adornments of art, its shaded 
walks and drives, its fine panoramic views and its 
sacred burial associations the tourist should not 
overlook or pass by. It may be reached every 
hour of the day by the cars of the Electric road. 

From Addison Station just beyond the brick 
works, a mile to the left and on the Potomac bank 
still stands the old Custis homestead of Abingdon 
where the three sisters of the Arlington proprietor 
— Nellie Custis, who became Mrs. Lawrence Lewis 
of Woodlawn, Elizabeth Custis, afterwards Mrs. 
.Thomas Law and Martha Custis afterwards Mrs. 
Thomas Peters were born. They were the children 
of Col. John Parke Custis and Eleanor Calvert, 
daughter of Benedict Calvert of Mount Airy, 
Maryland. Their father, Col. John Custis son of 
Martha Dandridge Custis died of camp fever con- 
tracted in the siege of Yorktown, 1781, and their 
grandmother Martha, again changed her name in 
1759 and went to live with Col. George Washington at Mount Vernon. Much interesting 
history pertains to Abingdon and its first occupants. 

At Addison Station may be seen the dry bed of the channel of the Old Georgetown 
and Alexandria Canal, a branch of the great commercial water way connecting tide 




Col. Robert E. Lee at 40. 



10 



SOME OLD HISTORIC I«ANDMARKS 



water of the Potomac with navigation on the Ohio, a distance of 360 miles, an enter- 
prise commenced in 1828, and which grew out of the efforts of the projectors of the 
**Potomac Company" of 1784 of whom George Washington was the most prominent 
worker. 

Along Four Mile run which the electric road crosses, four miles from the Capital, 
General Washington owned several hundred acres of land, and near its head waters, 
where the Old Columbia pike crosses them he had mills, from which were shipped 
cargoes of flour to the West Indies in the earlier Colonial times. Theft, the run un- 
vexed by bridges was deep and navigable for sea going craft. On this stream was 
situated the convalescent camp of the civil war. 

From Four Mile Run to Alexandria, four miles beyond, the road 'passes through a 
beautifully undulating and fertile stretch of country, which suburban improvement is 
invading and gradually dotting with handsome residences. Through this stretch the 
•contemplated avenue or boulevard from Arlington and the Memorial Bridge to Mt 
Vernon, a distance of seventeen miles, when constructed, will doubtless pass. 



^•< 




ABINGDON HOUSE — BIRTH-PLACE OF NELLIE CUSTIS. 



At Spring Park Station the road strikes the Leesburg Turnpike, the Old Military 
highway over which General Edward Braddock and most of his army of British regu- 
lars and provincial troopers marched in the spring of 1755 to expel the French and 
their Indian allies from the lands of the Ohio river. The regulars consisted of the 44th 
regiment under Col. Peter Halket and the 48th commanded by Col. Thomas Dunbar, 
mustering 500 men, each with supplies and provisions and about 800 provincial troops. 



The Braddock road over which the gay regulars and provincials made their slow and wearisome march is 
still a way and a highway, holding its course to the mountains though not as then rugged with stumps of 
trees and boulders and shadowed by unbroken forests but graded and smoothed for easy and pleasant 
travel and lying through a region of farms and hamlets. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



11 







They left Alexandria, then but a straggling hamlet in the forest, the second week in 
April, and reached the Ohio borders the iirst week in July ensuing, marching a distance 
of more than 300 miles through an unbroken wilderness with swollen streams innum- 
erable to ford, and rugged hills and mountains to toil over. The disastrous battle 
was fought on the ninth of July. Out of 86 officers, 26 were killed, among them Brad- 
dock and Halket. The army after the battle, 
under Col. Dunbar marched to Philadelphia and 
went into winter quarters. 

For Braddock's obstinacy in refusing to listen 
to the advice given him by old Indian fighters as 
to the modes of conducting the campaign, which 
later he vainly regretted; he paid the penalty 
with the loss of his life. With him were slain 
twenty-six out of his eighty-six officers, among 
them Sir Peter Halket; and thirty-seven were 
wounded including Col. Gage and other field offi- 
cers. Gage afterwards figured as a general in 
the British army, fighting against the colonists. 
Braddock was rash, and courted every danger. 
Shirley his secretary was shot dead and both his 
English aides were disabled. The battle was 
a rout. The regulars were panic stricken and fled, 
even fired upon the provincials, mistaking them 
in the smoke for the enemy. Gen. Braddock had 
been in the British service for more than thirty 
years and had participated in many severe en- 
gagements under the Duke of Cumberland. Al- 
though a brave soldier, he was rash and impet- 
uous and tyrannical. 

Braddock had five horses disabled under him. At last, a bullet entered his right 
side and he fell mortally wounded. He was with difficulty brought off the field and 
borne along in the train of the fugitives. All the first day he was silent, but at night 
he roused himself to say — "who would have thought it." Dunbar was now in com- 
mand. On the I2th of July he destroyed the remaining artillery, and burned public 
stores and the heavy baggage to the value of a hundred thousand pounds sterling, 
pleading in excuse, that he had the orders for so doing of the dying general. In mid- 
summer he evacuated Fort Cumberland and then hurried to Philadelphia for winter 
quarters. At night Braddock roused again to say, "we shall know the next time 
better how to manage them," and died. His grave was made near Fort Necessity. 
Thus ended the famous expedition of 1755 against the French and Indians and the 
first days of military glory in Alexandria. 

Since the occurrence of the events we have narrated, hardly a century and a half 
has passed, but the circumstances seem dim to us now and very remote; ior the suc- 
ceeding years have wrought so many changes for the colonies and the states. They are 
not so distant after all when measured by the years of a long life time. 

The straggling hamlet of Belle Haven, then a frontier post in the midst of perils and 
alarms from Indian incursions, has grown to be a pretentious town, and the wave of 
civilization has rolled westward two thousand miles beyond it and encompassed with 
its blessings, the realms of a continent. It presents to-day but few traces of the ex- 
citing circumstances of those primeval times. The old council house where the colon- 
ial governors deliberated, still remains; and here and there, other land marks are 
pointed out to revive memories and traditions, a hipped roofed house, moss grown, with 
quaint gables, an outside chimney and dormer windows. Now and then in digging in 
the streets, a crown stamped button from a red coat of one of Braddock's regulars, or 
a coin with the superscription, "Brittania and Georgius 2d," or a rusted flint lock are 



MAJOR GENL. EDWARD BRADDOCK. 



12 SOME OLD HISTORIC I,AND MARKS 

unearthed, which to the fanciful gazer brings up whole chapters of history of the long 
vanished years and fan into glowing embers their smouldering remains. 

Few great battles were fought in the vicinity of Washington during the civil war^ 
but this neighborhood was well peopled with soldiers who were kept constantly on the 
alert; for raids, and skirmishes: and small actions were matters of frequent occurrence. 
The most significant and the bloodiest fisht of all was the first Bull Run battle, which 
was fought about twenty-one miles from the city. The second fight, known also as 
the battle of Bull Run, was fought at Manassas, within a few miles of the first battle. 

During the early part of the war the citizens of Washington were well acquainted 
with the sounds of the conflict; and the fear of invasion was constantly in the minds 
of all. One of the earliest skirmishes that took place in this immediate vicinity was 
that at Edwards' Ferry, June i8, 1861, and again October 4, and October 21 and 22, in 
the same year, there were actions at that place. An unimportant skirmish took place 
at Seneca Mills, June 14 and 15, 1861, and July 7 of that year there were skirmishes at 
Rockville and great Falls. A few days later, in July, the forces of the two armies met 
at Silver Spring in a brief engagement. 

Early in May, 1861, Alexandria was evacuated by the confederate forces and later 
in the month the Union army moved into Virginia and occupied Arlington Heights 
and Alexandria, capturing Captain Ball of the confederate army and his cavalry troop 
of thirty-five men, Colonel E. E. Ellsworth, commanding the nth New York, known 
as the 1st Fire Zouaves of New York city, was shot and killed in Alexandria. 

August i8th, 1861, there was a skirmish at Pohick Church, Va., about twelve miles 
from Alexandria, and later in the month there were skirmishes at Ball's Cross roads 
and Baily's Corners. The first day of August there was a skirmish at Munson's Hill. 
Fairfax Court House, which is about seventeen miles from Washington, was the scene 
of an engagement June i, 1861, when a company of regular cavalry cut through the 
confederate lines. Six Union soldiers were killed and twenty confederates. In the 
middle of July this town was occupied by the Union forces, under General McDowell, 
and this inaugurated the Bull Run campaign, which ended in the first battle by that 
name, which was fought July 21, 1861. 

Throughout the rest of the war there was hardly a month in which some engagement 
did not occur on Virginia soil within twenty miles of Alexandria. The confederates 
were making constant efforts to drive back the pickets thrown out by the Union forces 
and to force inward the line of defences. There were engagements at Dranesville, 
Leesburg, Burke's Station and Dumfries. 

Just as Richmond was the object of a general campaign on the part of the Union 
army, so Washington was the goal toward which flying columns of southern forces 
were constantly being thrown. The nearest approach to an actual invasion of the 
capital occurred July 10, 1864, when Fort Reno and Fort Stevens, a few miles north 
of the city, were attacked by a part of Gen. Jubal A. Early's raiding army. A fight 
took place at Fort Stevens on the 7th street road, and after a sharp struggle the con- 
federates w^re driven back and the threatened capture of Washington was averted 
The fighting on this occasion covered three days, although at no time did the engage- 
ment amount to a fixed battle. Forty union soldiers were killed in the various en- 
counters on that occasion. 

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA. 

Seven miles below the National Capital, on the opposite shore of the Potomac River 
stands the city of Alexandria, with a population of eighteen thousand and a history 
dating back to the year 1748, when Thomas, Lord Fairfax, Lawrence Washington, and 
their associates, as incorporators by the authority of the General Assembly of Virginia^ 
organized the beginning of its municipal government. Fifty years before that tim^ 
not a single white man had permanent residence there, and only a few years before, 
1669, the. whole of the domain from Great Hunting Creek to the falls of the Potomacr 




THE FAIRFAX HOUSE. 
COR. CAMERON AND ST. ASAPH STS. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 13 

extend"fng mrles fnFand and embracing six thou- 
sand acres, had been purchased by John Alexan- 
der in 1699 of Capt. Robert Howsen, for 6600 
pounds of tobacco. Howsen had secured his right 
to it by a Royal Patent granted to him in 1688 by 
Governor Berkeley for having brought to Vir- 
ginia a certain number of imigrants. The nucleus 
of the town, was first formed somewhere near 
the site of the gas works, and was called Belle 
Haven. 

The streets of this old town cross each other 
regularly at right angles and some of them are 
adorned by many fine residences, among which 
are types in plenty of the old Colonial days. In 
these houses are still preserved, much old fur- 
niture, and many valuable portraits of the celeb- 
rities of the Colonial days. Washington street, 
laid out, by General Washington, is one hundred 
feet in width. King street through which the 
road passes for a mile in its course, is the main 
and business thoroughfare. A number of streets 
such as Royal, King, Prince, Duke, Queen and 
Princess still savor of the old time spirit of roy- 
altv when Virginia was under Kingly rule. 

Pitt and Wilkes and St. Asaph streets will re- 
mind one of the kindly offices of friends in Great 
Britain during the colonial contest. 

The city fronts at a convenient elevation on the river where the depth will admit of 
vessels drawing over twenty-five feet of water. Once its port was a very busy one, 
with a commerce extending to the West Indies, South America and Europe. Before 
the time of railroads the merchants of. the place kept up an extensive trade in wheat 
and other farm commodities, brought over the turnpikes by the caravans of white 
sheet topped wagons from the rich lands of the Shenandoah and adjoining regions. 

The old town's historical associations are of surpassing interest to every lover of the 
lore of Colonial times. No locality in the thirteen original provinces was more inti- 
mately connected with the beginnings and subsequent development of the spirit and 
feeling which led to the declaration of American Independence. It was indeed a hot 

bed of patriotism all through 
the long struggle. Her people 
were early imbued with the spirit 
of resistance to the oppressive 
measures of Great Britain and 
no town in all the colonies re- 
sponded more promptly and 
continually for troops and re- 
sources, through the contest. 
"Here it was," says a contempo- 
rary English traveler, "that Geo. 
Washington amid the plaudits 
of the inhabitants first stepped 
forth as the patron of sedition 
and revolt and subscribed fifty 
pounds for the support of hostil- 
ities." The town was then about 
twenty-five years old and its 
population about five thousand. 



p 


nr^^i^H 


W -^'^^^'^m|H 


'r-r-"*-'H 


m 





THE LLOYD HOUSE. 



COR. WASHINGTON AND QUEEN STS. 



14 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



Through the years of the continental strife and general trouble incident to •it, as- 
everywhere else, the industries of the town were greatly depressed, but prosperity re- 
turned with the dawn of peace. The wagon trains again came down with their freig^ht,, 
from the far frontiers, and commerce again unfurled her sails as in the years agone. 
In 1814, the population was nearly 8000. In 1816, two years after the capitulation, tc^ 




CHRIST CHURCH, ALEXANDRIA, VA. 

and plunder by Admiral Gordon, commander of the British fleet up the Potomac, the 
arrivals of sails at its port were, nineteen ships, forty-two brigs, fifty-two schooners 
from foreign ports and three hundred and twenty-two coastwise entries. 

Had the conditions of trade and traffic and the various local economic industries 
which then existed continued unchanged through the succeeding years, Alexandria to- 
day could doubtless show a population double and treble that which it now claims. 



OF VIRGINIA ANrf MARYI,ANI>. 15 

The construction of the Potomac Canal and the laying^ of the three several railways^ 
the Baltimore and Ohio, with its branch to Winchester, the Mklland anrd the Loudoun 
and Hampshire, ended the old time wagon industries over the mountains and diverted 
most of the wonted trade to other points. 

Here in the spring of 1755 met the Colonial Governors, Dinwiddie of Virginia, Shir- 
ley of Massachusetts, De Lancy of New York, Morris of ^Pennsylvania, Sharpe of 
Maryland and Dobbs of North Carolina, to arrange' plans for the prosecution of the 
French and Indian war on the Ohio river. This meeting- of the colonial governors 
might be called the second congress in America. That of the council at Albany in 
1747, the first. 

Christ Church, built in 1767 on Washington street near to Kmg- with fts unaltered 
pew of George Washington will bring back forcibly the plainer days^ when the grreat 
hero mingled so often in religious service with his neighbors and friends of old Fairfax. 




MARSHALL HOUSE. 



The spacious rooms of the Old City Hotel on Royal street between King and Camv 
eron will call up many festive scenes when the same revered personage was wont tc^ 
lay aside his dignity for the time and trip, gaily through the mazes of the dance, with 
fair women and brave men; here also, he had his headquarters when he visited Alexan- 
dria, and here in 1799 he gave his last military order to the Alexandria volunteers. 

The Marshall House on King street above Royal, will make fresh the tragic circum- 
stances of the killing of Col. Ellsworth of the New York Zouaves, May 24th, 1861. 
That was the first blood shed in Virginia during the war. The following tragic account 
of the occurrence is from the Alexandria Gazette: 

"Probably no survivor of the Army of the Potomac visits Alexandria without inquir- 
ing for the Marshall House. It became famous in history in the early days of the late 
war, and has so remained ever since. It was in this building that one of the bloodiest 
tragedies of the war was enacted, in which two men met their death in a terrible en- 
counter. 

"The spring of 1861 found Alexandria, as well as many other Southern cities, in a 
ferment of excitement. The place was held by a few companies of Confederate 
soldiers, who flaunted the stars and bars literally within sight of the Capitol and under 
the guns of the Federal steamer "Pawnee," which was anchored off the city at the time. 



1& 



SOMK OI«D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 




COL. ELMER E. ELLSWORTH. 



"One fceautiftil Saturday afternoon, a /ew weeks be- 
fore the lamentable tragedy which concentrated the at- 
tention of the country on Alexandria, James Jackson, 
who was the lessee of the Marshall House, a sort of tav- 
ern more than a hotel, situated on the southeast corner 
of King and Pitt streets, flung to the breeze, from the 
roof of that building, a large-sized Confederate flag, 
with the defiant assertion that the man who lowered it 
would do so over his dead body. The occasion was 
one of some rejoicing and enthusiasm among those 
who had cast their fortunes with the Confederacy, or 
who sympathized with the disunion movement. 

"A few days before the capture of Alexandria, Presi- 
dent Lincoln and his Cabinet, from some elevated spot 
in Washington, with field glasses, viewed the objection- 
able flag, and in the course of the conversation that 
followed, Mr. Lincoln remarked that the ensign of 
treason would not remain there long; nor did it, as on 
the night of Thursday, May 23, 1861, a silent move 
w^as made on this defiant city, which resulted in its cap- 
ture and the stampede of its Confederate garrison to 
Manassas Junction on the Orange and Alexandria (now Virginia Midland) Railroad, 
about twenty-seven miles distant. 

"The plans of the Federal troops, through some miscarriage, proved ineffectual so far 
as capturing the rebel soldiers was concerned, and only a small company was netted. 
The Federal troops were sent in three directions, when the move on the city was made — 
some by way of Chain Bridge above Georgetown, others ma the Long Bridge, where 
trains now pass from Washington into Virginia, and the remainder by water. The 
Confederate pickets around the wharves and on the outskirts of the city gave the alarm 
in time to allow a safe retreat, and when Uncle Sam's soldiers entered the city, those of 
the Confederacy were well on their way South. 

"The New York Fire Zouaves were among those who reached Alexandria by water. 
No doubt their young and patriotic, though ill-starred colonel had viewed the obnox- 
ious flag from a distance as well as Mr. Lincoln, and had longed for the opportunity of 

lowering it. The Marshall House is situated 
five blocks in a westerly direction from the 
wharf where the Zouaves landed. It was very 
early in the morning when Colonel Ellsworth, 
with a small squad of his men, proceeded up 
the street of Alexandria, little dreaming that 
in less than half an hour's time his lifeless 
body was to be borne over the same street to 
the boat from which he had just landed. Cam- 
eron street, a commercial thoroughfare, up 
which he wended his way, was comparatively 
deserted. But few people were moving, the 
bulk of the city's inhz^bitants being asleep. 
The inmates of the Marshall House were still 
in the arms of Morpheus, oblivious to the fact 
that the rebels had vanished before the defend- 
ers of the Union, while the flag of the Confed- 
eracy was hanging limp in the absence of any 
breeze. The ill-fated Colonel Ellsworth soon 
reached the fatal tavern and with his half- 
dozen followers obtained an entrance. Meet- 
ing with no opposition, and not dreaming foi 




THE ELLSWORTH TRAGEDY. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 17 

a moment they would encounter any resistance in the face of the fact that the city had 
been captured, the colonel proceeded immediately to the roof for the purpose of taking 
possession of the coveted flag. 

"After passing through the front door, a staircase was encountered which ran spirally, 
the first turn leading to the second floor, the third to the next floor, and the fourth 
to the garret and roof. The colonel and his men, before they reached the roof, met a 
man in his night-clothes coming out of one of the rooms, of whom they inquired for the 
proprietor. The man replied that he was a boarder himself, and knew nothing of the 
whereabouts of the proprietor. It has since been suggested that the unknown individ- 
ual was Jackson himself. It took the Zouaves but a few minutes to lower the flag and 
detach it from the pole which protruded from the trap-door, and Colonel Ellsworth 
having taken it in charge, began his descent. About half-way down the flight of stairs 
leading from the garret, he saw Jackson, but partially dressed, emerge from one of the 
rooms on the landing armed with a double-barrelled gun. Ellsworth, little dreaming 
of the bellicose nature of the man with whom he had to deal, pleasantly remarked to 
him, "I've gotten a prize." Jackson made some defiant retort, and, before any one 
could divine his intention, raised his gun and discharged it at the colonel. An extra- 
ordinary charge of buckshot had been placed in the weapon, and a hole was torn in 
the unfortunate Ellsworth's breast large enough in which to place one's fist. Colonel 
Ellsworth, it is said by some, fell without a groan, though others have asserted that he 
gave vent to an audible sigh. In his descent he fell on his face on the, landing, and 
while his life's blood was flowing his followers were avenging his death. The weapon 
Jackson used was an ordinary double-barrelled shotgun, and after killing Ellsworth he 
took aim at those who were with him, but before he could pull the trigger the second 
time the gun was knocked upward by the Zouaves and the charge entered the door 
frame. Francis E. Brownell, one of the squad, then sent a bullet crashing into Jackson's 
head and as he fell, sword bayonets were thrust through him. Jackson's body was 
forced down the flight of stairs leading to the second floor, and fell on the landing. 
Irhe body of Ellsworth was subsequently raised by those who had accompanied him into 
the fatal building, covered with an American flag, and silently and sorrowfully borne 
to the boat from which he had a short time before landed. 

"Considering the terrible tragedy which had been enacted, the day proved a remark- 
ably quiet one, Jackson's body was soon picked up by his friends, washed, and placed in 
a cofiin, and it lay in state throughout day and night. 

"The scene of the tragedy was visited by numbers during the day. The landing upon 
which Jackson fell and where he had writhed in death agony presented a sickening 
sight. Blood filled a space about two yards square, and it was necessary to go on tip- 
toe to avoid walking in it. There was a pool of blood about a foot square where Ells- 
worth had fallen. 

"Colonel Farnham succeeded Ellsworth in command of the Zouaves. On the 21st of 
July following, the regiment participated in what proved to the Federal army the in- 
glorious battle of Bull Run. The Zouaves and the famous Black Horse Cavalry en- 
gaged in hand-to-hand encounter throughout the eventful day, with terrible carnage to 
both, during which Colonel Farnham was struck on the ear by a piece of shell, from the 
effects of which he died a few weeks later. In the stampede from the fatal field the 
Zouaves suffered greatly, and the Monday following, the survivors straggled into Alex- 
andria in a bedraggled, dejected, condition, many of their comrades being then stark 
and stiff on the bloody field of Bull Run. A cold rain had set in, and no provision had 
been made for their reception, and they were on the verge of suffering. It was in this 
emergency that numbers of the prominent people of Alexandria, though southern sym- 
pathizers, exhibited a christian spirit which the good-natured Zouaves were not slow 
to appreciate. Houses were opened and entertainment afforded many of them and 
their straggling confreres by parties whose political predilections were hostile to the 
principles for which the vanquished had fought. 

"The Zouaves lingered about Alexandria for a few months, and the term of their 
enlistment having expired, they were mustered out of service. 



18 



SOME OI.D HISTORIC I,ANDMARKS 



"Jackson, the destroyer of Colonel Ellsworth, was a typical Southerner. Though 
brave and fearless, his political predilections had run riot with his judgment, and, 
rather than let the rash threat of protecting his flag come to naught, preferred sacri- 
ficing his life. There is little to be said in palliation of his act save that he lived at a 
time when men's blood had reached the fever-heat of excitement, and when rashness 
was occasionally exhibited by the champions of both sides. 

"The killing of Ellsworth produced the greatest sorrow as well as exasperation in the 
North, and Alexandria was immediately beseiged by parties from a distance, anxious to 
inspect the scene of the tragedy. A piece of oil-cloth on the landing on which the col- 
onel fell was cut up and carried away by relic hunters. The flooring subsequently met 
the same fate, and finally the balusters were cut away, piece by piece, and carried 
North. For several years the old Marshall House was looked upon as a sad memento 
of war times by soldiers of both sides — by the Federals as a place where a brave and 
promising young officer laid down his life at the beginning of the four-years conflict, 
and by the Confederates as the spot where a determined sympathizer of their cause 
showed a courage in the face of inevitable death equalled by few on either side. 

"About twenty years ago, on a cold, weird night, the Marshall House was found to 
be on fire, and, despite the exertions of the fire department, but little more than the 
bare walls were left standing. Upon being rebuilt, it ceased to be a house of enter- 
tainment and the new building is used for other purposes." 

There is more at* Alexandria to call up the memory of Washington than in any other 
place in our country except that of Mount Vernon. Alexandria was, emphatically, his 
own town. It was his post-office, his voting and market-place. It was the meeting- 
place of the lodge of Freemasons to which he belonged. He was a member of its cor- 
poration council, and owned property within its limits. He was the commander of its 
local militia, and was a member of its volunteer fire company. He slept in the houses 
of many of its leading citizens, and danced the minuet with its fairest daughters. He 
was a vestryman of the parish, and was a regular attendant of Christ Church, where 
his pew is kept undisturbed to this day. 

This farthing, struck in the London 
mint in the year 1752, when George the 
Second was reigning monarch was doubt- 
less brought over the sea by one of 
Braddock's soldiers three years later and 
put into circulation in the new born 
hamlet of Belle Haven. From its worn 
appearance it must have been kept nim- 
bly going from pocket to pocket and 
the story of its wanderings if we could read it now would be a very entertaining one. 
Mayhap it helped to pay for many a mug of cider or grog, or dinner, while the troops 
were waiting for their long march through the wilderness. 

THE OLD TAVERN. 

In the ball room of the city hall the birth-night balls, in honor of the birthday of the 
king and queen, were given before the revolution, when Gen. George Washington was 
a very young man and danced at them with no thought of disloyalty. From the court 
yard went all the coaches for Georgetown, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, before 
the city of Washington was anything but swamp and forests, and not even laid-out, and 
to Williamsburg, Richmond, Charleston and New Orleans, as soon as a regular road 
was opened through the wilderness. In those days Alexandria was considered a central 
place of importance to which the fashions were sent from Philadelphia. Later, when 
the British came to help fight the French and Indians, when General Braddock had his 
headquarters, and held his council of war in the Carlyle House on the opposite side of the 
market, some of his officers, and many people of distinction, were glad to stay at the 
City Hotel, then known as Claggetfs or Gadsby's Tavern. Later still, long afterwards 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



19 



in fact, when Gen. Lafayette was entertained by the Masonic Lodge, "he alighted from 
his carriage at the door of the City Hotel at 3 o'clock," dined at the banquet in the ball 
room, and lodged there during the festivities incident to his visit. 

VISIT OF GENERAL LAFAYETTE. 

The visit of General Lafayette to Alexandria is one of the green spots in the city's 

history. There are some now living who remem- 
ber the occasion; others who have a dim recol- 
lection of it when, as little children, they toddled 
along, having hold of their parents' hands. This- 
was in the year 1824, the city at that time put: 
on a holiday attire, and the enthusiasm animated* 
all from the youngest to the oldest. 

At that time hundreds of Alexandrians could^ 
be found who had fought in the seven years' con- 
flict for independence. To them the name of 
Lafayette was sacred, and many who participated' 
in the honors conferred upon the illustrious^ 
Frenchman had been encouraged by his presence- 
and valor on the field of battle. 

It is unnecessary to describe all the details of 
his reception and entertainment while here. Let 
it suffice when it is said that almost every one in 
the community turned out and vied in doing 
honor to him, who when the infant republic most 
needed help, left his own land and cast his fortune 
with us, and lived to see the independence of a 
country declared which has grown and prospered 
ever since. 

The house where Lafayette was entertained 
while in Alexandria is one of the most promi- 
nent in the city. It is situated on the southwest corner of St. Asaph and Duke streets 
Such are a few of the many points of historic interest which the old town possesses 
for the curious wayfarer within its borders. 

THE CARLYLE HOUSE. 

Few of all the colonial buildings of Virginia left standing, have more interesting his- 
torical associations than the Old Car- ^-*^,^ -^^^^-^ 



lyle Mansion which forms a portion 
of the Braddock Hotel on North Fair- 
fax street. It was built by John Car- 
lyle in 174S, when the town was in its 
infancy and surrounded by forests. 
At that time the waves of the Poto- 
mac washed close to the walls of the 
building, but by subsequent levellings 
and fillings of the immediate hill 
slopes for the city's improvements, 
they have receded to the distance of 
several hundred yards. 

The structure of cut stone and 
massive walls, thanks to the reveren- 
tial care of generations of owners is 
still in a good state of preservation. 
In the colonial days when it stood 
alone it must have presented a stately 
appearance with its wide porch on the 




THE LAFAYETTE HOUSE. 




CARLYLE HOUSE.— FRONT VIEW. 



20 SOME OU> HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

west and its spacious veranda on the east, commanding an extensive view of tne 
and the heights of the Maryland shore beyond. The lower apartments are wamsco e 
to the ceiling and ornamented with carved work in oak. 

The builder of the Mansion House with a commendable reverence for the associ 
tions of older days, which witnessed the founding of the town, while he na 



to 




CARLYLE HOUSE, REAR VIEW. 

obstruct the building on two sides would not allow it to be altered nor hidden, andi| 
now stands apart with its lower floors, *council chamber and all, just as the co^^^^^ ^^^ 
it in 1755. The personages who composed the council were: Gen. Edward Braddoc 

♦The council hotise where the governors and commanders of the king deliberated in secret sessions, ■ 
but little changed. Its massive structure has endured v^^ell through the long years. In its untenan 
chambers the cricket chirps and the spider fashions its web. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI,AND. 21 

Commodore Keppel; and the colonial governors: Shirley of Massachusetts, De Lancey 
of New York, Morris of Pennsylvania, Sharpe of Maryland, Dinwiddie of Virginia, 
Dobbs of North Carolina, General St. Clair and Benjamin Franklin. They met to 
provide against the alarming emergencies from the encroachmei^ts of the French and 
Indians on the western frontiers. 

Alexandria is connected with other towns and cities by the Southern Railway, the 
Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Norfolk and 
Western railway lines; and Steamers ply regularly to Baltimore, Norfolk and other 
points. Thirty-nine trains of the Washington and Mount Vernon railway pass through 
the city daily. Fairfax Court House is fourteen miles distant, Manassas twenty-seven, 
Winchester ninety, Fredericksburg fifty miles, Richmond one hundred and ten miles 
and Norfolk two hundred and ten miles. 

The city and county of Alexandria were included in that portion of the District of 
Columbia ceded in 1791 by the State of Virginia to the general government. 

The District was ten miles square and contained 100 square miles. The square lay 
diagonally, each angle facing one of the cardinal points of the compass. In 1846, all 
that portion of the District consisting of about 36 square miles lying on the west bank 
of the Potomac was ceded back to Virginia. 

Before the final establishment of the seat of government on the Potomac, offers of 
land and money for that purpose were made, by the inhabitants of Trenton, Lancaster, 
Wright's Ferry, York, Carlisle, Harrisburg, Reading, Germantown, Baltimore, George- 
town and Williamsburg, and the question of a choice of location was the source of long 
and bitter contentions until at last settled in accordance mainly with the wishes of Gen. 
Washington. 

Alexandria was the county seat of Fairfax county from 1754 to 1800. About this 
time the District of Columbia was formed and Alexandria then became the seat of the 
new county of Alexandria. At the same time the county seat of Fairfax was established 
at its present location. 

"In Alexandria in 1775 was held a convention of delegates from Virginia and Mary- 
land to consider questions relating to the navigation of the Potomac and the import 
duties thereof. This meeting led to demands from Pennsylvania and Delaware which 
resulted in an adjournment until September, to Annapolis, Md., where there were pres- 
ent, delegates from five States, who, after diligent conference, adjourned to meet rep- 
resentatives of all the thirteen States in Philadelphia, which body framed the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. It can therefore be said that the American Union owes its 
birth to Alexandria." 

Though the former commercial glory of the old town of Alexandria has waned and 
well nigh disappeared before the newer conditions of trade and traffic — though no 
square rigged vessels lie now a days in her docks, discharging their cargoes of sugar, 
molasses and other tropical productions from Barbadoes, Jamaica, Trinidad, Santa Cruz 
and other islands of the Caribbean Sea as in the years long gone — though the rumble of 
the long and incessant wagon trains from the west, which once crowded her streets and 
made every class of its citizens prosperous, has been silenced by the swifter transit of 
the railway train, still, there is a prestige remaining for it which the passing of the 
decades cannot destroy. It will always be one of the places of the Old Dominion state 
to attract pilgrimages from lands afar, on account of its interesting historic associations; 
and doubtless, it will become the pleasant abiding place for large accessions of people, 
who love the quiet, and whose business or social inclinations will keep them close to 
the National Capital. It will not lose its mature and leisurely ways. Its old and sub- 
stantial houses will be preserved with pious care to aflFord to coming generations of 
patriots fond glimpses of the vanished past, when an infant people threw off the tram- 
mels of kingly power, and merged into a life of independence. 

O town of old with changeless life, Though leaves drop on dismantel'd way — 

With .graves and memories dear, Though quaint old houses fall, 

Thy ways bear impress all of strife, Still, is brave struggle of thy day 

But ne'er with line of fear! Carved on each massive wall. 



22 SOME OI,I> HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

O day of pride, O day of power 



When ships at , anchor lay, 
And wharves bedeck' d with princely dower 
Loomed up in grand array. 



When fruitful West sue4 at thy doors, 
And East held out its hands, 

And the gray piers on thy fair shores 
Were gates to many lands. 



At Jones' Point just before crossing Great Hunting Creek, a wide estuary of the Po- 
tomac, stands the Light House which marks the spot where was planted the initial 
stone of the boundaries of the district, which was ten miles square. 





THE LIGHT HOUSE. 

Under which is Buried the "Initial Jurisdic- 
tion Stone" of Dist. of Columbia. 



ONE OF THE FORTY "JURISDICTION 

stones" of THE DISTRICT LINES. 



The District of Columbia, was authorized by Congress in 1790. The survey of its 
boundaries was made in 1791. After the completion of the survey the line was cleared 
of trees to the width of twenty feet on each side of the line. Along this forty foot lane 
through the woods and over the hills and valleys, stone monuments forty in all, were 
set exactly one mile apart. They were of free stone, four feet in length, two feet in 
the earth and two feet above, and on each one of them was the inscription — "Jurisdiction 
of the United States." After the lapse of a little more than a century, all but two of 
these monuments remain in place, but in various states of preservation. 

At Jones' Point was also the site of Old Fort Columbia, a fortification of wood and 
earthwork, mounting some heavy guns, among them the cannon left by Braddock's 
army in 1755 as too cumbrous to transport over the mountains. This fort was the first 
attempt by the government to guard the river approaches to the National Capital. It 
was not dismantled until after the trouble with France in 1798-9. The heavy stones 
that made the battery, still lie at the end of the point, and some of the guns which 
made its armament are stuck up as posts at street corners along the river front. Just 
before this fort was demolished — for it was in 1794 only a ruin — Congress determined 
to build another one on the Potomac. 

John Vermonnet was appointed by Gen. Knox, Secretary of War, in May, 1794, to 
take control and direction of the new fort, etc., to be built upon the Potomac river. 
General Washington selected the site for the new fort, a riverside knoll nearly opposite 
Mount Vernon, and part of the old manor of Warburton, in Maryland. Charles Digges 
had purchased the land before 1740, and naming it a manor, affected lordly manners. 
He had his river barge built like a Venetian gondola, and it was manned with negrc 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



23 



slaves wearing the costumes of gondoliers. His daughter, Jane Digges, married Col. 
John Fitzgerald, one of Washington's aides in the Revolution, afterwards Mayor of 
Alexandria. The land was bought of Thomas A. Digges in 1808 for $3,000, and the 
new fort was begun in 1809. 

Battery Rogers, some years since dismantled, was during the civil war a strong earth- 
work a few hundred yards above the Point with an armament of heavy guns. 

As you cross Great Hunting Creek, to the left on the Maryland heights is seen Fort 




t-l 

< 



IS M 



§ § 

u 



< 



Foote, and Rosier*s Bluff; and further down, the expanse of Broad Bay, uniting with 
the Potomac. 

To the right, looking from the railway bridge over Hunting Creek, stretches a scope 
of country pleasingly diversified by gently sloping hills and vales, and dotted with 
hamlet and farm-houses. Prominent among the many objects of the landscape is the 



24 



SOME OI.D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



tall spire of the Episcopal Theological Seminary, which, if it could speak of the trans- 
actions of some of the years of the past, could tell startling stories of the presence of 
mustering armies. Around it in almost every direction, at the beginning of the civil 
strife, the plains and hill slopes were white with the tents of the gathered regiments, 
brigades, and divisions of Union soldiers. Everywhere over the suddenly populated 
region was heard the drum's wild beats, the fife's shrill notes, the bugle's echoing calls. 
The numerous remains of their entrenchments, earthworks, and other defences still 
prominent at every turn for miles, attest with melancholy certainty the great prepara- 
tions which were then made by them for the impending conflict, which ere long broke 
with such terrific force within our borders. Union forts frowned from every salient 
point of those now so quiet and peaceful hills, and a hundred flagstaffs unfurled over 

all, their starry flags to the passing winds. 
The locality is one naturally possessing a 
saddening interest to the tourist. Every 
year it is visited by numbers of the sur- 
viving veterans who figured in the scenes 
of the stirring times of forty years ago. 

The grass grows green on every hill 
Where circling ramparts frown'd. 

Forgotten all through lapse of time 
Is every martial sound; 

The sword is resting on the wall 

Of lowly home or princely hall. 

The brave corn lifts in regiments, 
Ten thousand sabers in the sun; 

The ricks replace the battle-tents, 
The bannered tassels toss and run. 

The neighing steed, the bugle's blast — 

These be the stories of the past. 

The earth has healed her wounded breast. 
The cannon plow the fields no more; 

The heroes rest: O let them rest 
In peace along the peaceful shores; 

They fought for peace, for peace they fell : 

ONLY A MEMORY. '^^^^ «^^^P ^" P^^*=^ ^"^ ^" '^ ^^"• 

Just beyond the Seminary, in full sight up the valley, are the picketing grounds which 
long divided the two armies; and near by is Bailey's Cross Roads, where was man- 
oeuvred by the Union forces, in November, 1861, in the presence of President Lincoln 
preparatory to the peninsula campaign, one of the grandest military reviews of any 
country or time. Through these camping and drilling grounds, and far on beyond, may 
still be traced the course of the old military road, laid out through the then dense wil- 
derness a hundred years previous, by which a portion of Braddock's army under Gen- 
eral Halket marched on their disastrous expedition. 

Half way between the Seminary and the railway bridge, is Cameron Ford where 
Hunting Creek is crossed by the Old King's Highway from Williamsburg, the Ancient 
Capital of Virginia, to the Shenandoah River. Over this highway General Sherman at 
the close of the Civil War led his army back to the National Capital on their return 
from their march from "Atlanta to the Sea." Over this same highway too, Washing- 
ton always passed when he rode into Alexandria on horseback or in his coach. 

A short distance above the Electric Railway is the new iron bridge of the turnpike 
to Accotink eight miles below. On Seminary Heights are the remains of Fort Worth 
constructed by Gen. Kearney's first New Jersey brigade in 1861. It had an armament 
of heavy and long range guns. Grouped around this fort in close proximity so as to 
command all the approaches to Alexandria were Forts Ellsworth, Farnsworth, Willard, 
Weed, O'Rourke and Lyons. The last named, was on Mount Eagle and included 
within its works the home of Bryan, eighth Lord Fairfax whose title was confirmed to 




OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



25- 



him by the English house of Lords in 1800. He was the son of William Fairfax of 
Belvoir, and was for two years a rector of Christ Church. Although he was an ardent 
royalist, the friendship between him and Washington always continued the same. ., 

Leaving the bridge at Great Hunting Creek the railway enters and passes through the 
lands of the "New Alexandria Land and River Improvement Company." Their town,, 
projected a few years ago has not yet realized the sanguine hopes of its projectors but 
the new era of general prosperity, thrift and progress will doubtless bring to its admir-^ 
able situation for manufacturing industries all the needed possibilities for success. 




< I 

2 bo. 

S S 

a" & 

W ^_, 

H ^ 

^ a> 

2 <=> 



From New Alexandria the road passes over an alluvial level, formerly covered with ai 
dense forest, until it reaches the station which takes its name from the near by Dyke,, 
constructed just after the Revolution by Dr. Augustus Smith of West Grove plantation? 
of which it was a part, at a great expense, to make a large scope of meadow, by keep- 



26 



SOMB OU) HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



ing out the waters. The undertaking proved successful but the embankments were cut 
a few years after by some malicious person, and were never repaired. 

Along the crests of the range of hills to the right of this level, in colonial times, 
stood the homesteads of the Johnstons, the Wests, and Emersons, prominent Virginia 
families. Some piles of bricks and stones and wasting springs are all that are left to 
tell of them now. 




g 
52;. 



•J 
< 






The arm of the river which passes near to the Dyke station lends attractions to the 
-surrounding landscape, and its shaded nooks in the sultry days of summer offer pleasant 
retreats to the dwellers of the neighboring cities. From the Dyke the road rises by a 
slight deflection to the right through lands once a part of the Hollin Hall plantation 
of two thousand acres belonging to George Mason of Gunston. The site of the old 
Mansion as pretentious as that of Gunston, is reached by a road from Belmont Station. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 27 

It is one mile distant. A quaint, long, rambling structure known in the neighborhood 
as the Spinning House, still stands. In it in generations gone was done all the spin- 
ning and weaving for the many occupants of the great plantation. This plantation ad- 
joined that of Mount Vernon between which was a boundary line of "double. ditching." 
It was a part of a large scope of land of seven thousand acres patented by George Ma- 
son before the founding of Alexandria. Thomson Mason, a son of George the patriot, 
and author of the Bill of Rights and Constitution of Virginia, built and resided in the 
mansion after the close of the revolution. The foundation of the walls may still be 
traced with exactness, showing the building to have been large and spacious; and the 
surrounding grounds indicate well arranged lawns, terraces and approaches in keeping 
with a pretentious manorial dwelling. It was destroyed by fire about 1824. 

The situation had' been well chosen for a home. It was high and airy and command- 
ed a charming landscape of forests and hills and stretches of miles in extent; and 
copious springs gushed near by, from the hill slopes for thirsting man and beast — 
springs which still flow as full and perennially as when the bond folks "toted" their 
crystal measures in the primal days. He named the homestead Hollin Hall after an 
old country seat of some of the Mason family in England. Gunston Hall where .George 
Mason lived was ten miles down the river. 

Ere the lands of this estate had been impoverished by that continuous system of slave 
culture which demanded of them everything and returned to them nothing, they pro- 
duced large crops of tobacco, grain, wool and hemp. In the spinning house this wool 
and hemp was spun and woven into fine and coarse fabrics for the household needs 
and the hands of the plantation. I^he spinning wheel and the loom were kept going 
with little intermission through the whole year, for there was quite an army of the 
work people to clothe. Very near to the mansion along the valley on the east side 
coursed the old colonial road, now obliterated, which branched from the King's High- 
way heretofore described, near to "Gum Springs" and made then a continuous way 
for the southern travel even so far down as Savannah, until after the revolution, over 
the Potomac by Clifton Ferry and on to Philadelphia. The turnpike which now runs 
by the mansion site on the west side was not laid until after 1850. 

Like his father George, of Gunston, Thomson Mason was an earnest patriot and was 
prominent in the decisive measures which precipitated the opposition to British op- 
pression. He had signed the Virginia protest against the injustice of the Stamp Act, 
and when the war resulted he joined the army under his neighbor Washington and 
testified as a brave soldier, his sincerity in the colonial cause. In June, 1781, his father 
writing to his brother George says of him, "your brother Thomson has lately returned 
from a tour of military duty upon the James river. He commanded a force in a close 
action, with coolness and intrepidity." 

Belmont Station is on the highlands. Here the river flows close by, broadened by 
the confluence of the Broad Creek estuary on the Maryland side. This estuary in 1707 
was declared a port of entry for "all ships of commerce" and at its head was then laid 
out a town which for many years was a busy shipping place for the immense tobacco 
products of the neighboring plantations. An Episcopal Church was established there 
in 1694 in which building, service is still held. 

Beyond Belmont station a few hundred paces is the line of survey marking the upper 
boundary of the "Old Mount Vernon Estate" of eight thousand acres, which in Wash- 
ington's time was divided into five main farms or plantations, and designated respect- 
ively. River, Dogue Run, Mansion House, Union, and Muddy Hole farms. River farm, 
which the railway strikes first, and formerly known as Clifton's Neck, was purchased 
in 1760 for the sum of three dollars per acre. It consisted of two thousand acres, but 
has been since divided and subdivided like all the other farms into smaller tracts, which 
are occupied by settlers chiefly from the Northern States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
New York and elsewhere, who have made many improvements upon them by clearing 
up the grounds, enriching the soil, planting orchards, and constructing fencing and 
comfortable dwellings. The surface of these highlands is gently undulating, and con- 
sists of a great diversity of soils, which are remarkably easy of tillage and very suscep- 



28 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC I.ANDMARKS 



tible of a high and profitable fertilization, and are particularly adapted to the production 
of all kinds of farm staples, fruits, and garden vegetables needed by the adjacent cities. 
The divisions lying immediately along the river afford situations for homes of surpass- 
ing beauty; and while they are proverbially healthy, and are abundantly supplied with 
perennial springs of pure soft water, for every domestic requirement; the railway makes 
them suburban by giving them quick and easy transit to and from the National Capital 
at all times of the year. 




CO 



W Pi 

o c 

H o 

g to 

> > 



E 
o 



A short distance from Wellington Station to the left and in full view, stands on the 
river-bank the old Wellington House built by William Clifton previous to 1760. It 
was occcupied by Col. Tobias Lear, who for nearly fourteen years was private and mili- 
tary secretary to the general, and private tutor to his adopted children, George W. Park 
Custis, and his sister Nelly, and who was in 1805 United States Commissioner to treat 



OP VIRGINIA AND MAR YI, AND. 29 

with the hostile powers of the Barbary States at the time of the memorable expedition 
of General Eaton. By a provision of Washington's will he was to be tenant of the 
house and premises rent free until his death. This was in consideration of his great 
services to him, especially during his presidency. He died in 1816. Afterwards, the 
farm was occupied by two generations of the Washington family, Charles A., a grand- 
nephew, being the last, until 1859. Charles was a genial, jolly fellow, but not so well 
up in the arts of practical farming as his illustrious uncle. On one occasion, he went 
into town to have some ploughshares sharpened which were urgently needed to make 
ready his grounds for wheat sowing, but falling in with some old cronies he was in- 
duced to make a month's visit to the "Springs;" but it was all the same to Uncle Toby 
and the rest of the waiting "hands," for they had a long holiday, though the wheat crop 
went by default. In f^irming he was an experimentalist, though always disastrously. 
He read in the Country Gentleman of the great profits of barley growing, and so re- 
solved to try his hand also. One morning in spring, when the robin and blue bird were 
piping their jubilant songs, he had his "gang" ploughing a ten acre field. The barley 
was sown, and the harvest time came, and the grain was flailed out and loaded on a 
two-horse team for the Alexandria market. The hopeful proprietor mounted his saddle 
horse and weht up, in advance, to dispose of his crop. But barley was an unknown 
quantity he found, on arriving at the store of his merchants; but later, however he suc- 
ceeded in bartering his grains to a brewer for a barrel of beer, which he sent home to 
his cellar. The tidings of the transaction soon spread among his many jolly town 
companions, and, slipping down the river by boat after nightfall to the Wellington 
House, they succeeded before morning in drinking up the entire crop of barley. 

From Arcturus, the next station beyond, a smooth, winding avenue leads down a 
few hundred paces to Andalusia, one of the many desirable places on the old Estate 
which the railway has made readily accessible to those who are in quest of situations for 
charming suburban homes. This point in our journey is be^t described in the subjoined 
story of A Summer Outing. 

THE STORY OF AN OUTING AT ANDALUSIA VA. 

Twelve miles from the National Capital, down the Potomac, on the Virginia shore, 
is a spot whose memories will be like holy benedictions to me through all the coming 
years of my life. I was needing rest, and there I found it in a sweet and quiet seclu- 
sion such as I never enjoyed before, — a rest which had no circumstances to disturb nor 
shadow to mar. 

This place Elysian is reached by the Mount Vernon Electric Railway. From Arc 
turns Station, midway between Alexandria and the home of Washington, you wind by 
a hard, smooth avenue along green fields, and through orchards laden with ripe and 
ripening fruitage, till you are in the shadows of a hundred stately oaks and walnuts, 
many of them of a century's growth. Here in the midst of these leafy sentinels is a 
home which in all its surroundings and influences, more nearly than any other, fills up 
the measure of my ideal dreamings. 

Andalusia is distant from the travelled highways, and before the coming of the elec- 
tric car was a terra incognito^ with rarely a visitor, save of the surrounding neighborhood 
to invade its quiet borders. The passengers from the deck of the passing steamer de- 
scried it in the distance, showing like a gem in its setting of river and cool embower- 
ing trees, but it was only a glimpse of hidden beauties to be remembered ind cherished 
or forgotten. Now, by rapid and easy transit many pilgrims find their way thither, 
although it is but a private home. Little picnic parties from the cities adjacent, through 
the courtesy of the proprietor, hie there through the summer days to spread their repasts 
under the shadowing boughs, and make merry on the inviting green sward. Artists 
come to sketch the delightful and varied views of its environs, the cycler to wheel over 
the smooth avenues, the angler to throw his line into the still river nooks, and the 
wearied, like myself, to seek the balm of rest. 

In this ideal home by the Potomac I found a welcome and a hospitality which re- 



30 



SOME OI«D HISTORIC I<ANDMARKS 



called the many stories I had read, of entertainments in Virginia homes of the olden 
time. For tired nature there was no lack of sweet restorers. There were libraries, 
inviting to every range and department of knowledge. There was music to soothe 
and harmonize, pictures, and cabinets of curios to amuse, and a wilderness of flowers 
to please the eye. 

All too swiftly passed the time, as I fondly tarried in the midst of so many allurements 
from the dull and perplexing routine of business in the city. Hours of the bright mid- 
summer days I watched from the vine-hung verandas of the "Old Mansion," the broad 




c 
o 



M ffi 



3 

< 
Q 

< 



P^ 



river's expanse before me, with its flitting shadows, its sails, and passing steamers. 
Sometimes it was a leisurely stroll along the pebbly shore, or boating in the still waters 
that beguiled me, and sometimes it was straying over the site of the old Indian town of 
Asasomeck, looking for arrow heads, javelin points, fragments of pottery, and other re- 
mains of the ancient dwellers. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



31 



One serene evening, as the parting rays of the setting sun were fading beyond the 
hills I joined a boating party for an excursion to the opposite shores of "Maryland, 
my Maryland/' A delightful ride over a stretch of two njiles of the still waters 
brought us to the head of "Broad Bay," where we landed, and then walked in the 
twilight a short distance up the valley to an ancient chapel, erected in the time when 
all the surrounding region was a part of the realms which owned the rule and sway of 
the king of "Old England." Within the walls of this chapel, our Washington, Lord 




< 
s 
I 



Fairfax, and many other noted men of that time were wont to worship. Many genera- 
tions of its congregations are lying under the crumbling stones of the briar grown 
graveyard, and as I pondered where so often had been read that last solemn ritual of 
"dust to dust," many a vision flitted before me, of happy bridals and solemn funeral 
trains of the "dead past" of the long ago. 

As we turned in pensive mood from the sacred place, the full moon was up and beam- 



32 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



ing brightly on the still waters of the grand old river to light us back on our homeward 
way. 

The sketch of my outing would be incomplete, if I failed to mention a sail down the 
river to Fort Washington and also a ride over the electric road to Mount Vernon. 
Reader, did you ever climb to the heights of the old fort? If not it is worth a journey 
to do so. Go there on some fair midsummer day, and survey from its vine-covered 
battlements the broad and varied expanse outlying before them. In that expanse the 




o 






eye may trace out the National Capital, with its towering dome and obelisk, sitting 
superbly enthroned in the mist and dimness of the far away hills to the north, and thi 
grand old river flowing down in its seaward course through its setting of green slop* 
and plains and wooded crests, gives to all the view a charm and beauty not oftei 
surpassed. 

A visit to the home and tomb of the immortal chieftain is surely an event to linge 
long in the memory of every patriot. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



33 



But I am reaching the limits of the typos, and so must not tarry, otherwise the story 
of my outing with its round of varied pleasures and enjoyments would be a long one. 
To the friends who had kindly bidden and welcomed me to their hospitalities I said 
goodby, and with many regrets at parting, turned homeward from the long to be re- 
membered scenes of Andalusia. 



O, homestead by the river side 
When rains of life are falling, 

I'll go in fancy to thy fold 
And hear the robin calling 

His sleepy mate at early dawn; 
I'll watch the river flowing 



And see the sway of trees and flowers 
As winds round them are blowing, 

And tho' through splendid castles 
In foreign lands I'll roam, 

O, inay my heart be pure and true, 
As in the dear old home. 



From Andalusia to Mount Vernon the distance is three miles, with the intervening 
stations of Herbert's Spring, Snowden's, Hunter's and Riverside Park at Little Hunt- 
ing Creek, which make the occupants of numerous adjacent farms conveniently accessi- 
ble to this important line of travel. The creek divides the original River Farm of 
Washington's map from the Mansion House Farm, and one mile beyond, the road ter- 
minates at the gates of the Mount Vernon Mansion. 

BROAD CREEK-OLD CHURCH AND OLD HOUSES. 

Four miles below Alexandria, on the Maryland shore, and opposite to Andalusia, on 
the Virginia side, is the estuary or bay of Broad Creek. There Washington often went, 
as he tells us in his diary, with his friend and neighbor, Diggs, of Warburton Manor, 
to throw his line for the finny denizens of the still waters. At the head of this bay, 
where now only the light-draught scow boat can ascend the silt-filled channel, large 
schooners used to lie at their moorings and load with cargoes of tobacco, wheat, and 
corn for the foreign ports. It was a busy neighborhood then, when the odd and ancient 
looking houses, which have stood through the changes of one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred years were comparatively new, and the surrounding lands were fertile and 
produced abundantly all kinds of farm products. 




ST. John's church, broad creek, md. 
over 200 years old. 

li'^ There is much in this isolated locality to interest the curious delver into the scenes 
f'^' and circumstances of the olden time. The weather-beaten tenements, so dilapidated 
l^^^[.^nd forlorn in appearance; the impoverished fields and the forsaken landing-place 
y ^ .vith never a freight nor cargo to be loaded or discharged, will murmur to him, as he 



:nt' 



:houghtfully scans the desolation, in audible stories of how the generations of toilers; 



34 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



came and went — how they fretted out life's fitful fever, and were at last gathered from 
their labor of success or failure to the densely populated burial-place of the settlements. 

The creek meanders down from the far uplands in bright rivulets, touching in its 
course the borders of many an old home whose mournful landmarks of falling tene- 
ment or blackened hearthstones or deserted springs are mute but eloquent reminders 
of the long faded years when those now impoverished fields in their primitive fertility 
yielded to the tobacco and maize planters their fifty and a hundred fold. 

More than two hundred years ago an Episcopal church was organized here by the 
first dwellers. The parish was at first known as Piscataway, afterwards King George's, 
and the Church of St. John's. The first house of worship was of logs and built in 
1694, rebuilt with bricks in 1722, and enlarged to its present dimensions in 1763, John 
Addison, William Hatton, William Hutchmson, William Tannhill, John Emmet, and 
John Smallwell were of its first vestry, and Rev. George Tubman its first rector. This 
church antedates all other Episcopal churches of the Potomac region of Maryland. 
The leading spirit in the organization of this church was Col. John Addison a member 
of the Governor's council and an uncle of the celebrated Joseph Addison. 

The burial place of the old kirk is densely peopled with the dead of departed congre- 
gations. Over most of the graves is a wilderness of tangled vines. Many of the stones 
are levelled and sunken nearly out of sight, with inscriptions worn and hard to de- 
cipher. Hundreds of graves have no stones at all, presumably of the earliest burials. 
A broad marble slab lies over the remains of Enoch Lyells, killed in a duel, August 7, 
1805, with the following inscription: 

"Go, our dear son, obey the call of Heaven; Yet, oh, what pen can paint the parents* woe? 

Thy sins were few — we trust they are forgiven. God only can punish the hand that gave the blow." 




OLD HOUSE AT BROAD CREEK^ MD. 

200 years old. 

The quarrel of the duelist had its origin in offensive remarks made at a ball in the 
village of Piscataway, and the duel took place at Johnson's Spring, on the Virginia 
shore. The young man who was killed and who had made the remarks was averse to 
the encounter, but was goaded on to his death by his father and mother. His antag- 
onist was named Bowie, who afterwards fled to the new settlement of the southwest. 
To him belongs the unenviable reputation of originating the bowie knife. 

The hip-roofed house over two hundred years old still remains on the shore of Broad 
Creek where the wounded man was carried by his friends to die. It stands lonely and 
ghost like, scarred and blackened by the mutations of time, a grim memorial not only 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 35 

of the duel, but of the more prosperous days of the locality, when square rigged vessels, 
even, sailed from the now lonely and desolate place with cargoes of tobacco and other 
valuable freight of a fertile and productive region. 

Long after the event of the duel the old house was to all the negro population an ob- 
ject of aversion; and even to the present time stor^ies handed down through the gen- 
erations, are told of strange lights which were seen flitting and hovering over the local- 
ity, on dark and dismal nights. These lights if seen as averred, may not have been 
due entirely to the distorted imagination of the ignorant negroes but as well to the 
phosphorescent exhalations from the decaying matter of the surrounding marshes. 

THE DOGUE INDIANS-ASSAOMECK. 

Alas for them! their day is o'er, The plough is on their hunting-groundSi 

Their iires are out from shore to shore; The pale man's axe rings thro' their woods^ 

No more for them the wild deer bounds, — The pale man's sail skims o'er their floods. 

On the shores of the Mount Vernon estate, and far inland to the west, once roamed- 
a numerous tribe of aborigines of the Algonquin race whose prowess was acknowledged 
and feared by all the surrounding tribes. The chief settlement or village of "Assao- 
meck, according to the investigations of Professor Holmes, of the National Ethno- 
logical Bureau, occupied the site now known as Andalusia, four miles below Alexan- 
dria. The great number of stone axes, javelin and arrow points, and fragments of 
pottery which have been turned up there by the plough, sufficiently attest the fact. 

Here, in 1608, that fearless explorer and doughty old soldier. Captain John Smith,, 
on his way up the Potomac to beyond the present site of the National Capital, stopped 
to hold parley with the reigning chief, and smoke the pipe of peace and friendship. 
Their settlement was the scene of a cruel and unsparing massacre by a force of aveng- 
ing colonists during the Bacon rebellion of 1676. Where their cabins clustered along 
the river shore in the primeval days, the suburban homes of Andalusia now rise up to 
greet the eye of the passer. 

FORT WASHINGTON, AND THE MOUTH OF THE PISCATAWAY-LEONARD 
CALVERT WITH HIS VANGUARD OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 

Seven miles below Alexandria, on the commanding heights of the old manorial estate 
of "Warburton," in Maryland, are the frowning battlements of Fort Washington. 
They help to give picturesqueness to the grand landscape of which they are a part, 
and they represent an expenditure of many hundred thousands of the public treasury, 
and many years of hard toil of long-vanished builders. But that is all. For the de- 
fence of the National Capital, they are practically useless against the new methods of 
naval attack. In 1814, when the British fleet came up the Potomac, the garrison then 
occupying the works, abandoned them and allowed the enemy to proceed to Alexan- 
dria and plunder the city without molestation. At the foot of the heights, just under 
the walls where the waters of the Piscataway and the Potomac unite, came, in 1634, 
Governor Leonard Calvert with two hundred followers, most of them Roman Catholic 
gentlemen and their servants, to establish, under the provisions of a roynl charter to his 
brother, Cecil Calvert (Lord Baltimore), a settlement of the new region of Maryland, 
as yet untenanted save by roving aborigines. He anchored his vessels, the "Dove" 
and a small pinnace, proclaimed the catholic faith, raised the standard of Old England 
and proceeded to negotiate with the Indians, who assembled on the shore to the num- 
ber of five hundred. The chieftain of the tribe would neither bid him go nor stay. 
•*He might use his own discretion." It did not seem safe for the English to plant their 
first settlement in the wilderness so high up the river, whereupon Calvert descended 
the stream, examining in his barge the creeks and estuaries near the Chesapeake. He 
entered the river now called St. Mary's and which he named St. George's, and "about 
four leagues from its junction with the Potomac" he anchored at the Indian town of 
Yoacomoco. To Calvert the spot seemed convenient for a plantation. Mutual promises 
of friendship were made between the English and the natives, and upon the twenty- 
seventh day of March, 1634, the Catholics took quiet possession of the place, and 
religious liberty obtained a home — its only home in the wide world — at the humble 



36 



SOME OIvD HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



village which bore the name of St. Mary's. Very soon after this time all the region 
around the Piscataway river was explored by the Calvert colonists; and the Jesuit Mis- 
sionaries who had come over with the proprietor established their missions from St. 
Mary's up to the Anacostia river. The parent mission under the direction of Father 
White was located at Piscataway. Great hopes were entertained by them of the evan- 
gelization of the Indians. Schools were instituted among them. A printing press, the 
first in all the colonies south of Massachusetts Bay was set up at Piscataway and 




< 
< 

< 



W 

H 

O 

1^ 

a 
< 

e 

15 



< 
H 

I 



catechisms and portions of the gospels were printed in the Indian tongue, some copies 
of which were brought to light only a few years ago in the libi;ary of the Vatican in 
Rome. For more than two hundred years they had lain there forgotten in the gath- 
ered dust with the reports, the fathers had sent of their missions in those early times 
along the wild shores of the Potomac. 

Numbers of the Indians we are told by the chroniclers embraced the new faith and 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 37 

were baptized, among them King Chilomachen, his Queen, children and attendants. 
Of these self sacrificing missionaries, one of their faith has said: "Their pathways 
were through the wilderness and their first chapels were the wigwams of the savages. 
They assisted by pious rites in laying the foundations of a state. They kindled the 
torch of civilization in the new found lands. They gave consolation to the grief stricken 
pilgrim. They taught the religion of Christ to the sons of the forest. The history of 
Maryland presents no better, no purer, no more sublime lesson than the story of the 
toils of her first missionaries." 

WHEN KING GEORGE 2ND. OF ENGLAND RULED VIRGINIA. 

CLIFTON FERRY. JOHNSON's SPRING. DUELLING GROUND. 

"As ancient was this hostelry When folks lived in a grander way 

As any in the land may be, With ampler hospitality." 

Built in the Old Colonial day * » » # 

By 1745 with the exit of the aboriginal inhabitants from the tide water regions of 
Virginia, the wave of civilization had advanced up the Potomac even to the slopes of 
the Blue Ridge. In that year was passed by the General Assembly an act establishing 
a public ferry from Clifton Neck, now the river farm of the Mount Vernon estate, to 
the Maryland shore. Capacious boats were provided for the ferriage of vehicles of 
every description as well as for pedestrians, horses and cattle, and were manned by 
sturdy negro oarsmen; and but a few minutes were required by them to cross the stream. 
By this ferry went all the travel by land through the colonies between New York and 
Georgia. The rates of ferriage were "for a man or horse one shilling, for every coach, 
chariot or wagon and the driver thereof six shillings. For every cart or four wheeled 
chaise and the driver thereof four shillings. For every two wheeled chaise or chair 
two shillings."^ 

Archdeacon Burnaby in his travels through the middle settlements of America in 
1760 tells us he crossed the Potomac at this point going northward by Upper Marlboro 
and Annapolis. 

The Old Ferry House as shown in the engraving stood on the brow of the hill about 
fifty yards from the tide level. It fell to ruins fifty years ago. It was a noted place of 
entertainment on the great highway. The traveller always found under its roof an 
abundance of good fare; for the river was stocked with the finest fish and the forests 
around abounded with wild game; and there was no stint of apple brandy, cider and 
beer, old Jamaica and other beverages for all who were inclined in that direction, and 
most folks were so disposed in those primitive times. 

Not far from the doorway of the hostelry gushed the spring called by the Indians, 
the "Great Fountain." Its waters clear and cold, still pour out from the hill side unabated 
from year to year, just as they did in colonial times. Their source doubtless is among 
the distant rocks of the Blue Ridge. Perhaps the first white man who ever drank of 
them was Captain John Smith when he ventured up the Potomac in 1608. And no 
wonder that he told in his journal of the "sweet waters," with which the new region 
abounded. 

This locality was in the years far back a noted resort for duellists. The last duel was 
fought in 1805 as elsewhere noted in these pages. Later on, it was a favorite place for 
summer social gatherings of every description. Fourth of July parties met there from 
the two cities and celebrated Independence Day; and Washington tells us in his diary 
that he met his neighbors there at barbecues and other social and political gatherings. 

No highway in all the land had more interesting historical associations than this by 
the Old Ferry. 

No road was used more frequently by Washington. He always took it when going 
to" his river farm and to the races at Annapolis. It was the road he travelled when 
going to the first Continental Congress. 



38 



SOME OI«D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



In his diary for Aug. 30th, 1774, he says "Col. Pendleton, Mr. Henry and Col. Mason 
came to my house and remained all night." "Aug. 31, these gentlemen dined here, 
after which Col. Pendleton, Mr. Henry and myself set out on our journey for Philadel- 
phia." They crossed the Potomac by Clifton ferry five miles below Alexandria into 
Prince George county, Maryland and reached Upper Marlboro for supper and lodging. 
"Sept. 1st, breakfasted at Queen Ann's ten miles further and dined at Annapolis. 
Crossed the head of the Bay to Rock Hall in Kent county by the packet ferry. Here 
we suped and lodged. Sept. 2nd, dined at Rock Hall and thirteen miles further on 
in the journey supped and lodged at Newtown on Chester river." "Sept. 3rd, break- 
fasted at Downs (now Galena) sixteen miles beyond. Dined at Buck tavern ten miles 
further. Lodged at New Castle eighteen miles. Breakfasted at Christina Ferry eight 
miles. Dined at Chester twelve miles. Fifteen miles beyond, after supping at the New 
Tavern in Philadelphia lodged at Dr. Shippens, in all one hundred and fifty-one miles 
in five days." 




CLIFTON FERRY. 

Down this highway in 1781 came the forces of General Green going to the Carolinas, 
and the armies of Washington, Lafayette, and Wayne going to Yorktown. By Wash- 
ington's orders at the time the local militia was summoned to repair all the ways over 
which the troops, the beef cattle, the baggage wagons and artillery were to pass through 
the several counties of Virginia; and the planters all along were requested by him as a 
particular mark of respect to assist the officers from point to point in their carriages. 

The National Capital was then but a straggling settlement with its few buildings in 
the midst of forests and swamps, with difficult approaches to it from every side 1 he 
Long Bridge had not been built and the only ferry to the Virginia Shore was that to 
Analostan Island, from Georgetown. ^^ __ 

The only traces of this high^vay in its course through the Mount Vernon estate may 



OF VIRGINrA AND MARYI^AND. 



39 



be seen in the clump of trees on the electric railway at Arcturus Station, as shown in 
the accompanying engraving. Clifton Ferry was discontinued after 1808. 

The Old Ferry House as shown in the engraving stood on the brow of the hill about 
fifty yards from tide level. Fifty years ago it fell to ruins. 



"With weather stains upon its wall 
And stairways worn and crazy doors, 



And creaking and uneven floors 

And chimneys huge and tiled and tall.* 




THE OLD ROAD. 



But a remnant left of the old highway, 

When George of England held royal sway — 
Only a hollow, worn deep in the hill — 

But listen well — it has tales to tell 
Of the tide of travel that over it roll'd 

For a hundred years in the days of old. 
Lift ye the veil, and the throngs shall pass 

Before your vision as in a glass. 
You will hear the creak of the cumb'rous wain; 

You will hear the teamster's shouts again. 
Before you will pass on its tedious way 

The stage and four of the ancient day. 
Anon, you Will see the planter ride 

With liveried coachman at his side — 
The gangs of toilers will come and go 

From their endless tasks of joy or woe. 
The steps of armies you will hear ♦ 

And their bugles will greet you loud and clear- 



Their drum's wild beat you will hear as well 

Echoing afar through the wooded dell — 
They are veterans tried and service worn 

With garments faded and rent and torn; 
They have fought at Trenton and Lexington — 

Though fields they have lost, they have glory won. 
And their good flintlocks and powder dry 

They are keeping well for the by and by. 
Brave continentalers — they are marching down 

For the final fray at Old Yorktown! 
Mark ye the leaders in buff and blue — 

\\'ashington and Greene and "mad Wayne" too; 
And Lafayette and Chasteleux 

And the dashing count of Rochambeau, 
Our friendly allies from France afar 

Who have come to turn the tide of war. 
These are the visions which you may see 

If you lift the veil by the old highway. 



Fort Washington and Fort Hunt opposite to it on the Virginia shore command the 
approach by water to the National Capital and as a result of several years of constant 
work upon them by the Government are now fulh^ equipped for defence. When the 
great avenue in contemplation, to connect Arlington and Memorial Bridge with Mount 
Vernon shall be constructed, it will doubtless pass very near to Fort Hunt and so be- 
come a military as well as a public highway down from the National Capital. 

Little Hunting Creek which the road crosses at Riverside Park is the natural and 
lower boundary of Washington's River Farm of 2000 acres just travelled over, and 
which he purchased of William Clifton in 1767. On the south side of the creek lies 
the other large farms of the Old Mount Vernon estate known as the Mansion House 
farm. Union farm, Dogue Run farm and Muddy Hole farm, containing in the aggre- 



40 SOMB OI<D HISTORIC I«ANDMARKS 

gate, 6000 acres. The part of the estate on which the home is situated was included 
in a royal ^rant of 5000 acres made by Gov. Thomas, Lord Culpeper, in 1670 to Lieut. 
Col. John Washington and his associate in maritime adventure, Nicholas Spencer, in 
consideration of their services to the Virginia colony for bringing to its new lands 
from England one hundred immigrants or settlers. This Col. John Washington was 
a great grandfather of General George Washington whose father Augustine purchased 
of the Spencer heirs their right in the original grant. By purchases from time to time 
previous to the Revolutionary war the General added one thousand acres more to the 
already large domain until its boundaries embraced a total of 8000 acres as held at the 
time of his death in 1799. 

There is hardly a spot over this vast extent of land which has not known of the pres- 
ence of this great rural proprietor. There is not a valley, nor a hill, nor rivulet, nor 
spring that has not associations of him. He laid all its roads, divided all the different 
plantation tracts and directed in person all the improvements which went on from 
year to year over the estate. 

Little Hunting Creek in Washington's time was bordered by a dense growth of forest 
trees, which almost- entirely shadowed its waters; and at all seasons of the year, wild 
fowl, ducks, geese and swan gathered there in great numbers, affording for the General 
and his visiting friends ample opportunities for shooting which were as jealously 
guarded from invading poachers as those of any game reservation in Old England; and 
the same protection was given to the game animals which wandered the wooded do- 
mains of the estate. 

Augustine Washington, father of George, laid the first foundation of the Mount Ver- 
non Mansion just previous to 1736. He erected then only the middle portion of the 
building as we now see it in its more pretentious entirety, with its commanding front, 
its broad veranda, its belfry and its numerous apartments. The first structure was 
plain and simple, but with its four rooms it was then deemed an ample dwelling place, 
and no important additions were made by the new proprietor until after his marriage 
which occurred in 1759. Between that time and the yeaf 1786 he had fashioned the 
Mansion into very much the form and appearance which it presents to us today. His 
guests were constantly increasing from at home and abroad and he needed more room 
and style for their entertainment. He obtained from England workmen and materials 
and by the close of 1785 had completed his improvements in which he was his own 
architect, drawing every plan and specification with his own hand. The interior of 
the old house remained to a great extent unchanged, but wings were added and the ex- 
terior remodeled, so that its appearance today is very much the same as when com- 
pleted then. 

The Mansion is built of wood in imitation of cut stone, mainly after the style of a 
French Chatteau of the time of Louis fourteenth, is ninety-six feet in length by thirty- 
two in width, of two stories and a finished attic, with dormer windows surmounted by 
a graceful cupola which commands a fine view of the varied country surrounding it. 
Along the entire front, facing the river and Fort Washington is a wide veranda sup- 
ported by high square pillars and paved with a tesselated pavement of stones brought 
from White Haven, England, in 1785. The ground floor contains six rooms (there 
were originally but four) with the old spacious hall in the centre of the building, ex- 
tending through it from east to west, and the stairway. On the south side of the hall 
is the parlor, library and breakfast room, from which last a narrow staircase ascends to 
the private study on the second floor; on the north side a music room, parlor, and 
dancing-room, in which when there was much company the guests were sometimes en- 
tertained at table. The principal feature of this room is the large mantelpiece, wrought 
in Italy, of statuary and Sienite marbles, exquisitely carved in every part, bearmg m 
relief, scenes in agricultural life. The interiors of the new rooms were finished to cor- 
respond with the old ones. At the same time were built, near the mansion on either 
side, a substantial kitchen and laundry, connected with it by collonades These, with 
other outlying buildings then erected, all remain, with the exception of an extensive 
conservatory. Washington, thus occupied with the development of his estate, was 
meanwhile unconsciously exercising a powerful influence on national affairs. He was 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI«AND. 



41 



obliged to maintain an extensive correspondence, and the opinions and counsels given 
in his letters were widely effective. No longer the soldier, he was now becoming the 
statesman. 

Exact plans and dimensions of the Mansion have been taken and will be preserved 
for use in case of destruction by fire. 




I 

a 



o 



GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HIS HOME. 



Tell us again the story 

Our sires and grandsires told; 



We love to hear it often, 
'Tis ever new, tho' old. 



On the fourteenth day of December, 1799, George Washington, the successful soldier 
and leader, the true patriot, the wise statesman, the estimable private citizen, the public 
benefactor and friend of all mankind, passed peacefully from earth, in his quiet home 
at Mount Vernon, to the inheritance of the rich rewards awaiting a life of exceeding^ 
great usefulness and honor. Since the occurrence of that event which brought grief 



42. ^OMB OI<D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

and sorrow to the infant nation he had so faithfully labored to direct and establish, 
only one hundred years have elapsed, hardly five generations of his posterity; and a 
few of late were still remaining among us who were then children. Yet, such was the 
sublime character and great worth of the revered chief, and such have been the grand 
results to the world of his heroic deeds and unselfish sacrifices, that in our grateful 
remembrance and almost pious veneration of him, the vista of time through which 
we look back in contemplation of his life and public services seems to us more like one 
of long centuries than that of the few scores of solemn anniversaries which have been 
recorded. As this vista lengthens and grows dimmer with the passing away of each 
succeeding year, we delight more and more to recount the story of his childhood and 
early training, of bis military services and exploits, of his subsequent civil career, and, 
finally, of his retired life as a farmer on his broad Virginia estate, where, in the peace- 
ful 'tranquility of a mind untroubled by vain ambitions or harrassing regrets, he lived 
the happiest days of his eventful life. 

Mount Vernon, the home and tomb, will ever continue the grand focal point to 
which the generations of our republic will fondly turn in their love and admiration for 
the great chief. Then, shall we not keep on telling the "old, old story?" — the story 
which, though so often repeated, will be forever new, and will forever charm and 
please, — the one which poets shall sing and orators proclaim — the one which sires and 
grandsires shall relate to the eager ears of little children on their knees, which shall 
cross every sea, and be heard in every land and in every clime. Let it be told, and 
again and again repeated, so that no event nor circumstances connected with the bril- 
liant career qi the pater patricB shall remain unknown or forgotten. His life and the 
precious memories of its well shaped and rounded works are the common patrimony of 
all liberty loving peoples and will be kept fresh and perennial. 

LAWRENCE WASHINGTON-HALF BROTHER OF GEORGE 

Lawrence Washington deserves more than the incidental notices which have been 
accorded to him in other chapters ol this Hand-book. In our regard for the merits 
and career of his distinguished brother, on whom too much praise cannot be bestowed, 
we are apt to lose sight of the noble and magnanimous spirit which was so instrumental 
in moulding and shaping that character which shines with such transcendant lustre in 
the galaxy of our Revolutionary heroes. Fifteen years older than his brother George, 
be at once in his orphanage filled the place of the correct fraternal exemplar and pa- 
ternal adviser. When Lawrence came up from the lower Potomac to the occupancy of 
the domains of twenty-five hundred acres "lying along and south of Little Hunting 
Creek," George accompanied him to his new home, established by his father Augustine 
a short time previously, and named in honor of his old commander, Mount Vernon, 
until Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax needed him to assist his cousin Geo. William Fairfax 
in establishing with compass and chain the butts and bounds of his possessions in the 
Shenandoah Valley. 

Major Lawrence Washington was the second child and only surviving son of Augus- 
tine Washington, and his first wife Jane (Butler) Washington, and was born in West- 
moreland county, Virginia, 1718. He was among the organizers of the "Ohio Com- 
pany" to explore the western country, encourage settlements, and conduct trade with 
the Indians. It was in his relations with this company that he won an enviable dis- 
tinction, as did his brother George after him, by avowing himself an advocate of re- 
ligious toleration at a time when the statutes of Virginia recognized but one religious 
faith. Never very strong physically, with the continued and increasing pressure of his 
public duties in the state council and the land company, his health gave way, and in 
1751, accompanied by his brother George, he went for healing to the Island of Barbadoes, 
but receiving no relief he returned to die at his Mount Vernon home, July, 1752. His 
marriage with Annie Fairfax had been blessed by four children, three of whom had 
died. His surviving child, Sarah, was still an infant, at the time of her father's death. 
After providing in his will for his wife, he left Mount Vernon to his daughter, but in 



OF VIRGINIA. AND MARYLAND. 



43 







From an original painting in possession of Mr. Lawrence Washington. By courtesy. 



44 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



the event of her death without heirs, it was to go to his "beloved brother George."^ 
This daughter died within a year, and George inherited the "Home" before he was 
twenty-one years of age. 

COL. JOHN WASHINGTON, OF CAVE CASTLE, ENGLAND. 

The political dissensions which convulsed the English people in the beginning of the 
seventeenth century, finally brought violent death to their king, Charles the First, and 
established in the place of their monarchical government, the protectorate of Oliver 
Cromwell. As a result of the revolution, the prominent adherents of royalty found 
themselves without occupation or favor under the new rule, and many of them left the 
country and sought asylum in the newly-opened land "beyond the seas." Among these 
were Col. John Washington, the great grandfather of the Revolutionary General and 
first president of the United States, and his brother Lawrence who migrated from 
South Cave in the east riding of Yorkshire on the banks of the Humber river. They 
settled first in 1659 in the county of Westmoreland at Bridge's Creek. They had pas- 
sage over in a ship owned by Edward Prescott of which John Green was Captain. 
During the voyage a woman of the name of Elizabeth Richardson, a fanatical zealot in- 
curred the displeasure of some of the passengers on account of her insane rantings and 
singular behavior, and was hanged by them to the yard arm, under the accusation of 
practicing the art of witchcraft. In her misfortune she appealed to the commiseration 
of Col. John who vainly interposed to §ave her. The wanton and lawless act was so 

revolting to his intelligence and kinder 
feelings that upon landing in the Chesa- 
peake, he reported the case to the au- 
thorities and had the owner and Captain 
of the vessel held in bonds to appear for 
trial before the provincial court of St. 
Mary's. The trial, owing to the uncer- 
tainties and delays of those early times 
never took place. 

John Washington seems to have been 
a man of means as well as influence. He 
patented a large tract of land between 
the Potomac and the Rappahannock, 
raised tobacco extensively and was elect- 
ed a member of the House of Bur- 
gesses. His marriage to Ann Pope oc- 
curred soon after his arrival in the col- 
ony. Having a military inclination, he 
was appointed a colonel .of the militia. In this capacity he became a conspicuous actor 
in many of the tragic events of the Bacon rebellion during the year of 1665-6 which 
followed the harrassing retaliations of the Indians on the colonists for their depredations 
upon their domains of forest and stream. 

After the murder of the herdsman, Henn, in 1666, by the Dogue Indians, in Truro 
parish, near the Occoquan river, and the prompt pursuit of the murderers by the 
mounted rangers of the county of Stafford to their town of Assaomeck twenty miles up 
the Potomac, where they were overtaken and massacred at the doors of their wigwams, 
all the other tribes on both sides of the river, up and down, took refuge with the Piscat- 
aways, a powerful tribe dwelling on the heights now occupied by the battlements of 
Fort Washington; and here in alliance they proceeded to fortify themselves by embank- 
ments, ditches and palisades against the advance of the colonists. To dislodge this 
force of savages, two thousand troops of the Maryland and Virginia militia were speed- 
ily raised and placed under the command of Col. John Washington, who had under him 
Majors Mason, Brent and other military notables of the time. After a protracted siege 
of six weeks the small number of the besieged who had escaped bullets and starvation, 
capitulated to their assailants. The destruction was complete and vengeance was 
satisfied. 




CAVE CASTLE, ENGLAND. 
By courtesy of Mr. Henry Dudley Teeter. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 45 

Three years before this siege Col. John as elsewhere related had been engaged with 
Nicholas Spencer in bringing into the province one hundred immigrants, for which 
they obtained a royal patent for 5000 acres now included within the bounds of Mount 
Vernon. 

At the time of this patent, Stafford was the uppermost county, stretching intermin- 
ably beyond the Alleghanies and to the Mississippi valley. Prince William and Fair- 
fax were not set off until nearly fifty years afterward. The town of "Assaomeck" was 
about four miles below Great Hunting Creek on that division of the Mount Vernon 
^'river farm" now known as Andalusia. It was ju^t opposite to Broad Creek in Mary- 
land. V 

Col. John died in 1677. He was first married in England. His wife and two 
•children came with him to Virginia, but the three died soon after arriving. As else- 
where noted his second wife was Ann Pope of Pope's Creek, Westmoreland county. 
By this alliance he had children — first Lawrence, born 1661, who in 1690 was married 
to Mildred Warner, of Gloucester Co., Va. His child Augustine was born at Bridge's 
Creek 1694. He was twice married, first April 20, 1715, to Jane Butler, daughter of 
•Caleb Butler of Westmoreland county, by whom he had four children of whom only 
Lawrence survived to manhood, born 1718 died in 1752 at his home at Mount Vernon. 
Augustine born 1720, died young. Their mother died in 1728 and was buried in the fam- 
ily vault. Augustine was again married to Mary Ball **the rose of Epping Forest" and 
•daughter of Joseph Ball of Lancaster county, Va. By her he had six children, namely, 
George, born at Wakefield, February 22, 1732 — died at Mount Vernon December 14, 
1799; Betty born at Wakefield June 20, 1733 — died March 1799; Samuel born at Wake- 
field, November 15, 1734 — died 1781; John Augustine, born doubtless at Epsewasson, 
Fairfax county, Va., January 13, 1756 — died 1762; (Charles born doubtless at same place. 
May 2, 1738 — died 1799; Mildred born at Wakefield, June 21, 1739 — died 1740. Mary 
the mother died at Fredericksburg, August 25, 1789 at the age of 82. Betty Washing- 
ton was married to Col. Fielding Lewis, .. Their son Lawrence was married to Eleanor 
(Nellie) Parke Custis. 

SUMMARY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

"What is a name; As we wreathe or build it; And the birth dawns beacon adown the ages 

Stucco or granite, bastile or fane; With a lurid flash or a blaze sublime, 

And the stern years crumble or freshly gild it As to meaner goals or diviner stages, 

As it grows in honor or reaps disdain. It exemplars Man through the storms of time." 

George Washington, whether as a private citizen mingling with his neighbors and 
friends in a social or business capacity, or whether as a dignified actor and director in 
the public and national affairs of his country, is one of the very few men in the records 
of history who have successfully and triumphantly withstood the test and scrutiny of 
the world's adverse criticism. He stands out on the shifting scenes of the world's 
annals as a grandly imposing and unique personage, meriting and commanding as well, 
the veneration of every observer, no matter of what country or nationality — and the 
citizens of the country he loved and defended, in their enthusiasm and gratitude for 
his brilliant public services, love to contemplate him as a personage divinely ordained 
and appointed to open the way, not only for civil and religious liberty in America, but 
everywhere among the oppressed of humanity. 

He left the quietude and enjoyments of a rural life when great political emergencies 
needed a capable advisor, actor and leader whose sentiments were known to be unre- 
servedly opposed to royal impositions and exactions and in favor of home rule and 
independence; and stepping forth on the scene of action was hailed with acclamation 
as the man eminently qualified for the momentous and responsible duties before him. 
By his prompt and patriotic response to a common call he won the. popular confidence 
and esteem, and by his wise and prudent counsels many discordant elements were 
harmonized and brought into subjection to the cause he had espoused. But his new 
sphere of action was to be amid perplexities and trials which might have discouraged 
many a brave commander. His mission was to Jiastily organize into armies, raw re- 



46 



SOMK OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



cruits from the peaceful avocations of life and direct them against the veteran soldiers 
of his king, to dispute their invasion of colonial soil, and while performing this difficult 
service he was- everywhere to move among and come into contact with stealthy foes 
among his own countrymen who were committed to the cause of royalty and the be- 
trayal of the colonists. 




PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON. 

From a painting by Gilbert Stewart. 



He was not a soldier because of his fondness for tinsel, parade or mere military glory, 
but because of the exigencies of the times in which he lived. After these exigencies had 
passed he gladly yielded up all investiture of military authority and dropped back to the 
enjoyments of the calm delights of peace and quietude in his rural retreat; not sighing, 
as many warriors had done before him, that there were no more victories to achieve, 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 4X 

but rejoicing in the coming of the blessed reign of peace. His mission as a soldier had 
been grandly accomplished and he was well content to await its beneficent results. 

As a victor he was magnanimous, lenient and forbearing — ^never vaunted of his mili- 
tary prowess; and of all the pictorial representations which adorned his rooms at Mount 
Vernon, not one of them represented any of the revolutionary scenes in which he had 
figured. 

There have been soldiers who have achieved mightier victories in the field and made 
conquests more nearly corresponding to the boundlessness of selfish ambitions; states- 
men who have been connected with more startling upheavals of society; but it is the 
greatness of Washington that in public trusts he used power solely for the public good; 
that he was the life and moderator and stay of the most momentous revolution in 
human affairs; its moving impulse and its restraining power. Combining the centri- 
petal and centrifugal forces in their utmost strength, and in perfect relations, with crea- 
tive grandeur of instinct he held ruin in check and renewed and perfected the institu- 
tions of his country. Finding the colonies disconnected and dependent, he left them 
such a united and well ordered commonwealth as no visionary had believed to be 
possible. So that it has been truly said, "he was as fortunate as great and good." 
This also is the praise of Washington, that never in the tide of time has any man lived 
who had in so great a degree the almost divine faculty to command the confidence of his 
fellow men and influence all classes. Wherever he became known in his family, his 
neighborhood, his county, his native state, the continent, the camp, civil life, the United 
States, among the common people, in foreign courts, throughout the civilized world of 
the human race, and even among the savages, he, beyond all other men, had the confi- 
dence of his kind. 

On the sixteenth of June, 1775, he appeared in his place in Congress, after his ap- 
pointment as commander-in-chief of the colonial armies, and after refusing all pay be- 
yond his expenses, he spoke with unfeigned modesty to his colleagues — "As the Con- 
gress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert every power I possess 
in their service and for the support of the glorious cause. But I beg it may be remem- 
bered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, 
I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with." 

Washington was not a bigot nor a zealot in religion, nor even a sectarian. "Pro- 
foundly impressed with .confidence in God's providence, and exemplary in his respect 
for the forms of public worship, no philosopher of the eighteenth century was more 
firm in the support of freedom of religious opinion; but belief in God and trust in His 
overruling power formed the essence of his character. He believed that wisdom not 
only illumines the spirit, but inspires the will. He was a man of action and not of theory 
nor words. His creed appears in his life, not in his profession. His whole being was 
one continued act of faith in the eternal, intelligent, moral order of the universe. His 
broad and liberal conceptions of what constituted the basis of a common fatherhood 
and a common brotherhood would not allow of any narrowing or dwarfing of his natural 
convictions by the trammels of religious dogmas or formulas, and so he was tolerant 
of the fullest religious liberty and thought, believing that every man had the right im- 
pTanted in him by the God of nature to worship Him in whatever way seemed to him 
best, consequently the creed of no church ever held him exclusively within its narrow 
limits. His true and tried friends were confined to no religious denomination, but 
were chosen from the widest range of religious thought, and selected only for real 
vvorth and integrity of character. His published letters in reply to the personal ad- 
dresses of the various religious organizations of the United States in the early days of 
the republic, all breathe the most commendable spirit of Christian liberality and tolera- 
tion, and show him to have been devoid of any sectarian prejudices. As his diary bears 
vvitness, he was accustomed to attendance at all forms of worship, and doubtless he al- 
^vays found something in each which his unprejudiced judgment could approve and ac- 
cept. In his neighborhood no churches existed but the Episcopal. These the laws of 



48 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC I.ANDMARKS 



the colony had established, to the prejudice of all others, and made respectable, and it 
was quite natural, from his reverential and orderly habits, that he should have been an 
habitual attendant at their services with his neighbors and while he was one of the 
vestry in the church of both Alexandria and Pohick, he doubtless busied himself very 
little about vestry matters, further than to fill the miscellaneous requirements of the 
■church.* 

Though a communicant of the established Church 
and a respecter of its forms and its clergy from early 
associations, yet was he in sympathy and perfect accord 
-with Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and Patrick 
Henry in their efforts to repeal all laws which discrim- 
inated in favor of any one religious sect by giving to it 
tithes and glebes, and enabling it thereby to keep up 
its congregations and attendance upon its services. 

He appears to bave been so impressed with the im- 
portance of listening to the inward monitor, or, as the 
Quakers are wont to express it, "the still, small voice," 
that in his rules of civility and behavior, written out by 
him for his guidance at the age of thirteen he enjoined 

upon himself "to labor to keep alive in his breast that >^^ .^ ^ ^a 
little spark of celestial fire called conscience." At that ^31 oV ^ ^ 

early age his code of rules show that he had determined 
to begin life right, and the story of all his subsequent 
years is evidence that he continued right. The germs 
of innate goodness and excellence had been implanted 
-in his being and through wise parental solicitude and 
instruction and a strict obedience to duty; they steadily 
and beautifully unfolded to public observation and 
admiration with the passing of the years of his life. \ i^ Q^ I 

The pole-star of his impulses and the drift of his 
"being were right and duty; to these everything was 
subordinate. He read correctly the motives of men 
and measured accurately their capabilities, and rarely 
erred in his estimate of character. He was frank 
in his intercourse — never dissembled, never stooped 






iH^I 



B 



^ 



*In those times the duties of the church vestry embraced not only 
ireligrious matters but also many secular neighborhood affairs, re- 
quiring the judgment of just such a practical man as Washington. . 
Under the direction of the vestry the tithe collector went forth to 
levy upon every land owner in the parish. Under their authority 
■the "processioners" surveyed and established all land boundaries. 
To the Church Wardens it pertained to bind apprentices to their 
masters — record of the indentures being duly made in the vestry 
"book. To them were paid the fines for the violation of Sunday 
penal statutes. Thus in 1775 we find the following entry in the 
proceedings of the vestry of Christ Church of which Washington 
was a member. "By cash received of Mr. Wm. Adams for the 
several fines for deer killing out of season, delivered to him by Mr. 
Bryan Fairfax £2.ios.** and in 1778 the following: 



By Lawrence Monroe for gaming .- . 
" Thomas Lewis for hunting on Sabbath 
" John Lewis 



s. d. 



5 
5 o 




en 



Upon the vestry also devolved the relief of the poor, the medical care of the sick, the charge for 
the burial of the dead, maintenance of the blind, the lame, the mained and also of foundlings and 

vagrants. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 49 

to mean devices nor subterfuges. While he was open and courteous, fraternal and ap- 
proachable, he was never trivial, never forgot his dignity, but always, whatever the 
occasion, so demeaned himself as to inspire every one with whom he came into con- 
tact, whether socially or in a business way, with the feeling that he was one of the very 
first of men among men. Washington was not an orator, and seldom attempted to ex- 
press himself at length on any public occasion, but as a writer he excelled. His style, 
as preserved in many volumes of miscellaneous letters and state papers, was plain, clear, 
and without unnecessary verbiage, and his expressions were rarely marred by instances 
of false syntax, though he had never had the advantages of more than a very limited 
common school education; but from his youth upward he had been a constant and at- 
tentive reader of the best literature of the times, and was very observant of the acknowl- 
edged models of the English language. 

In all his business transactions, and they were many and varied, no instances have 
been recorded by any writer of any attempt on his part to get the advantage of any of 
his fellows. He was a fast friend and a patron of merit. He recognized the divinity 
of labor, and believed that it should be respected and fully requitted. True, he was a 
slave holder, but it was for the reason that labor was urgently needed in those times to 
open and subdue the wilderness, produce supplies, and develop the great resources of 
the country; but he did not look upon his bondsmen as mere machines, devoid of 
feelings or sensibilities. There is the most authentic evidence that he looked most 
carefully after their welfare in respect to diet, raiment, quarters, and seasons of toil; 
had them taught habits of industry, provided medical attendance for them in sickness, 
allowed them religious instruction and by his last bequest, made July 9, 1799, ordered 
that they should all be freed. And it is but just to mention in this connection that 
from no one of his freed folks or their immediate descendants has there ever been 
heard any instance of unnecessary severities under his benign Tule as a master. 

The estate was large, and land for tillage was plentiful, and every family had ample 
privilege of having plots of ground for growing all kinds of vegetables, while fish were 
abundant in the river and creeks, and wild game plentiful in the woods. 

In 1786, he wrote to Robert Morris, "There is not a man living who wishes more 
sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery. But there is 
only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, and that is by leg- 
islative authority; and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting." 
And in another letter, written to his nephew, Robert Lewis, August 17, 1799, four 
months before his death, he says, "I have more negroes on my estate of Mount Ver- 
non than can be employed to any advantage in the farming system: and I shall never 
turn planter thereon. To sell the overplus I cannot, because I am principled against 
that kind of traffic in the human species. To hire them out is almost as bad, because 
they cannot be disposed of in families and I have an aversion to that system." 

In a letter to John F. Mercer, of Virginia, September, 1786, he wrote, "I never 
mean, unless some particular^ circumstances should compel me to it, to possess another 
slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which 
slavery in this country may be abolished by law." Martha, his widow, in 1801, man- 
umitted all the slaves she held in her own right. 

The relation of the African race to our natibn, Washington represented. He was 
not a radical reformer, not an ideal theorist, but a practical thinker and actor, and as 
such he interpreted the African's destiny. He recognized his capacity to be a tiller of 
the soil and a mechanic, and treated him kindly; and taught and practised the prin- 
ciple of emancipation. He regarded slavery, indeed, as the law of the land, and de- 
nied the right of any citizen to interfere with the legal claims of the master to his slave 
but he thought the law ought to be changed, and he stands in our history as the repre- 
sentative of the old school of emancipationists who regarded slavery as a fading relic 
of a semi-civilized form of society. He could work with the negro and mingle praise 
with blame in his judgments, and, without having extreme opinions of their gifts or 
virtues, he thought them fitted for freedom and capable of education. 



50 



SOME OI«D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



He was methodical in all his undertakings and pursuits, no matter how common 
place; kept a diary of ordinary as well as extraordinary events, and noted down reg- 
ularly from day to day his expenditures, whether incurred for household necessities, 
raiment, the carrying on of his farm arrangements, or for traveling. His strict atten- 
tion to details, added to his habit of close observation and investigation and correct 
judgment, was the secret of the remarkable success which attended him through life. 
It made him the accurate surveyor, the safe counselor, the efficient general, the capa- 
ble and trusted President, and it made him one of the best farmers of his time. His 
handwriting, from his characteristic order and care, was invariably neat and legible 
whether he wrote a state paper, a letter to some home or foreign dignitary, or whether 
he wrote a deed for the conveyance of land, or an order on his merchant, or a receipt 
to his mechanic, every letter was well formed and distinct, so that it never required, as 
is too often the case with public men of our day, much time to decipher his meaning. 

As a farmer he was not content to merely follow the modes which had long prevailed 
with the planters around him, but at a very early period of his farming operations 
he put into practice new and more advantageous systems of croppings and manuring; 




SULGRAVE MANOR^ ENGLAND. 

Residence of some of Washington's Ancestors. 

laid down his land to grass; planted out orchards of the best fruits then obtainable; 
employed the newest agricultural implements, and had a constant care to obtain the 
best seeds and the most improved stock. Washington was a farmer by choice and be- 
cause he believed the "calling to be the most healthful, the most useful, and the noblest 
employment of men." He might have entered many avenues opened for him when a 
young man which would have insured success whatever the undertaking. But the quiet- 
ude and peaceful surroundings of a rural life were more in keeping with his natural 
inclinations than the circumstances of other pursuits, which to many of the young men 
now coming up around us seem far more attractive. 

He was domestic in his habits, and loved the peace, the tranquility, and joys of home 
life. And we most delight to dwell on the part of the history of this great man which 
pictures that life — the life he led as a plain, unpretending citizen of the republic he had 
been so instrumental in establishing. What to a man of the finer sensibilities is the 
tinselry and show and power of a public life when compared with genial minds and with 
a nature clothed in the simple and beautiful garb of truth? Of all men none could 
appreciate the difference better than Washington. "I am now, I believe," he writes in 
a letter from Mount Vernon, ''fixed in this seat, and I hope to find more happiness in 
retirement than I ever experienced in the wide and bustling world." 



OF VIRGINIA ANB MARYI^AND. 51 

His hospitality was large, and his generosities and charities wide-reaching. No one 
was more ready to acknowledge an error of heart or judgment, nor more magnanimous 
to those differing in opinions. ^ 

We do not claim that he was perfect, for perfection in humanity is impossible. We 
only claim for him that he came as near to filling the measure of the "noblest work of 
God" as any other man in history. And certainly no character in all its aspects or 
bearings is more worthy of emulation by the youth of our country than his. The clos- 
ing scene of his life on the fourteenth of December, 1799, was peaceful, and a grateful, 
people mourned for him as a father indeed. 

- He had rounded out to the full his matchless lifework. There was nothing left for 
him to do. He escaped the quicksands into which other feet have been tempted, and 
folding his hands, lay down and passed away in the fullness of years, with his fame at 
its zenith, and like the star set in the heavens, too firmly placed, to be drawn aside from, 
its orbit. 

"When common men have perished To lowly dust and ashes 

No earthly trace we find; Though mortal flesh hath gone 

The soul of this our hero No grave can ever hide him— 

Rose and remained behind. His very life lives on." 

COLONEL WASHINGTON OF MOUNT VERNON. 

Owing to the death, some years before, of Lawrence Washington's only child, Sara, 
followed as it shortly after was by that of his widow, Annie, Colonel George Washing- 
ton, .already proprietor of the paternal estate on the Rappahannock, had inherited, with 
much additional property, the magnificent domain of Mount Vernon, and was now 
one of the wealthiest planters of the Old Dominion. Washington's fondness for agri- 
cultural pursuits had not been the only motive of his retirement. The harassing cares 
oi his command had not exerted a complete monopoly of his thoughts during this pro- 
longed period of Indian warfare. The romantic traditions of his courtship it is un- 
necessary to recall here. On the seventeenth of January, 1759, he was married to 
Mrs. Cnstis, a very young and wealthy widow, who formerly had been the most attrac- 
tive belle at the vice-regal court' of Williamsburg, The ceremony was performed 
amid a joyous assemblage of relatives and friends, at the White House, the bride's 
home, where they remained until the trees were budding at Mount Vernon, when they 
took up their permanent residence there. Washington at this time wrote to a friend, 
"I am now, I believe, fixed in this seat, with an agreeable partner for life, and I hope 
to find more happiness in retirement than I ever experienced in the wide and bustling 
world. - , . No estate in America is more pleasantly situated. In a high and healthy 
country; in a latitude between the extremes of heat and cold; on one of the finest rivers 
in the world — a river well stocked with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year. 
The borders of the estate are washed by more than ten miles of tidewater. The whole 
shore is one entire fishery." The whole region thereabout, with its range of forests 
and hills and picturesque promontories, afforded sport of various kinds; and was a 
noble hunting ground. 

These were, as yet, the aristocratical days of Virginia. The estates were large, and 
continued in the same families by entail. A style of living prevailed which has long 
since faded away. The houses, liberal in all their appointments, were fitted to cope 
with the free-handed, open-hearted hospitality of the owners. Each estate was a little 
empire, and its mansion-house the seat of government, where the planter ruled supreme. 
The negro quarters formed a hamlet apart. Among the slaves were artificers of all 
kinds, so that a plantation produced within itself everything for ordinary use. Arti- 
cles of fashion and elegance, luxuries and expensive clothing were imported from Lon- 
don, for the planters on the Potomac carried on an immediate trade with England. 

Their tobacco, put up by their own negroes, bore their own marks, and was shipped 
directly to their agents in Liverpool or Bristol, Edinburg or Bordeaux. 

Washington, instead of trusting to overseers, gave his personal attention to every de- 
tail of the management of his estate. He carried into his rural affairs the same method, 



52 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 



activity, and circumspection that had distinguished him in military life. He made a 
complete survey of his lands, apportioned them into farms, and regulated the cultiva- 
tion of all. The products of his estate became so noted for the faithfulness — ^as to 
quality and quantity — ^with which they were put up, that it is stated that any barrel of 
flour that bore the brand of George Washington, Mount Vernon, was exempted from 
the customary inspection in the ports to which it was sent. There were many relax- 
' ations in the arduous duties he had assumed. He delighted in the chase. In the 
height of the season he would be out with the fox hounds two or three times a week, 
accompanied by his guests and the gentlemen of the neighborhood, and ending the 
<lay with a hunting dinner, when he is said to have enjoyed himself with unwonted 
hilarity. He also greatly relished duck shooting, in which he was celebrated for his 
^kill. The Potomac was the scene of considerable aquatic state at that time, and 
Washington had his barge, rowed by six uniformed negroes, to visit his friends on the 




,i< 



washingt6n at forty. 



yrom a painting by Charles Pcale. 
1772 



Of this painting Washington in*kes these notes in his diary: 
"May 20 1772, sat for Mr. Peale to have my picture taken. May 21, sat again for the 
drapery. ' May 22, sat for Mr. Peale to finish my face. In the afternoon rode with him 
to my mill. Returned home by the Ferry plantation." 

Maryland side of the river. He had his chariot and four, with black postilion in livery. 
for the use of Mrs. Washington and her lady visitors. As for himself he always ap- 
peared on horseback. His stable was well filled and admirably regulated— his stuxl all 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI«AND. 53 

thoroughbred. Occasionally he and Mrs. Washington would pay a visit to Annapolis, 
and partake of the gaities which prevailed there during the sessions of the legislature. 

In this round of rural occupations, rural amusements and social intercourse, Wash- 
ington passed many tranquil years, the halcyon season of his life. His already estab- 
lished reputation drew many visitors to Mount Vernon, who were sure to be received 
with cordial hospitality. His marriage was unblessed with children, but those of Mrs. 
Washington received from him parental care and affection. His domestic concerns 
were never permitted to interfere with his public duties. As judge of the county court, 
and member of the House of Burgesses, and executor oftentimes for his neighbors, 
he had numerous calls upon his time and thought; for whatever trust he undertook, 
he was sure to fulfill with scrupulous exactness. 

THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 

The storm of the Revolution, so long impending, had suddenly burst over the land, 
and Washington, who had represented Virginia in the First Continental Congress and 
was now a member of the second, was by it, June 15, 1775, unanimously called to the 
command of the colonial army. On the 20th he received his commission and the fol- 
lowing day started for Boston on horseback to take command. "There is something 
charming to me in the conduct of W^ishington," wrote John Adams at the time. "A 
gentleman of one of the first fortunes on the continent, leaving his delicious retirement, 
his family and friends, sacrificing his ease and hazarding all in the cause of his country. 
His views are noble and disinterested." And Mrs. Adams wrote on his arrival before 
Boston, "Dignity, ease and complacency, the gentleman and the soldier are agreeably 
blended in him. Modesty marks every feature of his face." The honors with which he 
was received only told him how much was expected from him, and when he looked 
around upon the raw and rustic levies he was to command, "a mixed multitude of peo- 
ple, without discipline, order, or government," scattered about in rough encampments, 
beleaguering a city garrisoned by an army of veteran troops with shijTs of war in its 
harbor, he felt the awful responsibility of his situation, and the complicated and stu- 
pendous task before him. "The cause of my country," he wrote, "has called me to 
active and dangerous duty, but I trust that Divine Providence will enable me to discharge 
it with fidelity and success." With what unswerving and untiring fidelity, and with what 
complete and splendid ultimate success — despite disaster, mutiny, faithlessness, and 
treachery in those most trusted, privations without parallel, difficulties such as never 
leader encountered before, bitter rivalries, the opposition of Congress, and the loss of 
confidence, as once well nigh seemed, of a whole people — Washington, never faltering, 
discharged his trust during the long, weary years that followed, needs no repetition 
here. There are no better known pages in the world's history. 

THE FIRST PRESIDENT. 

The electors chosen under the new Constitution were unanimous in calling Washing- 
ton to the presidential chair. On the i6th of April, 1789, he again bade adieu to 
Mount Vernon, and set out for the seat of government. His progress to New York was 
a continuous ovation. There on April 30th, the first President of the United States 
was inaugurated. 

It is not our purpose to dwell upon the incidents of the following eight years, when 
Washington so worthily filled the loftiest position within the gift of any people. Dur- 
ing this period, crowded with events most important in the formative history of the 
republic, its chief magistrate — it may surprise those unfamiliar with the publications of 
the time — was pursued in his official acts, and even private life, by a bitter partisan 
malignity, the like of which is almost unknown in our later day. The pressure of pub- 
lic duties admitted but few opportunities to visit his home. During one of these visits 
there, in the summer of 1796, he wrote his farewell address, which a great British his- 
torian has declared to be "unequalled by any composition of uninspired wisdom." He 
was now looking forward with unfeigned longing to his retirement. His term of office 
expired March 4, 1797, when Mr. Adams, in his inaugural address, spoke of his prede- 



54 SOME OI«D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

cesser as one "who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, 
temperance, and fortitude, had merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, commanded 
the highest praises of foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity." 

LAST WILL OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

In July of 1799, only a few months previous to his death, George Washington 
made his last will and testament with the following preamble, the brevity, of which, as 
well as the clearness of language in the bequests which follow it, are in striking con- 
trast with the rambling verbiage of the wills generally of that time, as appears by the 
county records. 

"I George Washington of Mount Vernon, a citizen of the United States and lately 
President of the same, do make, ordain, and declare this instrument which is written by 
my own hand and every page thereof subscribed with my name to be my last Will and 
Testament, revoking all others." 

The handwriting of this interesting historic document still preserved in the Clerk's 
office of Fairfax county, is in the writer's usual careful and legible style. 

To his wife Martha, he devised with some exceptions "all his estate, real and per- 
sonal for the term of her natural life. At Mrs. Washington's death, whicn occurred May 
22, 1802, his estate left by her was to be divided among hh many relatives and to 
public institutions of learning and to charities, under particular specifications. His 
real estate in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky not including 
the domain of Mount Vernon of 8000 acres and the town lots in Alexandria and the 
National Capital amounted to 5000 acres. Just what his personal effects amounted to 
does not appear, but the value is known to have been very considerable. 

In the will the testator directs about the place and manner of his last resting place 
in the following clause: 

"The family vault at Mount Vernon requiring repairs and being improperly situated, 
besides, I desire that a new one of brick, and upon a larger scale may be built at the 
foot of what is commonly called the Vineyard Inclosure on the ground which is marked 
out — in which my remains with those, of my family as may choose to be entombed 
there may be deposited — and it is my express desire that my corpse may be interred 
in a private manner, without parade or funeral oration." 

At the President's death all his slaves numbering several hundred, were to be freed 
with explicit direction that such of them who were by bodily infirmities, old age or 
infancy, unable to support themselves should be comfortably clothed and fed by his 
heirs while they lived. There were many of this class and they became a heavy ex- 
pense to the estate for many years. No one of them under any circumstance was again 
to become a slave. Mrs. Washington manumitted all her dower slaves a year before 
her death. The executors of the will were Martha Washington, William Augustine 
Washington, Bushrod Washington, George Steptoe Washington, Samuel Washington, 
Lawrence Lewis and George Washington Custis, 

The last will of Martha Washington is not extant, it having been destroyed with 
other county records during the civil war. But it is known that the most of her large 
estate consisting chiefly of bonds, cash, and stocks was divided among her four grand 
children, George Washington Custis, Mrs. Eliza Law, Mrs. Martha Peters and Mrs. 

Eleanor (Nellie) Lewis. 

MOUNT VERNON. 

THE HOME AND TOMB OF WASHINGTON. 

One hundred and sixty-five years ago when Captain Augustine Washington, grand- 
son of Col. John Washington of Cave Castle, England, the first immigrant of the name 
to the province of Virginia, was laying the foundations of the home of his eldest son 
Lawrence, on the commanding heights of the Upper Potomac, if some astrologer had 
been present to set his square of the planets and cast the horoscope of the undertaking 
he might truly have foretold that. 

"A mansion built with such auspicious rays 
Would live to see old walls and happy days." 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 55 

The site of the historic habitation was then an unbroken forest whose solitudes dense 
and profound as in the long centuries before, had as yet, hardly heard the sound of an 
axe or the tread of any human being save that of the swarthy savage. The deer, the 
bear and the wolf, still made it their wild abode, and remnants of the old Algonquins 
were yet threading their shadowy trails. 

Captain Washington had been a seafaring man, plowing the Atlantic seas for several 
years, bringing over immigrants from England and carrying back iron ore, and other 
commodities, but now he was a landsman in the Virginia province turning his atten- 
tion to home making, and as the sequel has proven, "building better than he knew." 

Lawrence, the son for whom he was building was then a young man of three and 
twenty and was "off to the war" a Captain with the Virginia contingent of Provincials in 
Col. Gouch's regiqient, serving under the command of Admiral Vernon of the British 
Navy in the siege against the town of Carthagena in Spanish America. George, his 
young half brother, a boy of four or five years was living two miles below in the little 
mill house at Epsewasson, enjoying the rare delights of wood and stream which that 
pleasant locality afforded. 

Only the middle portion of the Mount Vernon Mansion as we now see it in its more 
perfect entirety, was then constructed. The first building was plain and simple, but 
with its four rooms it was deemed an ample dwelling place for that early day and no 
additions were made to it for many years to come. 

Augustine, the father, left the Epsewasson neighborhood to go back to the lowlands 
of King George county where he died in 1743. By a provision of his last will and 
testament his eldest son Lawrence was to inherit all the tract of land whereon he had 
built the homstead already described. He returned from the Spanish main in the 
Autumn of 1742 and after his father's death, took possession of his inherited patrimony 
which consisted of twenty-five hundred acres lying below and along the course of Little 
Hunting Creek and fronting on the Potomac river. This tract was the share which had 
fallen by division to his great grandfather, John Washington before mentioned, of the 
patent of 5000 acres in 1674 from Gov. Lord Culpeper in payment for their mutual 
venture in bringing into the province according to an act of the General Assembly one 
hundred immigrants from England as settlers. It was known at the time as the 
"Hunting Creek plantation." Augustine had inherited the tract from his father Law- 
rence, the son of John Washington, who died in 1677. 

Major Lawrence Washington in July, 1743, was married to Annie, eldest daughter of 
the Hon. William Fairfax one of the King's council and proprietor of the princely 
home of Belvoir. 

He named his home in honor of the British admiral under whom he had lately served 
as a soldier, but he did not live long to enjoy it. The hardships he had undergone in 
the tropic-s during the Spanish war had undermined his physical power, never very 
strong; and he was induced to make a voyage to the Island of Barbadoes in the hopes 
of finding relief from his infirmities. In this voyage he was accompanied by his ever 
faithful brother George. But the voyage and stay of seven months on the Island gave 
him no permanent benefit. He returned to the shades of the Potomac just in time to 
receive the kindly ministrations of his anxious wife and friends and died in his own 
house, July 26, 1752, at the age of thirty-four. His remains rest just behind those of his 
brother in the Mount Vernon vault. In his will, after making ample provision for his 
wife and infant daughter Sara, and only child, he conditioned that in the event of the 
death of that child to whom Mount Vernon had been left conditionally by his father, 
then the property should descend to his beloved brother George. Sara, the daughter 
died soon after and George before the age of twenty was in possession of the Mount 
Vernon domain. 

Lawrence Washington's widow having been provided for by bequests of other prop- 
erty was again married to Col. George Lee an uncle of Arthur and Richard Henry Lee 
of Revolutionary fame. Owing to his connection with the military events preceding 
and following the disastrous expedition of General Braddock against the French and 
Indians on the Ohio frontier, Washington was called away from Mount Vernon the best 



56 SOME OI,D HISTORIC I.ANDMARKS 

of seven years. He came to its more constant occupancy in 1758, after the fall of Fort 
Duquesne, the defeat of the combined forces, of French and Indians and the cessation 
of hostilities, and shortly afterwards found a mistress for his home in the person of 
Martha Custis of New Kent county. They were married in January, 1759. 

At that time hardly one-fourth of the large scope was under cultivation. Only along 
the water courses had clearings been made. The rest was covered by original timber 
growth of oaks and walnuts. The new master and occupant with abundant means and 
opportunities at his command was to give to everything the impress of his practical 
and progressive ideas. In time he enlarged the dwelling place to its present propor- 
tions and extended the bounds of the estate by purchasing the other 2500 acres of the 
original patent already mentioned, and other adjoining properties including Clifton 
Neck of 2000 acres, until the domain included an Expanse of 8000 acres with ten miles 
of reach along tide water. 

The improvements in farm arrangements and crop cultivation which he ordered and 
had carried out by his negroes and overlookers in the course of a few years amply demon- 
strated to all who witnessed the results that he was as sensible and practical as a farmer 
as he had been in his methods of lighting the Indians. Whenever necessary he drained the 
grounds, adopted the plan of rotating crops, procured the best agricultural implements 
then to be obtained, planted and sowed the best seeds, erected comfortable shelters 
for his overseers and hands, had his home smithy and wagon shops for the repairs of 
all tools, carts and wagons, his carpenters for building and repairing the farm buildings 
and fences, had his grist mill for grinding his grains, his huntsmen for procuring wild 
game and his fishermen for supplying everybody on the premises with fish, then so 
abundant in the river. In a word, all things on the estate were so directed as to best 
subserve the end of making the most of all existing possibilities and satisfying ail the 
reasonable wants of a rural community such as was there maintained. Under the 
vigilant eye of the distinguished master everything went on with regularity and cer- 
tamty. He carefully looked after the details of his farm operations, and being a very 
obseryant man, he never in any of his journeys abroad failed to notice any new agri- 
cultural improvements, and was very ready always to put them into practise on his 
own acres. Bringing to his aid the knowledge he had acquired in marking out the 
boundaries in his younger days of the wilderness possessions of Lord Fairfax in the val- 
ley of the Shenandoah with compass and chain, he himself laid off his estate into live 
main farms. The portion in the elbow of the Potomac, and between that stream and 
Little Hunting Creek, was named and known as Clifton Neck or River Farm, being 
the first of the land of the Mount Vernon estate entered by the railway going dov^n 
from Alexandria, and consisted of about two thousand acres. Between Little Hunting 
Creek and Dogue Run, were laid off the Mansion House Farm of 1200 acres, Union 
Farm 1000 acres, Dogue Run Farm of 2000 acres, and Muddy Hole Farm of 1300 acres. 
^Several of these local names are found in Washington's will, which devises the prop- 
erty east of Little Hunting Creek, to George Lafayette Washington; about two-thirds, 
of the portion between Little Hunting Creek and Dogue Creek, lying on the Potomac, 
and including the Mansion House Farm, to Bushrod Washington; and the residue be- 
ing the southwesterly part of this tract, to Lawrence Lewis and his wife Eleanor Park 
Lewis. The soil and other natural capabilities of his estate are accurately described 
by Washington. The greater part he says is a grayish loam running to clay. Some 
parts of it are of a dark mold, some inclined to sand, scarcely any to stone. He adds, 
*'A husbandman's will, could not lay the farms more level than they are." And as to 
• the river, "the whole shore is one entire fishery." "and springs, with plenty of water 
for man and cattle, abound everywhere on the grounds." 

In addition to his own dwelling house and other buildings on the Mansion House 
Farm, he had, what he calls, an overlooker's house and negro quarters on each of the 
other farms. He speaks also of a newly erected brick barn, "equal, perhaps to any in 
America," on the Union Farm, a new circular barn on Dogue Run Farm, and a grist- 
mill near the mouth of Dogue Run. Some idea of the extent of Washington's farnning 
operations may be formed from the following facts. In 1787 he had five hundred and 
eighty acres in grass, four hundred acres in oats, seven hundred acres in wheat, the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI.AND. 57 

same number in corn, with several hundred acres in barley, buckwheat, potatoes, peas, 
beans and turnips. His live stock consisted of one hundred and forty horses, one 
hundred and twelve cows, two hundred and twenty-six working oxen, heifers and steers 
and five hundred sheep, and of hogs, many, almost numberless, running at large in the 
woodlands and marshes. He constantly employed two hundred and fifty hands 
(negroes), and kept a score of ploughs going during the eiitire year, when the earth 
and the state of the weather would permit. In 1780 he slaughtered one hundred and 
fifty hogs for the use of his family and negroes. When not called away from Mount 
Vernon by public duties, Washington rode daily over his farms in pleasant weather, 
and kept himself thoroughly acquainted with the details of everything that was going 
on from season to season over his broad acres. Every locality was mapped. Every 
branch of labor was systematized, and all his farming operations were in charge of com- 
petent overseers, who were required to regularly account to him of their stewardship 
with exactness. 

With the passing away of the winter of 1799 passed also from earth the stately 
presence of him who gave to the home and estate of Mount Vernon all their historic 
character and importance, and endeared them for all time to the generations of his- 
countrymen to come after him; but thenceforth for many a long year, in the absence 
of the tireless care and watchful eye of the master; the fair fields were despoiled of 
their wonted fertility, and abandoned afterwards to the pine and cedar and the return- 
ing wild deer. The mansion itself and the immediate surroundings were sadly suflFering^ 
from neglect and the hands of the spoiler. 

Such was the condition of this historic domain, when in 1854 came to its occupancy,, 
the vanguard of the colony of farmers from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, the 
New England States and States of the West, who bought large areas of the worn-down 
but desirable lands, and commenced that work of restoration and improvement which 
has been attended with such remarkable success. 

At that time there were but three white families on the whole estate. >fow, they 
number nearly fifty families, and cultivate farms varying in extent from twenty-five to- 
three hundred acres, with values from fifty to five hundred dollars per acre. 

THE MOUNT VERNON ASSOCIATION. 

In the year 1856 was incorporated by the Legislature of Virginia the "Mount Vernon 
Ladies' Association of the Union" having for its object the restoration of the "Mansion 
and grounds," and the reverential care thenceforth of everything pertaining to them. 
With this idea in view, donations were solicited from the patriotic women of the repub- 
lic, and the "Home and Tomb" with two hundred acres of the surrounding lands were 
purchased of John Augustine Washington, for the sum of two hundred thousand dollars. 
The work of obtaining the necessary funds for this laudable purpose was begun in great 
earnestness. Miss Pamelia Cunningham, of South Carolina, all honor to her name and 
services, and who by common consent had taken charge of the work, was constituted 
first regent, .or manager of the association, and she appointed vice-regents in every 
State of the Union as her assistants. Edward Everett now gave his tongue and pen to 
the work. He went from city to city, like Peter the Hermit, pleading for the rescue 
of the Holy Sepulchre, delivering an oration on the character of Washington for the 
fund. Within two years from the first delivery of the oration, he paid into the treasury 
of the association fifty thousand dollars, an amount increased later to sixty-eight thou- 
sand dollars. The vice-regents each appointed State committees, and the money 
raised was nearly all in dollar subscriptions. In July, 1859, three years after the 
movement was inaugurated, and one year before all the purchase-money was paid and 
a deed given, the late proprietor allowed the work of restoration to begin — the work. 
which has resulted in the admirable condition and arrangements everywhere apparent. 
And may we not indulge the hope that henceforth this place, to which every patriotic 
American turns with pride and reverence, may be safe from a relapse to the desolation 
from which it was retrieved? 



58 SOME OI,D HISTORIC I, AND MARKS 

COL. JOHN AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON. 

THE LAST PRIVATE OWNER OF MOUNT VERNON. 

Col. John Augustine Washington was born in 1820 at Blakely, the residence of his 
father in Jefferson county, W. Va. He was married in 1842 to Eleanor Love, daughter 
of Wilson Carey Seldon. He resided at Mount Vernon until a short time before the 
civil war and until it passed into the possession of the Ladies' Association under the 
control of which it is still held. 

On the breaking out of hostilities between the States, Col. Washington became a 
volunteer aide, with the rank of colonel, on the staff of Gen'l Rob't E. Lee, and was 
killed September 13, 1861, while conducting a reconnoisance on the turnpike along 
Elk Water river, about 9 miles northwest of Huttonsville, Randolph county, W. Va. 
Col. Washington was a graduate of the University of Virginia, and was a man of fine 
natural parts as well as a gentleman of culture, of a warm, impulsive temperament and 
■generous nature; in manners and hospitality a veritable type of the Virginia gentleman. 
The following facts connected with the circumstances of his death were recently related 
to the writer by Col. J. H. Morrow, late Third regiment, Ohio volunteers, who com- 
manded a brigade of four regiments, under Gen. George B. McClellan in the West 
Virginia campaign at the time, and in whose arms Colonel Washington expired, and 
with whose permission I make this statement. The old State turnpike road ran from 
Brady's toll gate, or Brady's gap, as the point was also designated, along the valley, 
following the course of Elk Water river, and being on low ground was subject to over- 
flow from the river in seasons of high water. On this account a new pike had been 
constructed on higher ground, and on this new road, at some distance belo^y Brady's 
gate, General Lee had established his headquarters. The bluffs on the opposite side of 
the river from the old road had been heavily picketed by Federal soldiers for several 
miles, extending from Col. Morrow's camp below, very nearly if not quite up to Brady's 
gate. Owing to the mountainous character of the surrounding country. General Lee 

was imperfectly informed of the location of the 
Federal forces, and in order to obtain reliable in- 
formation in this regard, directed Colonel Wash- 
ington, with a detachment, to proceed up the new 
road to the forks at or near Brady's gate and 
thence down the road, cautioning him not to 
venture beyond a certain point. Washington, 
however, it appears, probably actuated by over 
zeal and anxiety to be able to report valuable in- 
formation, went beyond the point indicated. His 
movements along the entire route on the old 
road were, it seems, fully observed by the pick- 
ets, and immediately after he finally started on 
his return a volley was delivered from the pick- 
et line and Washington was seen to, fall from his 
horse, which galloped away with the retreating 
escort. He was apparently the only one stricken 
by the volley. Colonel Morrow states that he 
was standing but a short distance from where 
Washington fell, and hurried to the spot and 
discovered him to be an officer of rank. He 
knelt by him and raised him so as to enable him 
to recline against his breast, and directed one 
of his men, standing near, and who wore a felt 
hat, to run and fill it with water from the stream. 
Col. Morrow bathed the wounded man's forehead and endeavored to press water 
between his lips from a saturated handkerchief; but he could not swallow, as blood 
was flowing from his mouth and nose, and in a few minutes later he was dead. 




COL. JOHN A. WASHINGTON. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 59 

THE RECEPTJON OR BANQUET HALL. 

This is the largest apartment in the Mansion, running through its entire width. Its 
spacious ceiling and deep cornice are richly ornamented with delicate stem and leaf 
tracery and other devices in stucco of low relief. It has a superb chimney piece of 
fine marble, carved by the Italian Sculptor Canova, the gift of a wealthy Englishman 
and a great admirer of Washington. Upon the three tablets of the frieze under the 
mantel are sculptured in high relief in white marble, pleasant domestic scenes in agri- 
cultural life. The immense grate underneath has a capacity for a large pile of fuel. 
The hearth is of white marble inlaid with ornaments of polished maroon colored tiles. 
The whole presents a most pleasing picture to the eye. The dark blue vases upon the 
mantel covered with paintings of flowers, and the bronze candelabra on each end occu- 
pied the same places when the first proprietor received his guests in this Hall. 

In pleasing array on the walls is an equestrian painting of Washington and his staff 
at Yorktown in 1781, painted by Peale. A portrait of Washington by Stuart, repre- 
senting him in military uniform at the age of forty-five. Pictures in oil and water 
colors of old ancestral places in England. 

There are engraved portraits of all the continental generals, numerous autograph let- 
ters and other mementos of olden time and historic value. Here too, may be seen a 
model of the Bastile, the notable state prison in Paris, which was demolished by the 
infuriated populace in 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution. Lafayette 
was at that time commander-in-chief of the National Guards and ordered and assisted 
in the destruction of the prison, which was regarded by the populace as the stronghold 
of tyranny. The great iron key to its dungeon was presented by Lafayette to Wash- 
ington. 

In this apartment Major Lawrence Lewis and Miss Nellie Custis were married in the 
presence of General and Mrs. Martha Washington and a large assemblage of their 
neighbors and friends on the 22nd day of February, 1799. The notable event took 
place at "early candle lighting," so we are told by the General in his diary, with 
ceremonies and display of dress, equipage and festivities the most ostentatious of any 
which had ever been known in any Virginia home. 

The bride and groom had both been of the General's household from very early 
years and both had always been the recipients of his favoring love and solicitude; and 
in this the crowning event, as the nuptial alliance was particularly pleasing to him, his 
orderings for the occasion of the wedding were most liberal and bountiful. 

For years afterward in many a home by the Potomac the neighborhood folk who 
were guests that night at the Mansion of the First President delighted to tell to the 
younger generations of the "grand" sights and personages of the occasion — of the 
stately appearance of Washington and Mrs. Washington as they received the guests— 
of the charming debonair of beautiful Nellie and her handsome soldier affiance in his buff 
and blue and lace, who had won credit on the staff of the renowned General Morgan. 

DESCENT OF THE MOUNT VERNON HOME. 

Judge Bushrod Washington who inherited on the death of Martha Washington in 
1802 about 4000 acres of the Mount Vernon estate, was the third child of John Augus- 
tine Washington, a younger brother of George Washington, born 1762. His mother 
was Hannah Bushrod of Westmoreland Co., Va. Judge Washington was an associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and resided at Mount Vernon, dis- 
pensing a liberal hospitality and keeping jntact his inherited landed estate to the time 
of his death in 1829. He was married in 1785 to Anna, daughter of Colonel Thomas 
Blackburn, of Rippon Lodge, Prince William county, Va. They had no children. 
He made a will, and following the example of his illustrious uncle, he provided for his 
wife during her life and then disposed of his estate to his nephews and nieces, giving 
specific directions, and leaving the Mansion House and Mount Vernon farm proper, 
with restricted bounds, which he specifically defined, to his nephew, John Augustine 



50 SOME OL-D HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

Washington and which was inherited by his son John Augustine, from whom the 
"Ladies' Association" purchased the home and two hundred acres in 1856 for $200,000. ^ 
Under this purchase and their Virginia charter, they hold the premises, keep them in 
order and make all regulations for the admission of visitors to the sacred precincts. 
The regent and the vice-regents of the Association, one from each state, meet annually 
at the Mansion for the transaction of business relating to their important charge, and 
their sessions are held in the great Banquet Hall. 

On every part of the premises is bestowed through their management and soHcitude a 
care and watchfulness from day to day, and from year to year which command the 
approbation of all visitors. 

The whole interior of the house in the orderly arrangement of the many attractive ob* 
jects is a study and a delight for the curious and appreciative as well as patriotic visitors. 

For the reverential pilgrim as he passes from apartment to apartment there is a feel- 
ing which brings forcibly to mind and makes almost real the fancied presence of the 
departed master whose dust lies entombed so near. 

Surely no home in the wide world ever had surroundings of landscapes fraught with 
more peaceful and quiet beauty. 

"Ever charming, ever new, 
Tiring never to the view." 

The numerous apartments of the Home known as the West Parlor, Music room, Mrs. 
Washington's sitting room, river room, Banquet Hall, Library, Washington's room, 
Lafayette's room, Mrs. Washington's room, and Nellie Custis' room are each tastefully 
furnished in antique styles and fashions, and many articles of the furniture belonged 
there in the time of the first president. After his death in 1799 they were widely scat- 
tered, but by donation of or purchase from their new possessors from time to time 
they have been restored to their old places. All the furniture of the Library room is 
original. 




POHICK CHURCH OF TRURO PARISH. 

Six miles below the Mount Vernon Mansion and four miles from the Potomac stands 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI«AND. 61 

the old Pohick Church, the second building of the parish, erected in the year of 1772. 
The first edifice was erected about the year 1732 but stood where now stands Lewis 
Chapel. The present house was built from plans furnished by Washington who was a 
member of its vestry and a frequent attendant at its services. The eccentric Mason 
L. Weems though not one of its rectors regularly ordained by the bishop of London, 
often preached there before 1800. The picture represents an old time congregation 
after service. Davis, an English traveler who passed much of his time in the neighbor- 
hood about 1800, published a book of his observations which he inscribed to Thomas 
Jefferson. He was a teacher in the family of Thomas Ellicott, a quaker and proprietor 
of the first flour mill on the Occoquan. In this book he thus describes a visit to the 
ancient parish church. "I rode to Pohick on Sunday and joined the congregation of 
parson Weems, a minister of the Episcopal Church, who was cheerful in his mien that 
he might win men to religion. A Virginia Church- yard on Sunday resembles rather 
SL race course than a sepulchral ground. The ladies come to it in carriages and the 
men after dismounting make fast their horses to the trees, I was astounded on entering 
the yard to hear *steed threaten steed with high and boastful neigh.' Nor was I less 
stunned by the rattling of carriage wheels and the cracking of whips and the vocifera- 
tions of the gentry to the negroes who accompanied them. But the discourse of Mr. 
Weems calmed every perturbation, for he preached the great doctrine of salvation as 
one who had felt its power." 

Parson Weems was .the author of a life of Washingfton, a book abounding: in many 
curious and quaint descriptions which set all the established canons of criticism and 
rules of taste at utter defiance. Weems first of all others in his little book related the 
oft heard story of the "little hatchet." He little thought when the story shaped itself 
in his imagination, that it was to descend to posterity and be ground into the heads of 
children in the nursery,* as a piece of immortal and instructive truth. The remains of 
the eccentric parson, book peddler and fiddler are in the old family burying ground of 
Bell Air, not far from Dumfries. Since the civil war, by the munificence of various in- 
dividuals, the old church has been restored to its original appearance and condition, 
and regular service is held within its walls. 

INAUGURATION OF WASHINGTON AS FIRST PRESIDENT OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 

"It would seem, from all we have learned of Washington's early and later career, 
that Providence had specially appointed him by birth and education to be the leader 
and director in the Western world, of the revolution which was to open the way for 
the founding there of a new and free English speaking nation. Every factor, whether 
of lineage or culture in his admirably balanced character, as well as every aspiration 
of his heart from his cradle to his grave is of exceeding great interest to the world. 
Although deprived of a father's care at the age of eleven years, he was, however espe- 
cially blest in having such a mother as the noble Mary Washington, who conscientiously 
discharged her sacred duty as his guardian, counsellor and friend. Hence, filial rev- 
erence grew with his growth and strenp-thened with his maturing years into fixed prin- 
ciples, making him throughout his eveutful life loyal to every virtue and heroic in every 
trust. He seems to have had no idle boy life, but was a man with manly instincts and 
ambitions from his youth. There came a sunshiny day in April, 1789, when George 
Washington, President-elect of the United States by the unanimous voice of the people, 
stood on the balcony in front of the Senate Chamber in the Old Federal Hall on Wall 
street to take the oath of office. An immense multitude filled the streets and the win- 
dows and roofs of the adjoining houses. Clad in a suit of dark brown cloth of American 
manufacture, with hair powdered, and with white silk stockings, silver shoe buckles, and 
steel-hilted dress sword, the. hero who had led the colonies to their independence came 
modestly forward to take up the burdens that peace had brought. Profound silence 
fell upon the multitude as Washington responded solemnly to the reading of the oath 
of office, "I swear — so help me, God." 

Then, amid cheers, the display of flags, the ringing of all the bells in the city, our 



62 



SOMK OI«D HISTORIC I«ANDMARKS 



first President turned to face the duties his country had imposed upon him. In sight 
of those who would have made an idol of him, Washington's first act was to seek aid 
of other strength than his own. In the calm sunshine of that April afternoon, fragrant 
with the presence of seed-time and the promise of harvest, we leave him on his knees 
in Old St. Paul's bowed with the simplicity of a child at the feet of the Supreme Ruler 
of, the Universe. 

MARY, THE MOTHER. 
William Ball the first immigrant of the name and family to Virginia came to the bor- 
ders of the Rappahannock river in Lancaster county and established the plantation of 
Millenback. Capt. Joseph, his son, became possessor of the plantation of "Epping 
Forest" in the same neighborhood. He was married in 1675 to Elizabeth Romney. 
By her he had five children, Joseph, Elizabeth married to Rev. John Carnegie, Han- 




'^c^ 33c J£ 



MOTHER OF WASHINGTON. 
Courtesy of Mr. Henry Dudley Teetor. 
nah married to Raleigh Travers, Anne married to Col. Edward Conway, and Esther 
married to Raleigh Chinn. About 1707 or 8 his wife died and he married a second 
time to the widow Mary Johnson by whom he had one daughter Mary, who from her 
comeliness was called the rose of Epping Forest. Mary lost her father before she was 
five years old. Her mother was again married for the third time to Capt. Richard 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI«AND. 63! 

Hewes whose home was at Sandy Point near the mouth of Yeocomico river in the 
county of Northumberland. Here in all probability young Mary Ball passed the most 
of her single years with her mother, and in companionship with her half sister Eliza- 
beth Johnson until March 6, 1730, when she became the wife of Capt. Augustine Wash- 
ington of Wakefield, Westmoreland county, Va. He died in 1743. His widow Mary 
remained on the Wakefield homestead until 1775, when at her son George's request 
she came up to Fredericksburg where she could be very near to her daughter Betty 
Lewis, wife of Col. Fielding Lewis. 

As time passed, her children and grand children made her frequent visits and had 
care that she wanted for nothing to add to her comfort. The General had repeatedly 
urged her to make Mount Vernon her home but she always declined his requests. 

She passed away Aug. 25, 1789. A granite obelisk 50 feet high with the simple in- 
scription "Mary, the Mother of Washington" was furnished and dedicated to her mem- 
ory, near her home in 1894. At the dedication of the monument it was said: 

"You have reared this beautiful obelisk to one who was *the light of the dwelling' in 
a plain rural colonial home. Her history hovers around it. She was wife, mother, and 
widow. She nursed a hero at her breast. At her knee she trained to the love and 
fear of God and to the kindly virtues, — honor, truth, and valor, the lion of the tribe 
that gave to America liberty and independence. This is her title to renown. It is 
enough. 

"Eternal dignity and heavenly grace dwell upon the brow of this blessed mother; nor 
burnished gold, nor sculptured stone, nor rhythmic praise could add one jot or tittle to 
her chaste glory. She was simply a private citizen. No sovereign's crown rested on 
her brow. She did not lead an army, like Joan of Arc, nor slay a tyrant, like Charlotte 
Cqrday. She was not versed in letters nor in arts. She was not an angel of mercy, like 
Florence Nightingale, nor the consort of a hero, like the mother of I^apoleon. But for 
the light that streamed from the deeds of him she bore, we would doubtless have never 
heard the name of Mary Washington, and the grass upon this grave had not been dis- 
turbed by curious footsteps nor reverential hands." — Daniel's Oration^ 

MARY WASHINGTON. 
The Rappahannock ran in the reign of good Queen Anne, • 

All townless from the mountains to the sea. 
Old Jamestown was forlorn and King Williamsburg scarce born — 

'Twas the year of Blenheim's victory. 
Whose trumpets died away in far Virginia. 

In the cabin of an old tobacco farm. 
Where a planter's little wife to a little girl gave life, 
And the fire in the chimney made it warm. 

It was little Mary Ball, and she had no fame at all, 

But the world was all the same as if she had; 
For she had the right to breathe and to tottle and to teethe^ 

And to love some other cunning little lad; 
Though he proved a widower, it was all the same to her. 

For he gave her many a daughter and a son, 
And the family was large and the oldest, little George, 

Was the hope of little Widow Washington. 

The name resounded not in time we have forgot, 

It was nothing more than Smith or Jones or Ball; 
And George's big half brothers had the call on their stepmother's 

Affection, like the babes of her own stall; 
They paid the larger taxes, and the Ayletts and Fairfaxes 

Received them in their families and lands, 
While the widow thought upon it, she rode in her sunbonnet. 

Midst her slaves who tilled her gulleys and her sands. 

Till they sought to take her George upon the royal barge, 

And give him a commission and a crest. 
When her heart cried out, "O no I something says he must not go: 

My first-bom is a father to the rest." 
She could find him little schooling, but he did not learn much fooling,. 



64 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS. 

And he dragged the mountain o'er with chain and rod, 
The Blue Ridge was his cover and the Indian his lover 
And his duty was his Sovereign and God. 

Still her rival in his heart was the military art. 

And the epaulettes she dreaded still were there, 
There are households still where glory is a broken-hearted story» 

And the drum is a mockery and snare. 
From the far off Barbadoes, from the yell of Frenchmen foes, 

From the ghost of Braddock's unavailing strife, 
She beheld her boy return and his bridal candles burn, 

And a widow like herself became his wife. 

By Potomac's pleasant tide he was settled with his bride. 

Overseeing horses, hounds and cocks and wards. 
And it seemed but second nature to go to the legislature 

And play his hand at politics and cards, 
Threescore and ten had come when the widow heard the drum. 

"My Godl" she cried, "what demon is at large?" 
'Tis the conflict with the king, 'tis two world's mustering. 

And the call of duty comes to mother's George. 

^•O war I To plague me sol Must my first-born ever go!" 

Her answer is the bugle and the gun. 
The town fills up again with the horse of Mercer's men. 

And the name they call aloud is Washington. 
In the long, distracting years none may count the widow's tears; 

She is banished o'er the mountains from her farm; 
She is old and lives with strangers, while ride wide the king's red rangers 

And the only word is "Arml" and "Arm!" and "Arm!" 

^'Come home and see your son, the immortal Washington, 

H^ has beat the king and mighty Cornwallis!" 
They crowd her little door and she sees her boy once more; 

But there is no glory in him like his kiss. 
The marquises and dukes, in their orders and perukes. 

The aides-de-camp, the generals and all, 
Stand by to see and listen how her aged eyes will glisten 

To hear from him the tale of Yorktown's fall. 

Upon that, her lips are dumb to the trumpet and the drum; 

All their pageantry is vanity and stuff. 
So he leans upon her breast, she cares nothing for the rest — 

It is he and that is victory enough! 
In the life that mothers give, is their thirst that man shall live 

And the species never lose the legacy. 
To live again on earth and repeat the wondrous birth — 

That is glory — ^that is immortality. 

Unto Fredericksburg at last, when her fourscore years are past, 

Now gray himself, he rides all night to say: 
"Madame — smother — ere I go to become the President 

I have come to kiss you till another day." 
"No, George; the sight of t.hee, which I can hardly see, 

Is all for all — good-by; I can be brave. 
Fulfill your great career as I have fulfilled my sphere; 

My station can be nothing but the grave." 

The mother's love sank down, and its sunset on his crown 

Shone like the dying beams of perfect day; 
He has none like her to mix in the draught of politics 

The balm that softens injury away. 
But he was his mother's son till his weary race was done; 

Her gravity, her peace, her golden mien 
Shed on the state the good of her sterling womanhood, 

And like her own, was George's closing scene. 

George Alfred Townsend, 

When Mary Washington died, August 25, 1789, aged eighty-three years, her body 
was buried on the spot chosen by herself on the home plantation, Kenmore, on the Rap- 
pahannock. It was a favorite place of resort during the last years of her life, on a beau- 
tiful eminence overlooking the town in which so much of her life was passed, and 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND, 65 

within sight of her own house and that of her daughter, Betty Lewis. It is a lovely 
spot, in a large field, not far from the peaceful Rappahannock, with the famous Marye 
Heights as a background, a pretty clump of cottonwood trees surrounding the lonely 
grave. The view in every direction from this spot is at once beautiful and inspiring. 
Small wonder it is that the woman, who appreciated everything in nature that led the 
soul to nobler and better thoughts should have loved this spot in life and preferred it 
aS|a final resting place to the darkness of the family vault in Westmoreland county, 
where the body of her husband was laid. 

WASHINGTON'S HABITS, MANNERS AND APPEARANCE. 

The work which Washington accomplished in the course of his public and private du- 
ties was simply immense. And when we estimate the volume of his official papers — his 
vast foreign, public and private correspondence — we can scarcely believe that the space 
of one man's life could have comprehended the performance of so many varied things. 
But he brought order, method and rigid system to help him. These accessories he re- 
lied on, and they led him successfully through. He rose early. His toilet was soon 
made. A single servant prepared his clothes and laid them in readiness. He shaved 
and dressed himself, but gave very little of his precious time to matters of that sort, 
though remarkable for the neatness and propriety of his apparel. His clothes were 
made after the old fashioned cut, of the best, though of the plainest materials. The 
style of his household and equipage when President, corresponded with the dignity of 
his exalted station. About sunrise he invariably visited and inspected the stables. 
Then he betook himself to his library till the hour of breakfast. This meal was plain 
and simple, and with but little change from time to time. Indiah cakes, honey, and 
tea formed this temperate repast. On rising from the table, if there were guests, and 
it 'was seldom otherwise, books and papers were offered for their amusement, and re- 
questing them to take care of themselves, the illustrious farrner proceeded to his daily 
tour over his farms which sometimes extended a score of miles. He rode unattended 
by servants, opening the gates, letting down and putting up bars as he visited his la- 
borers and inspected their work. Oftentimes when his adopte'd daughter, Nellie Cus- 
tis, had grown up, she accompanied him in his rounds. 

Washington was a progressive farmer and introduced many new methods in the til- 
lage of his lands. His afternoon was usually devoted to his library; at night, his la- 
bors over, he would join his family and friends at the tea-table and enjoy their so- 
ciety for several hours, and about nine o'clock retired to bed. When without com- 
pany he frequently read aloud to his family circle from newspapers and entertaining 
books. 

Washington liked the cheerful converse of the social board. After his retirement 
from public life, all the time he could spare from his library was devoted to the im- 
provement of his estate and the elegant and tasteful arrangement of his house and 
grounds. The awe that was felt by every one upon the first approach to Washington 
evidences the imposing air and sublimity which belong to real greatness. Even the 
frequenters of the courts of princes were sensible of this exalted feeling when in the 
presence of the hero, who, formed for the highest destinies, bore an impress from nature 
which declared him to be among the noblest of her works. 

Washington at the age of forty-three was appointed commander-in-chief. In stature 
he a little exceeded six feet; his limbs were sinewy and well-proportioned; his chest 
br'oad; his figure stately, blending dignity of presence with ease. His robust consti- 
tution had been tried and invigorated by his early life in the wilderness, his habits of 
occupations out-of-doors, and his rigid temperance; so that few equalled him in strength 
of arms or power of endurance. His complexion was florid; his hair dark brown; his 
head in its shape perfectly round. His broad nostrils seemed formed to give expression 
and escape to scornful anger. His dark blue eyes, which were deeply set, had an ex- 
pression of resignation, and an earnestness that was almost sadness. 

THE FIRST CELEBRATION OF THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL 

CONSTITUTION. 

It is remarkable that the first report of a celebration in Alexandria in any way con- 
nected with national affairs was reported by no less a hand than that of General George 



66 SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

Washington. When the news reached that city that the requisite nine States had ac- 
ceded to the Federal Constitution, the people of Alexandria immediately ordered, a 
festival, and Washington, after attending it, addressed his friend, Charles Pinckney, 
under date of Mount Vernon, June 28, 1788, as follows: 

"No sooner had the citizens of Alexandria, who are Federal to a man, received the 
intelligence by the mail last night, than they determined to devote the day to festivity. 
But their exhilaration was greatly increased, and a much keener zest given to their En- 
joyments, by the arrival of an express, two hours before day, with the news that the 
Convention of New Hampshire, had on the 21st instant, acceded to the new confed- 
eracy by a majority of eleven voices. Thus the citizens of Alexandria when convened, 
constituted the first assembly in America who had the pleasure of pouring a libation to 
the prosperity of the ten States which had already adopted the general government;" 
and, after speculating upon the course of the remaining States, he added: "I have just 
returned from assisting at the entertainment." These citizens had a dinner at the 
City Hotel, which is still standing. 

LIEUTENANT GENERAL WASHINGTON. 

In 1798 during the war between France and England in the administration of 
President John Adams, the French government had authorized the capture and confis- 
cation of all vessels of neutral powers trading with England. Against this course the 
protests and demands of the United States through its envoys were treated with indif- 
ference and even insolence, provoking to the commencement of hostilities by two 
naval engagements. In the extraordinary crisis. Congress then in session in Philadel- 
phia authorized the enrolling of 10,000 officers, musicians and privates to enforce its 
demands if n^ecessary by actual war and George Washington was appointed and com- 
missioned July 3, 1798, Lieutenant General to command the provisional army. Happily 
however, the threatened conflict was averted, mainly through the personal intervention 
of Dr. George Logan, a United States Senator, and a member of the society of Friends. 
His peaceful and philanthropic influence with the French Court prevailed against its 
arbitrary measures, but his unofficial interference cost him a reprimand from Congress. 

THE PASSING AWAY OF WASHINGTON. 

"How sleep the brave who sink to rest 
With all their country's honors blest." 

There came to Mount Vernon a bleak, forbidding winter day, December 14, 1799. 
Washington was engaged in planning and superintending some improvements on his 
estate which occupied his presence till a late hour in the evening, when, on returning 
to the mansion, he complained of a cold and sore throat, having been wet through by 
mists and chilling rain. He passed the night with feyerish excitement, and his ailment 
increased in intensity during the next day and until midnight, when, surrounded by his 
sorrowing household and the medical attendant, he passed gently and serenely from 
the scenes of earth to the realities of the great unknown. He was in the sixty-eighth 
year of his age. His faculties were strong and unimpaired to the last. He was con- 
scious from the first of his malady, that his end was near, and he waited for the issue 
with great composure and self-possession. "I am going," he observed to those around 
him "But I have no fears." His mission had been well and nobly accomplished. His 
great life-work, the influence of which will reach to the remotest period of time, was 
accomplished. 

At the supreme moment Mrs. Washington sat in silent grief at his bedside. "Is he 
gone?" she asked in a firm and collected voice. The physician, unable to speak, gave 
a silent signal of assent. '"Tis well," she added in the same untremulous utterance; 
"all is over now. I shall soon follow him; I have no more trials to pass through." 
She followed three years later. They both rest side by side in the hew burial vault at 
the old homestead by the river. 

The following quaint announcements of Washmgton's death from the newspapers of 
this locality will be of interest: 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AnD. 



67 



The Georgetown Centinel of\ Liberty ^ a semi-weekly, in its issue of December 17, 
1799, thus announces to the country and the world the death of General George Wash- 
ington. 'This mournful event occurred on Saturday evening about eleven o'clock. 
On the preceding night he was attacked with a violent inflammatory affection of the 
throat, which in less than twenty-four hours put a period to his life. If a long life de* 
voted to the most important public services; if the most eminent usefulness, true great-^ 
ness, and consummate glory; if being an honor to our race and a model to future ages J 
if all these could rationally suppress our grief, never perhaps ought we to mourn so^ 
little. But as they are most powerful motives to gratitude, attachment, and venera-* 
tion for the living and of sorrow at their departure, never ought America and the 
world to mourn more than on this melancholy occasion." 

The Alexandria Times and District of Columbia Advertiser, of Friday, December 20, 
1799, of which one half sheet is all that is known to be in existence, thus announced 
Washington's death and funeral: "The effect of the sudden news of his death upon 
the inhabitants of Alexandria can better be conceived than expressed. At first a gen- 
eral disorder, wildnes.s, and consternation pervaded the town. The tale appeared as 
an illusory dream, as the raving of a sickly imagination. But these impressions soon' 
gave place to sensations of the most poignant sorrow and extreme regret. On Monday" 
and Wednesday the stores were all closed and all business suspended, as if each family 
had lost its father. From the time of his death to the tim^ of his interment the bells= 
continued to toll, the shipping in the harbor wore their colors half mast high, audi 
every public expression of grief was observed. On Wednesday, the inhabitants of the? 
town, of the county, and the adjacent parts of Maryland proceeded to Mount Vernon 
to perform the last offices to the body of their illustrious neighbor. All' the military 
within a considerable distance and three Masonic lodges were present. The concourse 
of people was immense. Till the time of interment the corpse was placed on the por- 
tico fronting the river, that every citizen might have an opportunity of taking a last 
farewell of the departed benefactor." 



WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY AND BIRTHNIGHT BALL. 
FEBRUARY 22, 1732. 



What day is this of proud acclaim, 
Of rolling drum and trumpet strain. 

And banners floating on the breeze, 
And cannon booming loud again? 

A people come with grateful praise, 

And hearts in unison, 
As well befits to celebrate 

The birth of Washington! 

From East and West and North and South, 
Throughout our broad domain. 



The plaudits of a nation swell 
O'er mountain, hill, and plain. 

Not for ambition's selfish deeds — 
Not for the conq'ror's name, 

This day the glorious mede is given, 
But for the nobler fame, 

By man world wide accorded 
And grander grown Tt)y time — 

The fame that comes of duty 
And life of deeds sublime. 



At the close of the Revolution commenced the birthday celebrations and birthnight 
balls in honor of the successful chief. They soon became general all over the republic. 
The first of these was held in Alexandria. 

In the large cities where public balls were customary, the birthnight ball in the old- 
en time was the gala assembly of the season, and was attended by an array of fashion 
and beauty. 

The first President always attended on the birthnight. The etiquette was, not to 
open the festivities until the arrival of him in whose honor it was given; but so remark- 
able was the punctuality of Washington in all his engagements, whether for business or 
pleasure, that he was never waited for a moment, in appointments for either. 

The minuet, now obsolete, for the graceful and elegant dancing of which Washing- 
ton was conspicuous, in the vice-regal days of Lord Botetourt in Virginia, declined 



68 



SOME OI.D HISTORIC I.ANDMARKS 



after the Revolution. The commander-in-chief danced for his last time a minuet in 
1781 at the ball given in Fredericksburg in honor of the French and American officers 
on their return from the triumphs of Yorktown. The last birthnight he attended was 
in Alexandria, February 22, 1798. He always appeared to enjoy the gay and festive 
scenes of those occasions, remaining till a late hour with the participants, his neighbors 
and friends; for, remarkable as he was for reserve, and the dignified gravity inseparable 
from his nature, he ever looked with most kind and favoring eye upon this rational and 
elegant pleasure of life. 

MARTHA DANDRIDGE. 

Martha Dandridge, daughter of Col. John 
Dandridge of New Kent county, Va., was born 
May, 1732. Her education was quite liberal 
for the times. It was said she was remarkable 
among the belles who graced the courts of 
the Vice regal governors, Gooche and Din- 
widdie, for her beauty and accomplishments. 
She was married first to Col. Daniel Parke 
Custis of Arlington, on the eastern shore of 
Virginia who was son of John Custis one of 
the King's council in the province and son-in- 
law of Col. Daniel Parke, a native of York 
county, Va., where he possessed large estates 
but spent most of his time in England. He 
was a favorite aide to the Duke of Marlborough 
in the battle of Blenheim, Germany, which was 
fought on the second of August. 1704. Marl- 
borough commanded the English troops and 
Marshall Tallard those of France and Ba- 
varia. Tallard was defeated and slain with a 
loss of 27000 slain and 13000 made prisoners. 
By this victory the electorate of Bavaria be- 
came the prize of the victors. Col. Parke 
had the honor of bearing the joyful tidings to 
Queen Anne who gave him her miniature por- 
trait set in diamonds, a thousand pounds sterling and made him governor of the Lee- 
ward Island. His portrait as delineated by the artist Kneeler is that of a courtly gen- 
tleman with coat of crimson velvet embroidered with gold, a waistcoat of silver gray 
fabric with richly wrought figures of gold, and sash of green silk and gold. 

Daniel Parke Custis at the time of his marriage with Martha Dandridge was an ex- 
tensive tobacco planter in New Kent county on the Pamunkey river. He died at the 
age of thirty leaving his widow a large fortune in lands, slaves and currency. She 
did not remain a widow long. About two years after her husband's death she made 
the acquaintance of Col. George Washington whose praise on account of his recent ex- 
ploits, was on all lips, and they were united in marriage January 6th, 1759, four years 
after the Braddock war. She brought to her second husband beside a large land estate, 
thirty thousand pounds in cash, consisting of certificates of deposit in the bank of Eng- 
land. Three months after the marriage of the twain, they took up their abode at 
Mount Vernon and there continued to live the rest of their lives. 

The marriage nuptials were celebrated in the little parlor chamber near the White 
House, the hom'e of the widow Custis on Pamunkey river. The gay governor of the 
provinces was gorgeously arrayed in scarlet and gold. Col. Washington was all glorious 
in a costume of blue and silver with scarlet trimmings and with gold buckles on his 
knees and on his shoes. The bride wore silk and satin brocade and laces. She had 
pearl ear drops and pearls about her neck. There was plenty of good eating and drink- 
ing in conformity with old time Virginia hospitality. 




WIDOW MARTHA CUSTIS AT 30. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARVI^AND. 

The last surviving child of Mrs. Washington 
by her first marriage was appointed colonel to 
Gen. .Washington and made an aide on his staff. 
On the march to Yorktown he was seized with 
camp fever and died shortly after. He left four 
children, Elizabeth, born Aug., 1776, Martha, born 
Dec, 1777, Eleanor, born March, 1779, George 
W. Parke Custis, born April, 1781. Elizabeth was 
married to Thomas Law who was secretary to 
Warren Hastings in India and who bought a 
large scope of land and with others built many 
houses in Washington just after it became the 
National Capital. Martha was married to Thomas 
Peters. Eleanor was married to Major Lawrence 
iTewisT son of Fielding Lewis and Betty, a sister 
of George Washington, and George W. Parke 
Custis was married to Mary Lee Fitzhugh, whom 
he survived. His only daughter Mary was married 
to Capt. Robert E. Lee of Confederate fame. 

During Washington's absence from Mount Vernon while 
in command of the armies of the revolution, Mrs. Washing- 
ton was often with him. During the winter at Valley Forge 
she shared the privations of the officers and ministered faith- 
fully to the sick and wounded of the troops. She survived 
the General two and a half years, dying at Mount Vernon, 
May, 1802, and her remains He in the vault at that place. 



69 




WHEN MARTHA WASHINGTON WAS 

EIGHT YEARS OLD. 

Courtesy of Col. Henry T. Chapman, 

New York City. 




MARTHA WASHINGTON AT 50. 



70 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



What Martha Washington needed the First Year of her Marriage 
Ordered from London by Col Washington. 1769. 

The following is an exact copy of this memoranda, 
which is cui^ously quaint: 

I Cap, handkerchief and tucker. 



Fine lawn aprons. 
Double handkerchiefs. 
Pairs white silk hose. 
Pairs fine cotton hose. 
Pairs thread hose. 
Pair of black satin shoes 

fives. 
Pair of white satin shoes. 
Pair calamanco shoes. 
Fashionable hat or bonnet. 
Pairs of kid gloves. 
Pairs of mits. 
Breast knots. 



I Dozen silk stay laces. 

I Black mask. 

1 Dozen fashionable cambric handkerchiefs. 

2 Pairs neat small scissors. 
I Pound sewing silk. 

I Box of real miniken pins and hair pins. 

4 Pieces of tape. 

6 Pounds of perfumed powder, 

of the smallest i Piece narrow white satin ribbon. 

I Tuckered petticoat of a fashionable color. 

1 Silver tabby petticoat. 

2 Handsome breast flowers. 
9 Pounds of sugar candy. 

So Martha used perfumed powder, breast knots, 

silken hose, and satin shoes like any modern lady 
who makes the slightest pretentions to fine dressing. 



WASHINGTON'S SERVANTS. 

Just before the war it was not uncommon to read in the newspapers the announce- 
ment of the death of "another of Washington's Servants. Then almost every octo- 
genarian darkey in "Old Fawfax" claimed to have belonged to "Mars Joge," and 
could tell wonderful stories of old times at Mount Vernon. But of late no mention has 
been made of these worthies. All of them have passed over the borders and joined 
the ranks of the plantation armies beyond. 

To the latest generation the descendants of the slave families of the Mount Vernon 
estate have great pride in telling that they are "some of dat breed." In this connec- 
tion we cannot refrain from giving to the reader the ballad of "Thornton Gray," one 
of "de old sarvents" whom the writer once intervie^yed, and who was reputed to have 
been an offshoot of African royalty. 




^*^J^^l<'i^rrr'-■ 



■^i,/ 



^0.4.- -'V __ 



THORNTON GRAY, ONE OF WASHINGTON'S "SARVENTS." 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI«AND. 



71 



He was an ancient colored man, 

His age one hundred ten; 
He hailed from old Virginny, 

And once a slave had been. 

His hair was thin and silver'd, 

His brow with furrows set, 
Features fine cut and moulded, 

And face as black as jet. 

In olden times, the story ran, 

That kings and noblemen, 
In Afric's sultry climate, 
His forefathers had been; 

And as I gazed upon him. 

And closely scann'd his mien. 
It seemed a trace of royalty 
Full well might yet be seen. 

He bow'd him low and tip*d his hat, 

And laid aside his hoe, 
The while I briefly interviewed 

About the long ago. 

"My name is Thornton Gray," he said; 

"Dey calls me 'Uncle Thorn,* 
Lived mos'ly in Old Fairfax, 

In Wes'mo'land was born. 

**Was ris by Mars* Wilkers'n; 

Great farmer, may depend; 
Own'd all de big plantation 

Dey call'd de River Bend.* 

**Made heaps of fine tobacco. 
Had stores of corn and wheat; 

Hard labor, mind you; but de han*s 
Had plenty den to eat. 

"Times aint de same as den dey was; 

'Pears like dey*s chang'd all round; 
De folks dat lived when I was young. 

All dead and under ground. 

"'Taint long I knows for me to stay 

Here after all de res', 
I only waits de Lord's good time, 

Sho'ly he knows de bes'. 

"I soon shall yhere de trumpeter 
Blow on his trumpet horn, 



An* call me home to glory. 
An' de riserickshum morn." 

My good freed man, to him I said. 

Of age, one hundred ten. 
You might relate much history. 

Of former times and men. 

I wait to hear the story, 

Which none can tell but you, 
For none have lived five score of years 
And ten more added to. 

You must have seen the Britishers, 
And heard the cannons roar; 

"Why bless you, chil', was mos' a man, 
And heard and seen de war." 

And Washington, you must have seen. 

That great and good hero, 
Who led the Continentalers ! 

And fought our battles through. 

"Why surely I has seen him. 
And know'd him well; for, boss, 

I was de Gineral's sarvent; 
Took care de Gineral's hoss! 

Fine man he was for sartin, 
Good friend to all de poor — 

Dar's none in dese days like him, 
And none, folks said, before." 

Enough, I said! I'm well repaid; 

And grasped his trembling hand — 
No honor hath a man like this. 

In all our glorious land! 

No further did I question him 

About the long ago. 
And when I said to him good-by, 

He took his garden hoe. 

Who hath beheld our* Washington, 
And lived to tell us so, 
Deserves as well a story 
As many others do. 

And hence our homely ballad, 

A tribute slight to pay 
To this departed colored man, 

And ancient — Thornton Gray. 



The James, the York, the Rappahannock and the Potomac flow from the Blue Ridge 
and the Alleghanies through their rich and lovely valleys and mingle yith the Atlantic 
v^aves and form the Chesapeake, which seems a sea of diamonds with its phosphores- 
cent lights scintillating under the twinkling stars. Virginia has nearly 2000 milps of 
navigable tide waters, abounding in fish and oysters and other luxuries of the sea. 

Along these beautiful valleys are some grand old mansions and magnificent planta- 
tions. At the gate of one of these old homes, we saw not long ago a relic of a past 
age — an old decrepit darkey, leaning against the fence looking with sad and wistful 
eyes over the broad fields and beautiful grounds. Years had passed since I fiad been 
in this part of old Virginia, and I had no idea of meeting any one I knew. He came 
to me with feeble steps and bent form; and as he looked back through the years of long 
separation he called me to memory and through streaming tears, said. "Lord 
Massa, has you come back to de old home agin after so many long years?" It was old 
uncle Ephraim. I asked what he was doing there. "Laws, chil', I was just looking 



72 



SOME OI^D HISTORIC I«ANDMARKS 




"it was old uncle ephraim" 



!?:>,&tf^|s4i 



■mM^ 




UNCLE JOE AND AUNT DORCUS 
DEY DANCED DE JIG." 



ober de old place once more; old Mistis and old Marster lies yonder in de garden, and 
all de young folks done gone way off. I is de las one ob de old plantation stock lef. 
I was thinking ob dem big old corn shuckings we uster have in old Marster's time, 
when I was de foreman on de plantation. Ah! dem was grand times befo' de war! 
Big corn shuckings all de fall, plenty good things, wind up wid a great big supper, 
and den old Uncle Joe and Aunt Dorcus dey danced de jig for de white folks. Laws, 
chile, dem was good old times befo' de war! Possums ain't fat nor taters ain't sweet 
and juicy now like dey was in dem good old days befo' de war." 



«;'^ 




"dar com' mars' wash'ngton. run chil' an' open de gate.' 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND, 

WASHINGTON'S BARN. 



m 



Washington had an inventive as well as a systematic and thorough turn of mind, and 
was always devising some new and better method for the lessenrng^ of the labors of the 
hand's on his estate. He greatly improved many of the unwieldly implements then in* 
use, such, as ploughs, harrows, hoes, and axes; for he had carpenter, smith, and smithy- 
always at hand to materialize his ideas. 




WASHINGTON S SIXTEEN-SIDED BARN. 



His circular, or sixteen-sided barn of brick and frame, sixty feet in diameter 
and two stories high, was the wonder of his neighbors. The threshing or treading out 
floor, ten feet wide was in the second story, all round the centre mows; and the oxen or 
horses were taken up to it by an inclined plane. The floor of it was of open slats, that 
the grains might, without the straw, fall through to the floor b€low. Later, he had 
constructed, a device, worked by horse power, by which the heads 'of wheat sheaves^ 
held on a table against rapidly revolving arms, were beaten out: this was probably the 
first step, after the hoof and flail, towards the power-thresher of the present day. 

WASHINGTON'S COACH. 

Made in England, 1789. The body and wheels were of cream color, then very 
fashionable, with gift relief, and the body was suspended upon the old-fashioned 
heavy leathern straps, like those of the former day stage coaches. Part of the sides 
and front were shaded by green Venetian blinds, enclosed by black leather curtains. 
The lining was of black, glossy leather. The Washington arms were handsomely 
painted on the doors, with the characteristic motto, **Exitus, acta probaf* — the result 
proves actions. Upon each of the four panels of the coach was a picture of the four 
. seasons. Usually, the General drove but four horses, but on going from Mount Vernon* 
to the seat of government, at Philadelphia or New York, he drove six. 



74 



SOME OI^D HISTORIC I«AKDMARKS 



A LOVE SONNET BY WASHINGTON AT THE AGE OF SIXTEEN. 

FROM HIS DIARY. 

Oh ye gods, why should my poor restless heart By your bright sparkling eyes I was undone; 



Stand to oppose your might and power, 
At last surrendered to Cupid's feather'd dart, 

And now lays bleeding every hour 
For her that's pitiless of my grief and woes. 

And will not on me pity take. 
He sleeps amongst my most inveterate foes. 

And with gladness never wish to wake. 
In deluding sleeping let my eyelids close. 

That in an enraptured dream I may 
In a soft, lulling sleep and gentle repose 

Possess those joys denied by day 



Rays you have; more transparent than the sun. 
Amidst its glory in the rising day 

None can you equal in your bright array; 
Constant in your calm and unspotted mind; 

Equal to all, but will to none prove kind, 
So knowing, seldom one so young, you'll find, 

Ahl woe's me, that I should love and conceal, 
Long have I wish'd, but never dared reveal. 

Even though severely love's pains I feel; 
Xerxes the great, was not free from Cupid's dart. 

And all the greatest heroes felt the smart 



A LOVE LETTER WRITTEN AT SIXTEEN, FROM HIS DIARY. 

Dear Sally: — ^This comes to Fredericksburg fair in hopes of meeting with a speedy passage to you if 
your not there, which hope you'l get shortly, altho I am almost discouraged from writing to you, as this 
IS my fourth to you since I received any from yourself. I hope you'll not make the old proverb good, out 
of sight out of mind, as its one of the greatest pleasures I can yet forsee of having in Fairfax, in often 
hearing from you, hope you'l not deny me. 

I pass the time much more agreeably than I imagined I should, as ther's a very agreeable young lady 
lives in the same house where I reside, (Colonel George Fairfax's wife's sister), tha't in a great measure 
cheats my sorrow and dejectedness, tho not so as to draw my thoughts altogether from your parts. I 
could wish to be with you down there with all my heart, but as a thing almost impracticable shall rest 

myself where I am with hopes of shortly having some' min- 
utes of your transactions in your parts which will be very 
welcomely received by your 

Geo. W. 

EXTRACTS FROM WASHINGTON'S DIARY. 

1773. 
May I. Went fishing in Broad Creek. 

April 13, 1774. In company with Colonel Basset went 
fishing in Broad Creek. 

1774. 

Went to Pohick Church with Mr. Custis. 

Went to the barbecue at Accotink. 

Colonel Pendleton, Mr. Henry, and Colonel Mason came 
in the evening and stayed all night. 

Colonel Pendleton, Mr. Henry, and I set out on our jour- 
ney to Philadelphia to attend the Congress. 

Dined with Mr. Pleasants (a Quaker). 

Dined with Joseph Pemberton (a Quaker). 

Went to Quaker meeting in the forenoon, and to St, Peters 
in the afternoon. 

Went to Christ Church, and dined at the New Tavern. 

Went to the Presbyterian meeting in the forenoon, and to 
the Romish church in the afternoon. 

Dined at the New Tavern with the Pennsylvania Assem- 
bly, and went to the Ball afterwards. 

MOUNT VERNON DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 

The Mount Vernon home during the four years of the civil war was considered by 
the soldiers of both armies as sacred and inviolable ground and consequently not to be 
invaded by the spoiler. The thunders of its neighboring battles echoed over its beau- 
tiful and quiet seclusion and armed fleets sailed by its still shores on their swift errands 
of death. It was well that the great hero and patriot after his patriotic services and 
victories, heard and saw them not — that he knew nothing of their direful and baleful 
import. His dying hope and prayer had been that peace and fraternal accord might 
reign for long generations within the borders of the land he had loved and defended 
so well. All that was at an end. The internal strife he had so much feared and de- 




WASHINGTON AT THREE SCORE YEARS. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



75 



precated had come to his country. The dragon folds of hostile armies were circling 
*he hills and winding over the fair valleys and plains. 

THE LAST RESTING PLACE OF WASHINGTON. 

Speak low! — the place is holy to the breath Tread lightly! — for the sanctity of death 

Of awful harmonies, of whispered prayer; Broods with a voiceless influence in the air. 

The last resting place of Washington is in a secluded hollow at the upper entrance to 
the deep wooded dell along which lies the pathway from the river. The spacious vault 
is built of bricks with an arched roof; its iron door opens into a vestibule, also built 
•of bricks, in which seen through a picketed iron gate are two marble sarcophagi con- 
taining respectively: the one on the right the remains of Washington and the one on 
the left those of Martha his wife. Over the vault door in a stone panel are the words. 
^*I am the resurrection, and the life; He that believeth in me though He were dead; 
Yet shall He Live." The vestibule is twelve feet high. The gateway is flanked by 
brick pilasters surmounted by a stone coping which covers a gothic arch. Over this 
arch is a white marble tablet inscribed, "Within this enclosure rest the remains of 
General George Washington." The coffin or tomb of Mrs. Washington is perfectly 
plain with a simple inscription. That of the General is plain also, except the lid on 
^hich is represented in relief the American shield over the flag of the United States. 
The latter is hung in festoons, and the whole is surmounted as a sort of crest by an 
eagle with open wings perched upon the superior bar of the shield. Each tomb consists 
cf an excavation from a solid block of Pennsylvania marble. 

This vault and inclosure were erected many years ago in pursuance of instructions 
given in the following clause of Washington's will: "The family vault at Mount Ver- 
non requiring repairs and being improperly situated, besides, I desire a new one of 
bricks and upon a larger scale at the foot of what is called the Vineyard enclosure, on 
the ground which is marked out, in which my remains and those of my deceased rela- 
tions now in the old vault and such others of my family as may choose to be entombed 
there, may be deposited." 

The old vault referred to was on the brow of a declivity in full view of the river, 
about three hundred yards south of the mansion on the left of the present pathway 

from the tomb to the summer 
house on the edge of the lawn. 
It is now a ruin. Therein lay 
the remains of Washington un- 
disturbed for thirty-seven years, 
when an attempt was made by 
some vandal to carry them away. 
The insecure old vault was en- 
tered and a skull and some 
bones taken. But these com- 
prised no part of the remains 
of the illustrious dead. The 
robber was detected and the 
bones recovered. The new 
vault was then, 1837, immedi- 
ately built and all the family 
remains gathered into it just 
as they lie today. From one 
of the persons who was pres- 
ent at the transfer, we have the following account: 

"On entering the vault we found everything in confusion. Decayed fragments of 
coffins were scattered about, and bones of various parts of the human body were seen 
promiscuously thrown together. The decayed wood was dripping with moisture. The 
slimy snail glistened in the light of the door's opening. The brown centipede was dis- 
turbed by the admission of fresh air and the mouldy cases of the, dead gave a pungent 
and unwholesome odor. The coffins of Washington and his lady were in the deepest 
recesses of the vault. They were of lead, inclosed in wooden cases. When the sar- 




washington's tomb. 



76 SOMK OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

cophagi arrived, the coffin" of the chief was brought forth and the decayed wooden 
case removed. The leaden lid was found to be broken. At the request of Major Lewis 
the broken part of the lid was turned over exposing to view a head and breast of large 
dimensions which appeared by candle light to have changed but little in the lapse of 
time. The eye sockets were large and deep and the breadth across the temples, to- 
gether with the forehead appeared of unusual size." 

These remains were placed in the marble sarcophagus and sealed from sight October 
7th, 1837 and since that time have never been disturbed. 

IMPROVEMENT AND PROTECTION OF THE MOUNT VERNON ESTATE. 

Elsewhere in this "Hand Book," allusion has been made to the changes which 
have been wrought on the Mount Vernon Estate since the passing away of its distin- 
guished proprietor at the close of the last century. First, of its rapid decadence, 
through neglect and improvident culture, from well ordered conditions of agriculture 
to those of unthrift and desolation, and finally, after the lapse of half a century, of the 
coming of new hands from places remote, to begin the work of transforming the wasted 
areas to fields of waving grain and clover, and to orchards of abundant fruitage. The 
work of restoration has been increasing from year, to year since 1852, and, now tha^ 
the electric railway has made the entire domain suburban to Alexandria and Wash- 
ington, the prospect of still greater improvements becomes brighter and more encour- 
aging. With the cheap and rapid transit which is afforded by this road to and from 
these cities there will doubtless be large accessions of new settlers from localities far 
less favored, to occupy the divisions and subdivisions of the many large farms of the 
estate. 

Just after the Mexican war when the general government was casting about to find 
a suitable location for the National Military Asylum, or Soldiers' Home, as it is now 
called, the Hon. Lewis McKenzie and other prominent citizens of Alexandria proposed 
and strenuously urged upon the authorities the acquirement by purchase of a thousand 
acres of the estate for that purpose. No more fitting choice could have been made for 
a soldier's refuge, and the property could have been secured at that time for less than 
thirty thousand dollars. 

In 1859, the "Ladies' Association," with their patriotic contributions of two hundred 
thousand dollars, purchased the "Mansion" and two hundred acres, and began the work 
of restoring and preserving the buildings and the immediate grounds. How well they 
have succeeded in their eflforts, the present attractive appearance of the premises and 
the orderly arrangements of policeing and other daily duties incident to the reception 
of visitors most satisfactorily attest. And while a grateful and appreciative public are 
ready and willing to accord to the patriotic association all due credit and praise for their 
earnest and continuing care and solicitude, there is a rapidly increasing conviction, 
nevertheless, among all such as reverence the name and goodly fame of Washington, 
all over our land, that the time has come for the control of the "Home and Tomb" to 
pass into the hands of the general government, that our people may be relieved from 
the odium of laying all pilgrims to this much frequented shrine under capitation tribute 
before allowing them permission to enter the gates of its enclosures. As Washington 
was above and beyond all merely mercenary motives, and despised undignified schem- 
ings, so the place which was honored by his living presence and which holds his ashes 
ought to be accessible without money or price. In Europe every mausoleum of note 
is freely opened to visitors without charge, and not only every mausoleum but every 
depository of arts and literature; and reproachful allusions are not unfrequently heard by 
American tourists abroad from foreigners who have been required to pay a fee at the 
entrance to the mausoleum of George Washington. 

May we not hope that among the many unreasonable customs of our country which 
are doomed to pass away before the march of progress, this discreditable custom of 
levying tribute at the gate of Mount Vernon may be among the first to be discontinued. 
To the objection so often urged by those who look with disfavor upon the change pro- 
posed, that the place under government control would not be so well cared for and 
guarded from depredations as under the present provident management of the ladies, it 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



77 



seems only necessary to refer to the result through many years of that control of the 
Smithsonian and National museums, the agricultural grounds, and public parks, the 
Congressional library, Arlington and other public charges now under exclusive govern- 
ment care. A tithe of the yearly appropriations wasted on worthless fortifications, and 
warships would amply suffice to keep up all needed repairs at Mt. Vernon, and a small 
detail of soldiers from the army would supply the required work of policeing and pro- 
tecting all from the hands of the spoiler. 







< 



WASHINGTON'S MILL AT EPSEWASSON. 

Lord Thomas Culpeper was vice regal governor of the colony of Virginia one year, 
that of 1679. On his return to England at the close of his administration, he, with 
several associates, obtained, as a court favor, a royal grant of all the lands, timbers and 
water ways of the Northern Neck of Virginia, which included all the territory lying be- 
tween the Potomac and the Rappahannock rivers, and the head of the waters thereof. 
The rights of his associates to the grant, Culpeper subsequently purchased and became 
sole proprietor, and as it was for his interest to have his millions of acres settled and 



78 SOMB OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

improved, he took advantage of the provisions of a law which had been passed by the 
colonial legislature allowing to every person who would import from England a settler, 
the reward of a title to fifty acres of unseated lands, and thus it came to pass that Lieut, 
Col. John Washington, a great grandfather of the General, and Col. Nicholas Spencer, 
a cousin of the proprietor, both of whom had served in the legislature 9f Virginia m 
1666-67, and the latter as president of the council, for and in consideration of having, 
at their own expense, imported one hundred English immigrants into the colony, re- 
ceived in the "twenty-seventh year of the reign of our Sovereigne Lord, King Charles 
ye second, Anno Domini 1674," a grant from the proprietor of five thousand acres of 
land "scituate, lying and being in the county of Stafford,* in the freshes of Pottomeek 
river and neare opposite to Piscataway, Indian towne of Mariland and, neare the 
land of Capt. Giles Brent on the north side, and neare the land surveyed for Mr. Wm. 
Dudley and others on the south side, being a necke of land bounded betweene two creeks 
and the maine river on the east side, and by the said maine river of Pottomack on the 
north, and by a creeke called by ye English, Little Hunting Creek and the maine 
branches thereof. On the south by a creek named and called by the Indians Epsewasson 
Creek and the maine branch thereof, which creeke, divides this land of Griene and 
Dudley and others on the west side by a right lyne drawne from the branches of the 
aforesaid Epsewasson and Little Hunting creek, including the aforesaid quantity of 5,000 
acres, together with all trees, profits, comodyties, emoluments, and additions whatso- 
ever therein belonging, and all manner of mines of gold, silver and copper. And pro- 
vided that if the said Lieut. Colonel John Washington and Col. Nicholas Spencer, their 
heirs or assigns, shall not plant or seate the said lands within the term of three years 
next ensuing, then this grant and everything herein contained to be null and void." 

This grant or tract remained undivided and but little improved until the year 1690, 
when by an order of the court of Stafford one John Washington and George Brent were 
commissioned to make an equal division of it between Lawrence, son and heir of CoL 
John Washington, and the heirs of Col. Spencer. The division was made so that each 
share should have half of the river boundary and half of the back line as nearly as in 
point of quality could be made, and that one creek should belong entirely to one share, 
and the other creek to the other share. The part next to Epsewasson creek fell to 
the Spencers, and the part next to Little Hunting creek fell to Lawrence Washington 
with the contingent that the former was to pay to the latter twenty-five hundred pounds 
qf tobacco and a certain amount in cash to make up for estimated differences of value. 

Some time after this division, Lawrence Washington, dying, left his share of 2500 
acres to his daughter, Mildred, who married Roger Gregory: and in 1726 they both 
united in a deed for the same property to Capt. Augustine Washington, the father of 
the General, for the consideration of about nine hundred dollars. He was a sea faring 
man. In 1725 he was captain of a ship, carrying iron from Agokeek, Colchester and 
other iron furnaces and bringing back convicts as settlers. He was born in 1694 and 
died in i743 in King George county. In the year 1734 or 35, he came up from the 
lower river lands of Westmoreland which he had deemed unhealthy, to make improve- 
ments on the upper Potomac grant. He brought with him his family consisting of 
Mary, his wife, and their children consisting of Augustine, Jane, George, Betty and 
Samuel. He settled down with them at the head of that beautiful arm of the river 
next below Mount Vernon known as Doeg Bay and on the banks of the Epsewasson, a 
stream flowing into it, constructed a grist and saw mill. All the surrounding lands 
were at that time in process of settlement, and as they came into cultivation, mills for 
sawing the timbers for habitations and grinding the grains for feeding the pioneers be- 
came an urgent necessity, and Captain Augustine, with his keen foresight, was among 
the first to anticipate and provide for these wants. Nearby the grist mill, he erected a 
small dwelling, where the prudent and matronly housewife, Mary, went her rounds of 
busy care, "looking well to her household and eating not the bread of idleness," where 
the youthful George, the hope afterwards of unborn millions, passed ^several years of 

♦Now in the county of Fairfax. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 79 

his useful life, and where the younger children, John Augustine and Mildred, were 
probably born. The mill was provided with the best machinery that could then be 
obtained, and so excellent in after years was the flour manufactured for export under 
the management of George, the son, that its brand always passed without inspection. 
Large cargoes of it were shipped to the West Indies and other points in schooners, 
which then came in the deeper waters and loaded at the very doors of the mill. The 
picture as given is not an ideal of the old structure, but a correct representation of it 
from a drawing made long years ago. In this mill was ground also, all the flour and 
meal for the surrounding neighborhood as well as the grists of the grain products of the 
five large plantations of the Mount Vernon estate. 

There are a few still living who have youthful memories of the mill in the closing 
days of its usefulness, who heard the busy din and clatter of its old wooden cog wheels 
and saw the dusty miller taking his tolls and the cumbrous ox wains, with their ebony 
colored drivers bringing in and carrying away their grists. 

The shaky tenement stood until the beginning of the fifties. The plash of the pent up 
waters over its great wheel with foam, and rainbow hues, and the clatter and din of 
its grinding gear have been silent for nearly three-score years. The long race way 
which led the hurrying waters from the pond far up the valley across the fields to turn 
the busy wheel is now a grazing ground for cattle. The springs no longer confined by 
dyke or dam are scattered and running to waste. Many of the stones of the mill walls 
have been carried away to be used for foundations of houses in the neighborhood. At 
the door of a farm house nearby, the great nether stone that ground the whilom grists, 
now serves as a stepping stone to the doorway. The stream whose depth floated the 
trading schooners of the olden time, and where the fisherman cast his net for herring 
and shad; and where the youthful George mayhaps angled and took his first lessons in 
the art of swimming, have been filled by the descending alluvion from the cultivated 
fields through the many years, and are now no more than an easy fording place. 

Augustine Washington remained at Epsewasson but a few years, but to him they were 
years of busy life. Besides building the mill as described, he erected the middle and 
original portion of the Mount Vernon mansion for his son Lawrence, who was then ab- 
sent from the province and engaged in the siege of Carthagena. 

It will be remembered that the mill was one of the last places visited by General 
Washington in his usual round of inspection of his farming premises, on the day pre- 
vious to his sudden death. The locality is one rather sequestered and lonely, with 
rarely a passing traveler. 

But go there reader as the writer has gone many a time, if your sympathies and 
reverential inclinations are for objects like these and take your seat in the drowsy quiet 
of a midsummer day under the shadowy branches of one of the oaks still remaining of 
the olden forest; and while you gaze on the briar grown ruins and listen to the murmur 
of the dwindled stream which goes hurrying on in its course to join the waters of the 
majestic stream but a mile or two beyond, the mystic veil which hides the vanished 
vears of a century and a half will rise, and lo! all around you will throng the faded 
scenes and forms of the early days. The fallen stones will move from the scattered 
heaps under the straggling vines and brambles and take their places in the walls again. 
The mill of Augustine and George Washington will be itself once more. The water will 
come pouring down over the mossy wheel. You will hear the clattering of the grind- 
ing gear, and the plantation wains will bring in and carry away their burdens. You 
will see the dusty miller taking his tolls and filling the bins. A horseman will ride up, 
and hitching his horse by the door, go in and hold parley with the mHler, and you 
will not need to ask who he is, for his stately mien and dignified bearing will at once 
proclaim him the proprietor. You will see, too, the trading schooner waiting at the 
landing for its cargo for Jamaica or Barbadoes. The early pioneers in rough homespun 
garb and quaint vehicles will pass along the old highway by you in toilsome march for 
the new Canaan of their imaginations, there to fix their landmarks and lay the hearth 
stones. Anon, you will see straggling companies of provincial troops dressed in kersey 



ISO SOME OI,D HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

or buckskin, with heavy flint lock muskets on their shoulders, hurrying up to the camp 
at the new born hamlet of Alexandria. General Braddock and Governor Dinwiddie, 
Commodore Kepple and General John St. Clair will ride along in the pomp of vicfe re- 
^al chariot and dashing retinue and guards of British regulars in showy scarlet uni- 
forms bright with gilding and tinsel. War's wild alarum has been sounded, and the 
frontiers must be held against the encroachments of the French and their murderous 
Indian allies. Among other passers up the highway, you will see a strippling wagon 
boy in homely workman's garb driving his own team, and like the rest of the wayfarers 
Slurrying to the camp. He had been for a year in the employ of John Ballentine, haul- 
ing iron ore to his furnace at Colchester, but the drum and fife of the troopers and the 
wild rumors of war have opened the vision of his adventurous spirit to other duties and 
other lines of action. 

He is going to offer his team to Braddock's quartermaster to haul supplies for the 
army over the mountains. Very obscure, lowly and friendless was this wagon boy then, 
hut under that homespun shirt and buckskin cap were the lion heart and comprehensive 
intellect which when ere long the opportunities came to him were to win for him a re- 
nown as a soldier and commander, world wide and imperishable. 

The boy who plodded over the weary roads of the Occoquan with his loads of ore 
for the furnace became in after years the strategic and trusted soldier, the intrepid lead- 
er of the riflemen of Virginia and the swaying spirit and hero of Quebec, Saratoga and 
Cowpens. 

The years pass on. The war is over. The French and Indians have receded and 
peace and safety for the new settlements reign in the place of alarm. Braddock is 
resting in an unmarked grave in the far off wilderness beyond the mountains. The 
provincial troopers are back from the disastrous rout at Duquesne to their homes in 
rthe lowlands. Col. Washington, the hero of the day, has been elected to the House 
of Burgesses from the county of Fairfax, and has been down attending the session at 
Williamsburg, and now we see him coming up the highway in his coach and four with 
outriders. But he is not alone. Beside him sits a prim, matronly looking lady attired 
in silk and laces who but the day before was the widow Custis. Now, she is Mrs. 
George Washington and is going up to preside as the mistress of the manor house of 
Mount Vernon. Other historic scenes appear and vanish as we gaze, and the Virginia 
Colonel again rides along as he goes to and from the provincial capital. 

Years later the continental armies of Washington, Green, Lafayette and Wayne surge 
along, going to the closing act in the revolutionary drama. 

Not in all the thirteen colonies was there a more historic road than this which coursed 
-down from the mountains by Alexandria, Epsewasson and over the Occoquan at Col- 
chester and down to Williamsburg. It is one of the most interesting landmarks in our 
State. 

The site of the old mill we have been describing is distant two miles from the Mount 
Vernon Mansion, two from old Belvoir, one from Woodlawn, the second home of 
Nellie Custis Lewis, and a half mile from the turnpike leading from Alexandria to Ac- 
cotink. It will repay a diversion from the beaten line of travel with the varied reflec- 
-tions it will evoke from every pilgrim, whose patriotism and reverence are wont to 
Icindle at every shrine around which lingers an association or memorial glimpse, how- 
-ever faint and dim, of the illustrious personage whose name and fame, are indissolubly 
linked with so much that we all value and hold in kindly remembrance and holy trust 

WOODLAWN. THE HOME OF NELLIE CUSTIS LEWIS. 

The portrait of Miss Nellie Custis by Gilbert Stuart from which the accompanying 
engraving was taken and which is now in the possession of Prof. William F. Lee of 
Lexington College, Va., was considered by contemporary judges an excellent likeness 
and one of the most beautiful faces the artist had painted in the colonies. Miss Nellie 
-was frequently in the company of Stuart at Mount Vernon and other places, the result 
of which was a very cordial and enduring friendship. The portrait was the most at- 
tractive picture among the rare paintings at Arlington House, the residence of her 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAJ^D. 



81 



brother for about fifty years. It is the likeness of a maiden about eighteen years of 
age, the admired of all who attended the republican court during the last years of 
Washington's administration as President of the United States. 

She is dressed in a plain white garment, in the scant fashion of the day, one of her 
plump, bare arms forming a conspicuous feature of the picture, her chin resting upon a 
finger of her gently closed hand. Her sweet face, regular in every feature, is garnished 
by her dark curls, tastefully clustering around her forehead and temples, while her long 
hair, gathered in an apparently careless manner on the top of her head, is secured by 
a cluster of white flowers. The whole picture is modest, simple, beautiful. 

"Nelly Custis," as she was called in her maidenhood, was as witty as she was beau- 
tiful; quick at repartee, highly accomplished, full of information, a good conversation- 
alist, the life of any company whether young* or old, and was greatly beloved by her 
foster father, the great patriot. When in June, 1775, Washington was appointed Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, he placed John Parke Custis, the father of 
"Nellie," on his staflF, in which capacity he served during most of the long war that 
followed. He was aide to Washington at the siege of Yorktown in the autumn of 1781 
and was then a member of the Virginia Assembly but dying that year of fever, his 







WOODLAWN, THE HOME OF NELLIE CUSTIS LEWIS, 






children, George W. Parke Custis and Eleanor Parke Custis, were left orphans, the for- 
mer only six months old and the latter nearly three years old, and became the adopted 
children of Washington, and the fondly cared for inmates of the home at Mount Ver- 
non. Here a private tutor of collegiate training was provided for them and under the 
watchful and exemplary care of their distinguished guardians; their young minds were 
developed for the practical duties of life. 

Nellie was born at Abingdon, the Custis homestead on the Potomac just above the 
four mile run, March 21, 1778. Her mother was a descendant of Cecil Calvert, Lord 
Baltimore, through her grandfather Benedict Calvert of Mount Airy, Maryland. A 
paternal ancestor, John Parke, was at one time a member of the English Parliament and 
afterwards a soldier in Queen Anne's army in Holland and became an aide de camp of 
the renowned Marlborough at the battle of Blenheim in Germany, fought August 2nd, 
1801. Marlborough commanded the English troops and Marshal Tallard those of 
France and Bavaria who lost the day with 27000 killed and wounded, and 13000 made 
prisoners. By the victory, the Electorate of Bavaria became the prize of the victors. 



82 SOME OI,D HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

Col. Parke had the honor of bearing the joyful intelligence to Queen Anne who, as a 
token of her regard gave him her miniature portrait set in diamonds, a thousand pounds 
sterling and appointed him governor of the Leeward Islands. In the rebellion in 
Antigua he became obnoxious to the seditious faction and fell by a musket shot. 

Washington had a nephew, Lawrence Lewis, the sixth child of Col. Fielding Lewis 
and Betty Washington, who was the second child of Captain Augustine Washington, 
who was the second child of Lawrence, who was the first child of Col. John Washing- 
ton the immigrant to Bridge's Creek, Westmoreland county, Va., in 1657. He had 
served meritoriously in the revolutionary struggle and toward the close of it was an 
aide on the staff of General Daniel Morgan the renowned wagon boy of the Occoquan. 
He was much at Mount Vernon after the retirement of Washington from the presi- 
dency, and the "blessing" of a "good husband for Nellie when she would want and 
deserve one" was bestowed upon her. She and Lawrence were married Feb. 22, 1799. 
Many suitors had sought her hand to be denied for the one her grandfather had chosen 
and preferred for her over all others. About a month before the happy event the Pa- 
triot wrote to his nephew saying: "Your letter of January loth, I received in Alexandria 
on Monday, whither I went to become the guardian of Nellie, thereby to authorize a 
license for your nuptials on the 22nd of next month." The wedding took place on 
the last anniversary of his birthday that Washington spent on earth. Great preparations 
had been made for the event. The mansion was decked with flowers and evergreens, 
and ample provision made for a time of festivity and good cheer; and the gentlefolk of 
the surrounding country invited. There were assembled for the occasion the Dan- 
di:idges, Custises, Calverts, Lees, Lewises, Corbins, Bushrods, Blackburns, Masons, Car- 
rolls, and many others. The ceremony was performed in the great drawing-room 
lighted by many waxen tapers, which brought out in strong relief the silent portraits on 
the walls, in curious contrast with the merry throng before them. The stately minuet 
was danced and the spirited Virginia reel. Low voices whispered tender words in hall 
and ante-rooms, and the house soon to be so silent and mournful echoed with mirth and 
hilarity. It was a brilliant scene. The picturesque costumes of the colonial days were 
still in vogue, — rich fabrics, and richer colors, stomachers, and short clothes, jewelled 
buckles and brooches, powder and ruffles everywhere. Mount Vernon never witnessed 
such a scene again. Ten months later in the same spacious drawing room the scene of 
these bridal festivities, the body of the great chief lay on its sable bier and at the even- 
tide of one midsummer day fifty-two years after the pealing of the joyous wedding bells, 
the bride who was then the cynosure of all eyes and the theme of all praise from the 
gay admiring throng which had crowded around her, was brought and laid in funeral 
robes in the hush and silence of death to await the last sad rites of burial in the family 
tomb, close to the remains of the long departed friends of her childhood and girlhood 
years. 

By a provision of the last will and testament of George Washington, made July 9, 
1799, "all that tract of land" in the county of Fairfax, and a portion of the Mount Ver- 
non estate "north of the road leading from the ford of Dogue Run to the Gum spring 
as described in the devise of the other part of the tract to Bushrod Washington, until 
it comes to the stone and the three red or Spanish oaks on the knowl — -thence with 
the rectangular line to the back line, between Mr. Mason and me — thence with the 
line westerly along the new double ditch to Dogue Run by the tumbling dam of my 
mill — thence with the said run to the ford aforementioned, to which I add all the land 
I possess west of said Dogue Creek, bounded easterly and southerly thereby — ^together 
with the Mill and Distillery, and all other houses and improvements on the premises, 
making together about two thousand acres," was devised as a dower to the aforesaid 
Major Lewis and Nellie his wife. On this patrimonial estate, these favored subjects of 
the General's solicitude erected in 1805 a commodious dwelling — much more pretentious 
than that of Mount Vernon — indeed the stateliest of all the manor houses of the upper 
Potomac — and began under the most favorable auspices the establishment of the new 
home. Nellie was then about twenty-four years of age. It had been five years since 
she followed the remains of her honored grandfather to their last resting place and 
Martha, her grandmother, had only three years before, been laid by his side. They 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI«AND. 83 

built their dwelling-place three miles inland from Mount Vernon, but on a high ele- 
vation, so that it commanded a pleasant view of the river and the expanse of I>ogue 
Bay and its wide stretching valley. 

Hardly half of the extensive manor was then cleared and under cultivation. The 
rest was heavily timbered. The soil had not lost all its virgin richness, and abundant 
crops were produced even under slave labor. 

Woodlawn in Culpeper county was the home of Major Lewis' childhood and hfr 
honored the place and its endearing associations by transferring the name to his new 
home on the Potomac. Nellie's grandfather, in his parental fondness for her and his- 
great regard for the husband of her choice did not forget to supplement his liberal gift 
of two thousand acres of land for their homestead with other substantial tokens of land • 
and ready cash with which to erect without delay, a suitable dwelling for them so that 
their patrimony was made entirely ample to maintain their high social standing, and 
grandmother Martha from her large resources gave them fitting dower for their new be- 
ginnings. 

Under the roof of Woodlawn was ever dispensed a generous hospitality, and many 
were the distinguished guests from all lands in the early decades of the century who- 
came to cross its threshold and pay their regards to its worthy proprietors. General, 
the Marquis de Lafayette, on his second visit in 1824 to the land he had so valiantly 
helped to defend and make independent, came here to renew his fondly cherished ac- 
quaintance with Nellie, the stately housewife, who was but a child when he had seen her 
nearly fifty years before in the home of his old commander, and had taken her oft 
times in her sweet laughing moods upon his knee and kissed her with a parental fond- 
ness, remembering doubtless the dear ones of his own household so far away in La 
Belle, France. Nellie was no stranger to the faces of titled dignitaries of the old 
world, for she had seen scores of them and hundreds of our own celebrities both civil 
and military, when a child in the closing years of the war and during the time of the 
first presidency. At all times and with all conditions of life around, she was the cour- 
teous, intelligent and agreeable lady, winning and retaining the esteem of all who knew 
her. Gifted with rare and genuine sympathy she was ever ready in generous response 
in the joys and sorrows, in the hopes and fears, the prosperity or adversity of those 
whom she honored with her friendship. The toilers on the plantation always found in 
her a sympathizer with and a promoter of their conditions. Her religious profession 
she carried out in every day life and made them a practical reality. She was a zealous 
member of the Episcopal Church and a regular attendant upon its services either at Po- 
hick or Alexandria. Always it was her usage, says one who knew her, and is still among 
the living, to have morning and evening prayers which all of the domestics of the house 
attended. 

For nearly forty years Nelly was mistress of the Woodlawn mansion, and here were 
born to her four children — Agnes the eldest, dying at a school in Philadelphia; Fran- 
ces Parke, who married General E. G. W. Butler, and died at Pass Christian, Missis- 
sippi, a few years ago; Lorenzo, and Eleanor Angela, who married Hon. C. M. Con- 
rad, of Louisiana, and died in New Orleans many years ago. Major Lawrence Lewis 
died at Arlington, November 20, 1839, and one summer day, July 15, 1852, Mrs. Nelly, 
his wife, followed him, full of years and honors to the burial vault at Mount Vernon. 
She had passed four years beyond the three score and ten line. To the watcher from 
farmhouse and village, that must have been a lonely and mournful funeral procession 
indeed, as it slowly wended its course down the long Virginia highway from the Shen- 
andoah to the Potomac. The hearse containing the remains of the aged grandmother, 
and a solitary carriage accompanying, with the two surviving grandsons, one of whom 
was lately living to tell of the impressive circumstances of the event. Late at night their 
journey was finished, and the coffined form of Nelly was placed in the parlor at Mount 
Vernon where, more than fifty years before, crowned with bridal wreaths, "the fairest 
lady of' the land," Washington himself had affectionately given her in marriage, and 
commended her to the protecting care of the one favored claimant of her choice, and 
where she had received the congratulations and blessings of so many of her kinsfolk 



S4 SOMK OI,D HISTORIC Z^ANDMARKS 

and frien<is. Many of the citizens of Alexandria and Washington and the surrounding 
country c^me to pay their tributes of fond remembrance and regard to "Nelly" as 
she lay in state in the "Mansion," and to see the last of "earth to earth." Down in 
the family burial-place, just by the waters of the river on whose pleasant banks she 
had passed so many happy days in childhood and youth, her dust is very near to that 
of her kind and loving guardians. A marble monument marks her last resting place 
with the following inscription: 

"Sacred 
to the memory of Eleanor Parke Custis, granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, and adopt- 
ed daughter of General Washington." Reared under the roof of the Father of his Coun- 
try, this lady was not more remarkable for the beauty of her person than for the supe- 
riority of her mind. She lived to be admired, and died to be regretted, July 15, 1852, 
in the seventy-fourth year of her age. Another handsome monument in the same iron 
inclosure marks the resting place of her daughter Eleanor Angela Conrad. 

With the return of many of our national decoration days the writer in humble tribute 
fo her womanly excellence and exemplary virtues and in reverent remembrance of his- 
toric associations has deemed it a pleasure to strew these apparently neglected graves 
with flowers. Even in her last closing years Nelly retained many traces of her early 
beauty and vivacity. She passed away at Audley, a homestead of nearly sixteen hun- 
dred acres in Clarke county, near the Shenandoah, belonging also to Major Lewis, where 
she had lived over twenty years after leaving Woodlawn. 

The writer has been told by her grandson that the early home life and associations 
of Mount Vernon, lingered ever with his grandmother as beautifying visions, and that 
she never wearied in recounting them to her children and grandchildren. A theme 
dearest of all to her heart was the story of her social relations with the fond and indul- 
gent master and mistress of the Mount Vernon home whose passing away from hei[;;she 
long and deeply mourned. Her love and reverence for Washington amounted almost 
to worship and who will wonder at her constant devotion, knowing all the circum- 
stances and harmonious relations of the beginning and sundering of their united lives. 
The bright particular star which had set in glory to the world was to her a continuing 
radiance, growing brighter and brighter to the close of her eventful years. "All who 
knew the subject of our sketch," says her niece, Mrs. General Robert E. Lee, in her 
memoirs of George W. Parke Custis, "were wont to recall the pleasure they had derived 
trom her extensive information, brilliant wit, and boundless generosity. The most ten- 
der parent and devoted friend; she lived in the enjoyment of her affections. She was 
often urged to write her memoirs, which might even.ha,ve surpassed in interest to her 
countrymen those of Madame de Sevinge and others of equal note, as her pen gave 
free expression to her lively imagination and clear memory. Would that we could re- 
call the many tales of the past we have heard from her lips, but, alas! we should fail to 
give them accurately. One narrative is retained, as it made a strong impression at the 
time. She said the most perfect harmony always existed "between her grandmamma 
and the General," and that in all his intercourse with her he was most considerate and 
tender. She had often seen her when she had something to communicate or a request 
to make of him at a moment when his mind was entirely abstracted from the present, 
^eize him by the button to command his attention, when he would look down upon her 
with a benignant smile and beconie at once attentive to her wishes, which were never 
slighted. She also said that the grave dignity which he usually wore did not prevent 
ihis keen enjoyment of a joke, and that no one laughed more heartily than did he when 
She herself, a gay, laughing girl, gave one of her saucy descriptions of any scene in 
which she had taken part, or any one of the merry pranks she then often played; 
and that he would retire from the room in which her young companions were amusing 
themselves, because his presence caused a reserve which they could not overcome. 
But he always regretted it exceedingly, as their sports and enjoyments always seemed 
to interest him." 

Of course, Washington was always Nelly's ideal hero, and the grandest of all the line 
of noble men. 



OP VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 85 

General Zachary Taylor was one of her favorites among the public men of her later 
time, and when he was elected to the presidency, she paid him a visit, and was for 
some time an honored guest in the White House, where she received the marked atten- 
tions of many distinguished personages of that day. While she lived she did not lose 
the hold she had in all her younger years upon the popular regard. She was still the 
storied "Nelly" who had been the fondly petted child in the household of him who was 
"first in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 




NELLIE CUSTIS, AT EIGHTEEN. 

Mrs. Lawrence Lewis had two sisters, Martha Parke who was married to Thomas 
Peters, a large Virginia planter, and Elizabeth Parke, who was married to the wealthy 
and eccentric Thomas Law, a nephew of Lord Ellenboro. As governor of a large dis- 
trict in Bengal, India, Law had been accustomed to the discharge of important official 



86 SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS. 

functions and to the splendors and surroundings of a prince. In England his family- 
was oppulent and distinguished. One brother was bishop of Carlisle, another a bar- 
rister of the first eminence and the successful defender of Warren Hastings against the 
political influence of Fox, the eloquence of Sheridan and the virulence of Burke. He 
was prominent in the improvement of the National Capital about 1800, purchased a 
large tract of wilderness land embracing the site of the arsenal, and laid out streets 
and upon them built a number of houses some of which are still standing. 

When that fair, smooth brow of the great artist's picture had been imprinted with the 
lines of tljreescore years, and those clustering curls had changed their brown to threads 
of snow, how she must have seemed like some saintly messenger to those who eagerly 
listened to her as she brought from memory's far-away shore the historic scenes which 
had passed before those sparkling eyes in the heyday of her youthful life. Lorenzo, 
her only son, inherited the Woodlawn estate, and resided for some years in the mansion. 
He was married to Esther Maria Coxe, of Philadelphia, in 1827, and died in 1847. 
His widow survived him until 1885. Of the six children of Lorenzo, the last left, was 
*J. R. C. Lewis, of Berryville, Clarke county, Virginia. In 1845, the entire domain 
of this estate, having been almost entirely neglected through many years, presented a 
most forlorn appearance. Only here and there a patch of ground was under cultiva- 
tion — not a handful of grass-seed was sown, not a ton of hay cut. The fields were 
overgrown with sedge, brambles, sassafras and cedars, and all traces of fencing had 
disappeared. Not a white man was living on an acre of it. Only a few superannuated 
slaves remained in some rickety cabins, and these were subsisting on products from a 
farm in another county. The tax assessment was thirty dollars — one cent and a half 
an acre, although the buildings alone had cost near one hundred thousand dollars, just 
forty-three years before. It was at this period that the New Jersey colony purcl^ed 
the property at $12.50 per acre, and subsequently, the whole tract was divided and 
subdivided into small farms, and occupied by improving proprietors. 

The mansion having a main building sixty by forty feet, with wide halls, spacious 
apartments and ample wings united by corridors was most substantially constructed of 
the best materials, and doubtless its builders imagined their structure would endure 
for centuries, and it is only because of great neglect and severe usage that its condition 
now only ninety-seven years after the laying of its corner stone is so dilapidated, with 
its leaky roofs, its loosened casements and unhinged shutters and blinds, its broken 
windows and the bricks and stones falling away from its massive walls. 

Only the irreverent and unpatriotic pilgrim who treads these lonely halls 

"Whose guests have fled, 
Whose lights are dead." 

can note the melancholy change without a pang of grief and regret that there are no 
reverent hands to restore the wastes and to set once more in order the stately house 
as it was when its first mistress held there her sway. No other of all the historic 
shrines of Virginia, next to Mount Vernon, appeals so forcibly to our kind regard. 
The manor was a portion of the Mount Vernon estate. The mansion was erected as 
we have seen by the loving munificence of the first President and his wife. Its mis- 
tress grew up and was educated under his affectionate care and solicitude. Its master 
was his nephew and had won honors as a gallant soldier of the revolution, serving on 
the staff of General Morgan, the true hero of Quebec, Saratoga and Cowpens. 

The mansion, substantially constructed of old-fashioned bricks, having a main build- 
ing sixty by forty feet, with halls, spacious apartments, and ample wings, united by 
corridors to the main portion, together with sixty acres of land, was recently pur- 
chased by a company, who propose in the near future to make it the lower terminus 
of the Electric road, in which event the "Old Mansion" will be faithfully restored 
to its original beauty, and thenceforth be kept as an enduring memorial of its first 



•Died lately. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 87 

mistress, the beloved foster-daughter of George Washington. No more fitting place, 
we think, than this could be chosen by the associations of thd sons and daughters of 
the "Revolution" for the holding of their annual reunions: and the keeping of their 
archives and historic mementoes and relics. That would make it a desirable and at- 
tractive place of pilgrimage in all the coming years, and most effectually secur^e its per- 
petual preservation. 

Note — Since the foregoing account was written the writer has to note with great pleasure that the Wood- 
lawn Mansion has changed ownership and that the work of its restoration has been commenced. 

Here is an extract from one of Nellie's letters to a friend in Philadelphia: 

Mount Vernon, 1798. 

"My Dear — ^We live very happily here — have in general been blessed with health. We have had 
many agreeable visitors and are now contentedly seated round our winter fireside. I often think of, and 
would like to again see the many good friends I left in Philadelphia, but I never regret absence from that 
city's amusements and ceremonies. 

I stay very much at home — ^have not been to the Federal Capital for two months. My grandparents, 
the General and his wife, brother George, Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of the General, and your humble 
servant comprise the family circle here at present. I never have a lonesome nor dull hour, never find a 
day too long. Indeed, time appears to fly; and I sometimes think the years are much shorter for some 
time past, than they ever were before. 

I am not very industrious, but I work a little, read a little, play on the harpsichord, and find my time 
fully taken up with daily employments. My mother and her young family are all well. My sister Mrs. 
Peters has lately presented us with another little relation, a very fine girl who is thought to be much like 
her mother. I have not seen my sister since that event, but hear she is quite well. I send by my sister, 
Mrs. Law, a cotton cord and tassel which I learned to make last summer. I hope you will like it, and 
you will gratify me much by wearing it in remembrance of me. 

Mr. G. W. Craik is at present much indisposed. Poor young man, I fear he is not long for this world. 
Alexandria has been very gay this winter; balls in abundance. When I am in a city, balls, are my favorite 
amusement, but when in the country I have no inclination for them. I am too indolent in winter to move 
any distance. 

I shall thank you to remember me affectionately to those friends who may inquire about me. My be- 
loved grandma joins me in love and best wishes to you and your children. 

As the New Year is almost here I will conclude with wishing you and yours many happy new years, 
each succeeding one happier than the last; and be assured dear Madame that I am with perfect esteem." 

Yours, 

Eleanor P. Custis. 

NELLIE CUSTIS AT MOUNT VERNON. 

The American Revolution was still going on when Nellie Custis was a prattling child 
and it was not until after its last disheartening campaign which ended with the crown- 
ing victory at Yorktown that she began at the age of three years the seventeen years 
of her life which were passed under the guardianship of George and Martha Washing- 
ton at Mount Vernon. Her adoption by these honored personages into the rare felici- 
ties of their household meant for her orphanage an affectionate solicitude and parental 
care which were to continue unabated while the indulgent master and mistress lived. 

Nellie, though a girl of vivacious spirits and jovial disposition was dutiful, reverent 
and appreciative as we have accounts, and easily won by her genial ways the kind re- 
gard of her guardians and of all her associates and acquaintances. Washington was 
lavish in expense for her education. He employed for her a private tutor, bought her 
a costly harpsichord still to be seen at Mount Vernon, and' had her instructed in music 
and dancing. She was quite proficient in drawing, and painting in water colors. She 
loved embroidery and continued the fine employment until the closing years of her 
long life, and many are the mementoes of her skill in this wise still treasured and 
shown by her descendants. 

Nellie grew up to womanhood under influences wholesome, elevating and refining. 
While she was not kept under any rigid restraints, the kindly parental solicitude of her 
guardians encompassed and shielded her from contact with hurtful associations. 
Grandma Martha was a model of propriety, circumspect in her ways and a fit exem- 
plar for imitation. Nellie was vivacious and social in her disposition. She relished 



88 



SOME OI^D HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



society and was always a welcome presence in its circles. At Mount Vernon she was 
in constant touch with the intercourse and manners of its many distinguished Ameri- 
can and European visitors representing every department of the knowledge of the 
times, and at the republican court she had thrown in her way, extraordinary opportuni- 
ties of experiences for acquiring social accomplishments and easy and graceful mannera 
She was a child of nature and delighted in all beautiful things. 

To the servants of the Mount Vernon estate with whom the writer talked forty years 
ago, many traditions had come down from their ancestors of the kindly treatment and 
good offices and influences of Miss Nellie. Gilbert Stuart painted her portrait at the 
age of seventeen, an engraving from which prefaces this account. 




WASHINGTON AND NELLIE CUSTIS. 



A distinguished contemporary who had mingled much in society's gay circle of that 
period has left us this pleasant account of Nellie, "She has more perfection of expres- 
sion of colors, of softness, of firmness of mind, than any one I have ever seen before." 
She loved out door exercises and sports, rode frequently on horse back with her guard- 
ian when he went to inspect the progress of work on his plantation, .when he rode to his 
mill on Dogue run, to Gunston, the home of the patriot Mason, to Colchester and 
Alexandria. At the latter place she had many friends, the Carlyles, the Ramsays, the 
Daltons, the Craiks, the Arals, the Fitzgeralds and Johnsons who made frequent visits 
to Mount Vernon and with whom at their hospitable homes in the new town she was 
an oft time guest. All this gave her healthy physical development and laid the sure 
foundation of her serene old age. 

The beautiful natural attributes which were developing in Nellie in her later girl- 
hood, with her educational accomplishments, made her a welcome presence in all homes 
and circles. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



89P 



That Washington loved Nellie as fondly as if she had been his own child, all the 
accounts we have of their intercourse fully attest. Their companionship was one of 
uninterrupted harmony. She won him to her by the sweetness of her disposition, her 
easy and graceful manners, her cheery converse, and the lavish measure of her appre- 
ciation of all his kindly solicitude for her. 




^%^t^4^ 



-&f?JL<^' 



(At three-score-and-ten.) 



NEE NELLIE CUSTIS- 



^0 



SOME OI,D HISTORIC I.ANDMARKS 



Mrs. Lewis after the death of her husband which occurred Nov. 20, 1830, left the 
Woodlawn home and went to Audley, a fine old estate of 1600 acres in Clarke county, 
Va. Where she lived until her death in 1852. 

Of Lawrence Lewis, Foote in his "reminiscenes" says: "I remember him well and 
•entirely concur with those who supposed him to exhibit a remarkable likeness to his 
uncle the General, at least he was in appearance so much like the best pictures of 
Washington that any one might have imagined he had actually sat for them." 

Here is one of the quaint songs Miss Nellie used to sing to her accompaniment on 
the harpsichord still to be seen in the Music Room at Mount Vernon. 



The Traveler at The Widow's Gate. 



'"A traveler stop't at a widow's gate; 

She kept an Inn, and he wanted to bait; 

She kept an Inn, and he wanted to bait, 
But the widow she slighted her guest; 
But the widow she slighted her guest; 

For when nature was forming an ugly race; 

She certainly moulded the traveler's face 
As a sample for all the rest, as a sample for all the 

rest. 
The chambermaid's sides they were ready to crack 
When she saw his queer nose and (he hump on his 
back, 

A hump isn't handsome, no doubt. 
And though, 'tis confessed, that the prejudice goes 

Very strongly in favor of wearing a nose 



A nose shouldn't look like a snout. 
A bag full of gold on the table he laid 
'T had a wondrous effect on the widow and maid; 

And they quickly grew marvelously civil — 
The money immediately altered the case; 
They were charmed with his hump and his snout and 
his face. 

Though , he still might have frightened the devil. 
He paid like a prince, gave the widow a smack 
And flop'd on his horse at the door like a sack. 

While the landlady touching his chin 

Said "Sir, should you travel this country again, 
I heartily hope that the sweetest of men 
Will stop at the widow's to drink." 




AN IDEAL OF OLD BELVOIR MANSION. 



OLD BELVOIR, THE HOME OF THE VIRGINIA FAIRFAXES. 

"Come back ye friends whose lives are ended; Which seemed to darken and decay 



•Come back with all that light attended 



When you arose and passed awayl 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 9]^ 

They come, the shapes of joy and woe. They make the dark and dreary hour? 

Ihe airy throngs of long ago— Brighten and blossom into flowers. 

Ihe dreams and fancies known of yore I linger long— I love to be 

That have been, but shall be no more. Again in their fair company; 

Ihey change the cloisters of the night But ere my lips can bid them stay 

Into a garden of delight— They pass and vanish quite away." 

Come with me reader and linger for a space while I tell you a story whose beginnings 
were long before the drum's loud beat and the bugles echoing call summoned in haste 
the sturdy colonists, from the lowlands and mountains of old Virginia, to make ready 
for the coming struggle of the American Revolution; even before the British war fleet 
of Commodore Kepple came proudly sailing, the first of all others up the Potomac with 
the army of General Braddock, to wage war against the French and Indians in the 
Ohio valley. The story is not a story of love, though ladies fair and born of high de- 
gree, and men of knightly and chivalrous bearing, figure prominently in the interesting 
details. It is not a story of war, though some of its personnae were soldiers and had 
witnessed fierce encounters of armies in the old country, but it is a story of circum- 
stances which were all important factors in the successful conduct of the seven years 
of heroic strife which opened the way, for the founding of the grandest government on 
the earth; and it is a true story moreover, though it may have the tinge and character 
of romance. n 

We will sit leisurely down by this grass and moss grown heap of earth and chimney 
stones, here under these gnarled oaks and cedars on the hill crest a hundred and fifty 
feet above the murmurings of the tide. Before us rolls on its seaward course the grand 
old river, broad deep and beautiful as when in 1608 the bold and reckless adventurer, 
Captain John Smith with his little company of fourteen explorers cut its shining waves 
with the prow of his open pinnance, upward bound to the region of the powerful Piscat- 
aways and Mayonese on whose hunting grounds and war paths the cities of Washing- 
ton and Alexandria now stand. 

These few trees around us are all that are left of the dense primitive forest, which was 
hewn down in the time when the smoke of the aboriginal wigwam went up in its midst, 
to give place to the plow and the hoe of the tobacco planter. They are now scarred by 
the cycles of time, but their branches even in decay are still far reaching and green, and 
will shield us well from the rays of the noontide sun while we recount the events of the 
many faded years. And now, while we are enjoying the cooling shadows, the fresh 
breezes and the natural sights around us, let us go back a hundred years before the sur- 
render of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Across the ocean, at that time in England 
when James the second was reigning and lands in the new world were to be had by 
favorites of the crown for merely the asking, it was ordered by the royal authority, in 
1688, that letters patent should be issued to Thomas, Lord Culpeper, previously a gov- 
ernor of Virginia for all that extensive domain known in history and geography as the 
"^^orthern Neck of Virginia between the Potomac and Rappanannock rivers, compris- 
ing in its area the counties of Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond, Westmoreland, 
King George, Prince William, Stafford, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Culpeper, Madi- 
son, Page, Shenandoah, Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson, Frederick and 
Clarke. 

From Lord Culpeper this tract or principality had descended through his daughter 
Catharine Culpeper Fairfax to her son Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax of his line, who was 
a person of note and distinction in the British realm, a man of learning, a graduate of 
Oxford College and a member of the celebrated literary club of which Joseph Addison 
was the chief spirit and to whose pen we are indebted for the Spectator. This right 
Hon. Thomas of Leeds Castle in the county of Kent, England, and Baron of Cameron 
in Scotland was a cousin of Thomas, third Lord Fairfax, general of the parliamentary 
or "round head" armies of the protector, Oliver Cromwell, and who of course figured 
prominently in the military and Revolutionary circumstances of the beheading of King 
Charles first of England, January 30, 1649. 

By the terms of the original patent to Culpeper he was constituted sole proprietor of 
the "soil" of this wilderness empire "together with all its forests, mines, minerals, 



92 SOME OLD HISTORIC I.ANDMARKS 

huntings, fishings, and fowlings, with authority to divide, sell, grant or lease and occupy 
at will, any or every portion thereof, always however to be and remain under alle- 
giance to the royal prerogative," as was the common phraseology of grants in the days 
of feudalism. A royal gift indeed was this almost unlimited concession of empire to 
one royal subject. 

Lord Fairfax, although his most important interests had been transferred to Virginia, 
was not ready at the time to make it his home and become an actual settler with the 
colonists of his inheritance, but as great numbers of squatters and freebooters were 
already settling on his lands and claiming them as estates in fee through, fact of occu- 
pation, and by connivance of irresponsible agents, he commissioned his cousin Col. 
William Fairfax, already a resident of the colony, to look after his western possessions. 
William, born 1691, was a son of Henry, second son of the proprietor's father and Anne 
Harrison of South Cave, Yorkshire, whose sister Eleanol' became the wife of Henry 
Washington. He lost his father when quite young, but his education was not neglected. 
His uncle. Sir John Lowthers, had him entered in his college where he pursued a course 
of instruction which served him well in the varied occupations of his future years. By 
extensive reading and seven years of travel and study in foreign lands, his mind was 
enriched and ripened and his abilities and courtly ways secured for him many public 
positions of trust and profit both in the old and new world. Of an ancient English 
family, he had entered the British army at the age of twenty-one and subsequently had 
served with honor in the royal navy both in the East and West Indies: had officiated 
as governor of New Providence after having aided the town from the incursion of 
pirates; also had done good service for his sovereign. Queen Anne, under Col. Martin 
Belden; and after coming to Belvoir we find him a member of his majesty's honorable 
council of Virginia and at one time its presiding officer. 

While residing in the Bahamas, as chief justice of the islands he was married to 
Sarah, daughter of Col. Walker of Nassau, who accompanied him to England in 1717 
and afterward to New Salem in the province of Massachusetts Bay where he filled an 
appointment as collector of his majesty's customs from 1725 to 1734. By Sarah, his 
first wife, he had four children. George William the eldest was born in Nassau in 1724, 
The other three, Thomas, Anne and Sarah were born in Salem. Thomas was an offi- 
cer in the royal navy and was killed in a naval engagement. Anne was married to 
Lawrence Washington and was the first mistress of Mount Vernon, and Sarah was 
married to John Carlyle of Alexandria, Virginia, who was a major and commissary in 
the French and Indian war under General Braddock in 1755. The mother of these 
children died in 1747. Their father was again married shortly afterward to Deborah 
Clarke, daughter of the Hon. Bartholomew Gedney and widow of Francis Clarke of 
Salem, to whom she had been married in 1701 and with whom she had lived twenty-six 
years. She was an intimate friend of Sarah, the first wife, who had expressed the de- 
sire on her death bed that she might take her place. By this second wife, William 
Fairfax had three children, Bryan, who by the death of Robert, seventh lord, elder 
brother of Thomas, sixth lord, without issue, in England, became eighth lord Fairfax, 
born in 1737 and died at Mount Eagle near Great Hunting Creek in 1802. William 
Henry, and Hannah who was married to Warner Washington cousin of the General. 
William Henry was a young man of great promise and it is related of him that at the 
storming of Quebec under General Wolfe, just before the action commenced, Wolfe, his 
commander, approached him and said — "young man on this day remember what is ex- 
pected of your name." He was true to his trust and fell gallantly under the city's walls. 

It was about the year 1734 or 35 that William Fairfax assumed the duties as agent 
of his cousin on the Baron's large Virginia estate. Out of this estate a manor of sev- 
eral thousand acres immediately adjoining Mount Vernon and stretching for miles 
southward along the river had been assigned to him by the proprietor as a gift in per- 
petuity and here he came about the year 1736 to establish a home which in time was 
to become prominent and famed in the nev/ world's annals. To this spot where we 
are gathered by these gnarled oaks and where the heaps of blackened hearthstones 
remain a silent but melancholy witness to the past, duly repaired the builders a«nd 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 



93 



erected a mansion; and surely no more desirable site could have been selected for a 
resting place in many a day of travel. It is high, regular and commanding and the 
landscapes of the majestic river with its abrupt or gently sloping shores alternating with 
farm clearings and woodlands never fail to please the eye of the beholder, and most 
appropriately it was named Belvoir (beautiful to see). But an additional reason for so 
naming it was pleasant associations of Belvoir castle one of the most prominent of the 
old English castles, and one of the finest of the present day. 




o 

M 

i 



§ 



(A 



MM^M 



^ 





The manorial residence which William Fairfax built was one of ample dimensions 
and appointments for that early time. Washington in one of his diaries incidentally 
tells us that it "was built of bricks, was of two stories and an attic with four conven- 
ient rooms and a wide hall on the lower floor, five rooms and a wide passage on the 
second floor, with spacious cellars and convenient offices, kitchens, quarters for ser- 
vants, coacherie, stables and all other out-buildings needed on a great estate;" and that 



94 SOMK OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

there was a large garden adjacent, stored with a great variety oi fruits all in good 
condition. 

The writer visited the ruins of the home in the spring of 1894 and traced out, and 
measured the foundations, and found them to be of the following dimensions: the 
foundations of the main building, sixty by thirty-six feet, with walls twenty-seven 
inches thick and cemented with mortar made from oyster shells, which had become 
extremely hard and tenacious. The cellar had occupied the whole area, and was seven 
feet deep, with partition walls twenty-four inches in thickness, with pavements of 
bricks seven inches square and four inches thick. Outside of the gable walls were 
heaps of quarry stones, denoting that there had been outside chimneys with large foun- 
dations. Everything about the parts of the walls still left intact, told of massiveness. 
Large trees had grown up from the debris inside of the foundations, and briars every- 
where trailing, gave to the spot a desolate appearance. The mansion had been en- 
closed by a wall of bricks, the wide foundations of which may still be traced through 
their entire extent of one hundred and fifty by one hundred feet. Adjacent are the 
ruins of five other brick buildings, presumably the great kitchen, the coacherie, and 
quarters for the house-servants; and in front, on the river bank, two hundred feet 
above the rippling tide, were the ruins of the summer house, which had commanded so 
many pleasant views and fair prospects. There is but an acre or so of cleared ground 
about the ruins. This must have been the site of the "garden," for there were thou- 
sands of daffodils waving their golden petals in the morning breeze, just as they had 
done when my Lady Fairfax was wont to tread those now neglected paths in the long, 
long years before. Through all the times of the coming and going of the many spring 
times, they had faithfully kept up their bright successions, and were yet remaining, 
silent mementoes of the kindly care of vanished hands. But every vestige of the choice 
fruit trees, described by Washington had disappeared, saving some veteran pear and 
cherry trees, which were yet thrifty-looking and white with bloom. A grape-vine 
eight inches in diameter was still vigorous by the fallen walls, its branches again put- 
ting forth buds with the return of another spring. The wells, from out of whose cool- 
ing depths so many refreshing draughts had been drawn by the "old oaken bucket" 
for man and beast, were choked and dry. The desolation was complete. But the 
morning sun was shining warm and radiant over it all. The buds of the forest boughs 
were opening into foliage. The glad spring birds were lightly flitting, and chirping 
their sotigs of love; and hard by, the rippling waters of the beautiful river, were hur- 
rying on in their seaward course, just as when the watchful eyes and careful hands of 
the masters were there, to order and direct all things aright. 

In the woods near adjoining, rows .of sunken mounds indicated the family burial- 
place. A score of graves may still be counted, without stone or vestige of enclosure. 
The marble slabs which had marked the last resting place of William Fairfax and 
Deborah, his wife, the first master and mistress, and which had remained intact until a 
few years before the war, had been sacreligiously broken up and carried away. 

The inscription read as follows: 

"here rest the remains of DEBORAH CLARKE FAIRFAX WHO DEPARTED THIS TROUBLESOME LIFE 

ON THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF — 1747 IN THE SIXTY-SEVENTH YEAR OF HER AGE. 

SHE WAS THE WIDOW OF FRANCIS CLARKE OF NEW SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS COLONY, AND LATE WIFE 

OF WILLIAM FAIRFAX, ESQ., COLLECTOR OF HIS MAJESTY'S CUSTOMS ON THE SOUTH POTOMAC, 

AND ONE OF THE KING'S HONORABLE COUNCIL OF VIRGINIA. IN EVERY STATION OF LIFE 

SHE WAS WORTHY OF IMITATION. A FAITHFUL AND LOVING WIFE. THE BEST OF MOTHERS. 

A SINCERE AND AMIABLE FRIEND. IN ALL RELIGIOUS DUTIES WELL INSTRUCTED AND 

OBSERVANT, AND HAS GONE WHERE ONLY SUCH VIRTUES CAN BE REWARDED." 

The tablet over the grave of the proprietor and master of the homestead who died 
1757 disappeared long before that of the mistress. Some portions of the old enclosure 
were still lying around the burial place and with these the writer improvised a rude 
cross over the remains of the two, as represented in the picture of the place, and gath- 
ering some wild flowers blooming near by, strewed them about with kindly regard to 
light up for the hour at least, the utter loneliness of the spot. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



95 



Surely this place of sepulture, presenting in its loneliness and neglect so saddening a 
contrast to the kindly, reverential care which has been bestowed by a grateful people 
upon the home and last resting-place of his neighbor and early companion, George 
Washington, deserves a fitting enclosure, and should receive at the hands of friends and 
descendants that care and loving attention which the eminent worth and characters of 
the sleepers tl\ere entombed so well deserve. Who then of all Virginians who fondly 
cherish the memories of the ante-revolutionary days and revere the men who were in- 
strumental in evolving their state and national governments from colonial chaos will 
now come forward and initiate a movement for the accomplishment of this object. Not 
only should an inclosure be provided, but a monument to their memory as welL 




GRAVES OF WILLIAM AND DEBORAH FAIRFAX. 



"Where shall once the wanderer weary 

Meet his resting-place and shrine: 
Under palm trees .by the Ganges, 
Under lindens of the Rhine? 
Shall I somewhere in the desert 

Owe my grave to stranger hands? 



Or upon some lonely seashore 
Rest at last beneath the sands? 

'Tis no matter! God's wide heaven 
Must surround me there as here: 

And as death lamps o'er me swinging 
Night by night the stars burn clear." 



The old road running down from the mansion to the river's edge over which Wash- 
ington so frequently passed in his visits by water to his friends the Fairfaxes with 
whom he was on the most intimate and cordial relations, may still be traced through a 
growth of pines, oaks and cedars. 

Here at Belvoir in those primitive times lived like feudal magnates, the representa- 
tives of the honorable Fairfax family, who marrying and giving in marriage with other 
noted scions of Virginia, saw their wealth and influence steadily increase as the years- 
passed on. 

As we behold the mansion now, in imagination after the lapse of a century and a. 
half, with the help of not only Washington's description, but with that of accounts 
gathered from old inhabitants of the neighborhood, many years since dust, and with 
the aid of the tracings of the ruins already described, our idea is that of a stately 
manor house, very similar, in outline and finish, to most of the colonial dwellings 
still to be seen in Virginia, down to two generations ago. It has two stories and 
an attic, with steep over jutting roofs, dormer windows, and huge outside chimneys 
of stone. There are belfry, and outlook, and ample verandas, for the summer breezes, 
and views of the near flowing river. Within, the halls and rooms are spacious, with 
high ceilings, wainscoted and panelled walls, and the fireplaces are wide for warmth 
and cheery flames. This is our ideal of the "Belvoir House." There is not only a 



96 SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

"fruit garden" as has been stated, with bountiful supply of varieties of fruits, but there 
is a garden of flowers where "my lady Fairfax" has her box-bordered beds of lady- 
clippers, sweet-williams, marigolds, shrubs, lilacs, and the like; and there are winding 
paths, and carriage ways around the mansion, which lead down under tfie branches of 
.;great oaks, to the edge of the rippling waters or out into the broad fields adjoining. 

As we see it, it was an inviting retreat, a home where taste and toil had well done 
^itheir parts to beautify and adorn the surroundings. 

The apartments of the house, judging from partial inventories of the household 
effects sold at two public sales in 1774, must have been furnished as comfortably and 
luxuriously as any **01d England" manor house of that period. The purchases made 
by Col. George Washington in August, 1774, alone amounted to nearly two hundred 
pounds sterling. They were as follows: 

I mahogany shaving desk 4 £, i settee bed and furniture 13 £, 4 mahogany chairs 4 £, i chamber car- 
ipet 1 £ IS, I oval glass with gilt frame in the "green room" 4 £ 5s, i mahogany chest and drawers in Mrs. 
pairfax's chamber 12 £ los, x mahogany sideboard 12 £ ss, i mahogany cistern and stand 4 £, i mahogany 
voider, a dish tray and knife tray i £ los; 1 Japan bread tray 7s, 12 chairs and 3 window curtains from 
.dining room 31 £, i looking glass and gilt frame 13 £ ss, 2 candle sticks and a bust of Shakespeare i £ 6s, 
3 floor carpets in gentlemen's room 3 £ Ss, i large carpet ii£, i mahogany wash desk, &c., i £ 2s 6d; i 
Tinahogany close stool i£ los, 2 matresses 4£ los, i pair andirons, tongs, fender and shovel, 3£ los; i 
pair andirons, tongs, fender and shovel, 3£ 178 6d; i pair andirons, tongs, fender and shovel, i£ 17s 
^6d; I pair dog irons in great kitchen 3 £, i hot rache 4 £» i roasting fork 2s 6d, i plate basket 3s, i mahog- 
ang spider make 'tea table i£ us, i screen los, i carpet 2£ 153, i pair bellows and brush iis, 2 window 
xurtains 2 £, i large marble mortar i £ is, i hot rache in cellar i £ 7s 6d. 2 mahogany card tables 4 £, 
I bed, pair of blankets, 19 coverlets, pillows, bolsters and i mahogany table, 11 £; bottles and pickle pots 
14s, I dozen mountain wine i £ 4s, 4 chariot glasses frames 12s 6d, 12 pewter water plates i £. 

Another inventory of the Belvoir house furniture is given by Conway in his "Barons of the Potomac." 
This was sold at a public sale in Deceiriber of 1774. 

In the dining room — i mahogany 5 ft. sideboard table s £ 5S, i pair mahogany square card tables 5 £ 
ss, I oval cistern on frame 2 £ 17s, i knife tray 6s, i scalloped mahogany stand 14s, 2 dish trays i £ 12s, i 
"large mahogany cut rim tea tray i£ los, i sconce glass, gilt in burnished gold, 15 £; 12 mahogany chairs 
17 £, 12 covers for chairs i £ los, 3 crimson marine drapery curtains 11 £ 5s, i large wilton Persian carpet 
.9 £ 1 5s, 1 pair tongs, shovel, dogs and fender i £ los. 

In the parlor — i mahogany table and i glass to take off 3 £ 15s, i mahogany spider leg table 2£ 5s, i 
folding fire screene lined with yellow i £ is, 2 mahogany arm chairs s £ 5s, i chimney glass 10 £, dogs, 
>tongs, shovel and fender, 2 £ 14s 6d; 2 Saxon green plain drapery curtains 5 £. 

In Mrs. Fairfax's chamber — i mahogany chest of drawers 8 £ 10s, i bedstead and curtains 8s, window 
.curtains i £ iss, 4 chairs 3 £ 2s, covers for same 8s, i dressing table 10 £, i pair dogs, shovel and 
•tongs, I £ 13s. 

In Col. Fairfax's drawing room — i oval glass in burnished gold $£ los, z mahogany shaving table 3 £ 
38, I mahogany desk, &c., 16 £ i6s; 4 chairs and covers 4£ 8s, i mahogany settee bedstead, Saxon green, 
7£ i8s, covers for same 9s, i mahogany Pembroke table i£ i8s, dogs, shovel, tongs and fender, i£ 13s, 
,«itensils for kitchen 20 £. 

Another inventory of many other articles of furniture we omit for want of space. 

As our readers may be curious to know something about the stock of litetature in a 
gentleman's library as well as of the style of his household furniture one hundred and 
fifty years ago on the banks of the Potomac, we give the inventory of the books of 
William Fairfax in his Belvoir home as follows: Batavia illustrated, London Magazine, 
7 vols., Parkinson's Herbal, Knolle*s History of the Turkish Empire, Coke's Institutes 
,oi the laws of England, 3 vols., England's Recovery, Laws of the colony of Massachu- 
setts Bay, Laws of Merchants, Laws of Virginia, Complete Clerk and Conveyancer, 
Hawkin's Pleas of the Crown, Gunnel's Offences of the Realm of England, Ainsworth's 
English and Latin Dictionary, Haine's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Blackmore's 
iPrince Arthur, History of the Twelve Cesars by Seutonius, John Calvin's Institution of 
Religion, Fuller's Church History from its Rise, Locke on the Human Understanding, 
J^ New Body of Geography, Croope's Law Reports, Heylin's Cosmography in 4 vols. 
Collection of Voyages and Travels, Political Discourses by H^nry, Earl of Monoiouth, 
-^Wooten's State of Christendom, Hobart's Law Reports, Johnson's Excellency of 
Monarchical Government, Latin and French Dictionary, Langley's Pomona or Gar- 
»dening, A Political Piece, Strada's History of the Low Country Wars, Spanish and 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 97 

Eng-lish Dictionary, Latin Bible, A Poem on Death, Judgment and Hell, Knox's Mar- 
tyrology, Jacob's Law Dictionary, Chamberlayne's Great Britain, Hughes's Natural 
History of Barbadoes, Laws of His Majesty's Plantations. The way to get Wealth. 
This, in those early times of bookmaking, was doubtless considered not only an exten- 
sive library, but a learned one for a private home, and may be taken now as an index 
of the general drift and bent of the literary inclinations of the Belvoir Fairfaxes. It 
was all solid reading; though in these days, when styles and tastes in literature are so 
widely different, it would be accounted very dry reading, and not of much value or in- 
terest by the general reader; and one cannot help speculating now, after the lapse of 
so long a time, how variously, in the mutations of the generations the quaint volumes 
of the collection were scattered after their sale, into what different hands they passed, 
and whether any of them are still in existence in any library of to-day. Doubtless 
they found their way in the course of years into the lofts and garrets of the surrounding 
neighborhoods, were over and over resold at public auctions and were eventually con- 
sidered as rubbish and went the ways of destruction. 

Lord Thomas Fairfax did hot visit the new world until the year 1739, and then he 
did not come with a decided intention of permanently remaining. However, he spent a 
year in examining the country and then returned to England. But he had been so well 
pleased by his Virginia empire, its delightful climate, its virgin freshness and beauty, the 
fertility of its lands and their varied resources, that after settling up his personal affairs, 
disposing of his commission in the "Royal Blues" and giving to his cousin Robert his 
Kentish estates, he determined to bid a long adieu to the home of his nativity — a longer 
one perhaps than he imagined it would be; for he never recrossed the seas, but died 
forty years afterward, a veritable hermit in the Shenandoah valley, at the extreme age 
of 93 years. For six years he tarried with his cousin and agent, William, in the 
newly erected mansion at Belvoir; and it was during some part of this time that he 
first met the youthful Washington, just fresh from the instruction of "Hobbs" and 
"Williams," who had taught him the mysteries of the three R's and a smattering of 
land surveying and had assured him doubtless that he was then ready to begin the 
great battle of life. And here it was that the great proprietor made a contract with 
the young graduate of fifteen to brave the perils and dangers of a but slightly explored 
wilderness, inhabited by treacherous Indians and half breeds, to assist his cousin, 
George William Fairfax, to survey and map out his remoter possessions in the Shenan- 
doah valley. 

Early in the year 1750 William Fairfax, accompanied by his son-in-law. Major John 
Carlyle, of Belle Haven, made a visit to England, from which place he wrote home a 
number of letters still extant, and which would be very interesting reading did space 
allow of their publication here in our story of Belvoir. 

.George Wm. Fairfax born as already noticed in Nassau in 1724 succeeded on his 
father's death which occurred in 1757 to his large estate, and he was heir apparent to 
the Barony of Cameron. He had been educated in England as was then the usage 
with the sons of the wealthy colonists. Like his father William he had found favor 
among his neighbors on account of his many estimable qualities and from time to time 
he had served them in various public capacities of trust and honor. 

In 1748 while a member of the House of Burgesses at Williamsburg he became ac- 
quainted with Miss Sarah Carey, daughter of Col. Wilson Carey, and in a letter to his 
cousin Lord Thomas Fairfax he wrote "Dear Cousin Tom, while attending at the 
General Assembly I have had several opportunities of visiting Miss Carey, and finding 
her an amiable person, and to represent all the favorable reports made of her, I ad- 
dressed myself and having obtained the young lady's and the parents' consent we are 
to be married on the 17th inst." 

In 1773, accompanied by his wife he went to England to look after some property h§ 
had recently inherited there. They never returned to Virginia, but both died and were 
buried at Bath, England, without issue, he in 1787, she in 1811. 



98 SOMK OI.D HISTORIC LANDMARKS , 

On his way over he passed the ships which brought to the colonies the ill-fated 
cargoes of tea which ^ver'e either burned or cast overboard in the harbors of Boston, 
Annapolis and Bridgeton. Washington consented to act as his agent at home in his 
absence, supposing the agency would be of but short duration. But owing to long delays 
in the settlement of his English affairs and the occurrence of the political troubles of 
the colonies, he never returned to Virginia, although it had been his intention to do so 
and rebuild the Belvoir Mansion. He finally directed his agent, George Washington 
to dispose of his household furniture and the stocks and fixtures of the plantation and 
to lease the premises of Belvoir. A sale was accordingly held on the estate in August, 
I774» which continued two days; and a second sale was held in December of the same 
year. The inventories of the articles of the household furnishings as far as can now be 
gathered have already been given. The property was then leased to Rev. Andrew 
Martin, a cousin, for a term of seven years, but in a short time after, the old home was 
destroyed by fire. The owner's long absence and the fact that the place was desolate, 
together with the excitement, and derangement of business incident to the revolutionary 
war, caused the whole estate to rapidly depreciate in value. The long and incessant 
cultivation of tobacco and corn crops, chiefly of the former, had absorbed the virgin 
fertility of the soil, and the broad fields which had formerly been so clamorous with 
the shouts and refrains of the negro gangs, one by one had lapsed back into wilderness 
conditions. 

It was very natural that Washington who had been so often a welcome guest in the 
cheerful, hospitable apartments of the now blackened and. desolate walls should write 
to a friend shortly after, of his great sorrow whenever he visited the ill-fated place. 
In that letter to one of the Fairfaxes in England he says: "It is a matter of sore regret 
when I cast my eyes toward Belvoir, which I often do, to reflect that the former occu- 
pants of it with whom I lived in such harmony and friendship are there no more, and 
that the ruins can only be viewed as the mementoes of former pleasures." 

After the removal of George William Fairfax to England, Washington, in a letter to 
him in June, 1786, thus expressed himself: "Though envy is no part of my nature, 
yet the picture you have drawn of your present home and way of living is enough to 
create a strong desire in me to be a participant in the tranquility and rural amusements 
you have described as your lot. I am getting into the latter as fast as I can, being 
determined to make the remainder of my life easy, let the affairs of it go as they may. 
I am not a little obliged to you for the assurance of contributing to this by procuring 
for me a buck and a doe of the best English deer; and in regard to the offer of my 
good friend, Mrs. Fairfax, *I have to say that I will receive with great pleasure and 
gratitude the seeds of any trees or shrubs she may be pleased to send me which are 
not natives of this country, but reconcilable to its climate; and while my attentions are 
bestowed upon the nurture of them, they would, if anything were necessary to do it, 
remind me of the happy moments I have spent in conversations on this and other sub- 
jects with your lady at Belvoir." 

Early in 1775 Washington relinquished the agency of the Belvoir estate, as his time 
was chiefly absorbed by the pressing duties imposed upon him by the imminence of the 
revolutionary struggle. 

Years ago this estate of Belvoir with its two thousand five hundred acres of good 
farming lands, passed from the hands of the Fairfax family; and with the exception of 
about two hundred and fifty acres the entire area has lapsed back to a veritable wilder- 
ness, chiefly of pines and cedars, which have grown up from the ridges, still, every- 
where to be seen, of the old corn and tobacco crops. Once, nearly every acre of its 
arable portions was under tillage, but as the impoverishing process of cropping with- 
out remuneration to the soil went on, through the generations, as was so often the 
case in old Virginia, the wornout acres here and there were abandoned to the invasion 
of the wiry sedge grass and wild wood growth. The encroachments were slow but sure, 
for there were no hands to check nor stay their progress. Now, this wilderness is 
awaiting the coming of axes and hoes and ploughs which, in the hands of capable, in- 
dustrious, and practical settlers, will reverse the order of nature, clear the cumbered 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 99 

lands, turn anew the kindly furrows, scatter again the seeds, gather again the harvests 
and build up in the wastes, homes of comfort, with gardens and orchards, and all the 
surroundings which make rural life so pleasant and desirable. 

Almost within sight of the National Capital, lying on tide water, and near to the 
line of the new Electric Railway, the realization of all these possibilities cannot, we 
think, be so very remote; and some lover of the picturesque and beautiful, with historic 
pride and veneration for the associations of the "dear, dead past beyond recall," which 
linger around the famous locality by the "grand old river," will, we trust, come with 
ample means and classic taste, and on the foundations of the old Fairfax home, erect a 
structure which will be worthy of the superb situation and the story of its memorable 
events. 

In 1814 what portion of the walls of Belvoir were left standing from the fire, were 
leveled by the shot from the British fleet of General Gordon when retreating down 
the river from the sacking of Alexandria. Little did George William think, such is 
the irony of fate, when at the beginning of the revolutionary struggle, with a leaning 
to the British side of the controversy, he passed out over the threshold of his stately 
home, on his way to England, that it would be soon burned, aind that British shot and 
shell would finish up what the flames had left of it to be destroyed. 

George William Fairfax, born 1724, was married to Sarah Carey, daughter of Col. Wil« 
son Carey of Celeys on James River, in 1748. A few years before the American Revo- 
lution he and his wife left Belvoir and went- to England expecting to return, but never 
did. They died at Bath, he in 1787, she in 181 1. 

The curious wayfarer of our time who strays by the site of the once stately mansion 
of Belvoir will find only fallen walls, blackened hearthstones, mounds of briar grown 
bricks and rubbish, to mark the historic spots where through so many years went on the 
long forgotten routine of domestic events and incidents of colonial life in the Fairfax 
family succession. Of all these events and incidents which would be fraught with so 
much interest to the present generation, only the most fragmentary accounts have come 
down to us through either written record or word of tradition. Only here and there a 
canvas memory — ^some familiar names, and some wandering, vague report of grace and 
loveliness and gallant exploit. Their failings are lost sight of and no longer dwell in 
living recollection. Let them so remain, bright images gilded by the sunlight of the 
past and clad in all their halo of romance — with nothing hidden by the distance but 
their human imperfections. We know that in connection with Mount Vernon, this 
home of the Fairfaxes was one of the chief social centres of the tide water region of the 
Old Dominion, with always open doors and a generous hospitality for the coming 
guest. We know that within its walls our Washington was an oftimes and welcome- 
guest. From Mount Vernon it was but a few minutes' sail or pull with the oars; and 
well he knew how to handle both. Here it was that he met the charming Miss Mary- 
Carey, sister of Mrs. George Fairfax, and became conscious for the first time in his- 
stripling years of the conquering fascinations of female charms, only to be denied after- 
wards the coveted privilege of being a suitor and claimant of the hand and heart of the 
young lady by the stern and unyielding father, who failed to perceive in the young; 
aspirant a prospect of that wealthy and influential alliance which he had contemplated 
for his daughter. "His heiress," said the haughty old cavalier, "had been used to riding 
in her own chariot attended by servitors." The love-lorn youth pressed no more his 
claim after such an unexpected rebuff, and never saw her but once again. That was 
when he nodded to her pallid and fainting visage in a window of the old capital of 
Williamsburg, when he rode through on his triumphal march, with waving banners and 
music playing, from the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. We know also that 
Lord Thomas Fairfax, the proprietor, the scholar and graduate of Oxford, and the 
friend of Addison, the whilom devotee of fashion and gayety in old London town, and 
the jilted and inconsolable lover, was for years a dweller under the same roof. We 
know, too, that in those halls were gravely talked over and considered by many great 
minds of the time, various measures for the public weal in the infant colony, preparatory 
to their proposal and final enactment in th'e House of Burgesses at the vice-regal capital 



100 



SOME OU) HISTORIC I<ANDMARKS 



of Williamsburg. This is all of the story which has come down to us through the long 
lapse of the years. The rest of it for the most part is silent forever with the dust of the 
many actors of those times. Some of it may still be preserved in musty letters and 
other papers in old lofts and garrets, some time, it may be, to be rescued and unfolded 
for the curious listener by faithful chroniclers yet to come. But in our fondness for all 
such reminiscences of the olden times, we may go back in imagination through the dim 
and shadowy vistas of the past, and giving loose rein to fancy, let it summon up and 



:♦ o < o ^ 
•'Si 



»> S Slo 5" 
2. s-rt 2 

rt rt- w w o 

■«< -,^ O P w 
n^ 7 71^ 

<> w O o «• ^ 

rt 5 rt ^o 5* 



a 

w 

W 

o 

H 

w 



''<S £.§• 

^ ►^•v; < o 
crrj3 o* 

n o cro K 

**^ n ® - 

fij o rt f* 55. 

?*w .— Si 

SB: » 
j^ 2.0. o 

p 5 3* 

3 s*a i-K 
« <« 2.0 3 
n^" 3 

w O 3*3 rt- 
3 1^ Ci-S* 

i 55- '^ 

■HtS"<*5'2. 
2.n n < 

-s: 3 o • 
rt p Ji s^_ 

f8 G.T "-I P 







reincarnate for us the many other guests of high degree who came and went from year 
to year over those thresholds as social or other occasions invited. 

Let us for a time be spectators within those old halls with their massive oaken doors 
and wide fireplaces, and their wainscoted and pannelled walls whereon hang fowling- 
pieces and antlers of the chase, and from which look down ancestral faces, and appear 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 101 

pictures of old castles and scenes of battle. Many shadowy forms stand out in strange 
outline before our wondering visions. We smile at their quaint costumes and their 
ways of speech, but they are men and women well bred, with courtly manners and 
comely lineaments, and they please us well by their easy dignity and stately demeanor. 
They pass on and vanish. Another group comes up — a group of neighbors and friends 
listening intently to the "freshest advices'* by the latest ships just in from Londoa 
Amsterdam, or Barbadoes to Alexandria or Dumfries, it may hdve been, after a voyage 
of weeks or months. The London Gazette informs them of the "wars and rumors of 
wars" in Europe, of the campaign in Germany and India, and of the course of hostili- 
ties between England and France; and precious letters are read telling of how all is 
.going with friends they left behind them in the homes so far away over the seas. 

The scene changes. Strains of music are floating on the air, and ladies fair, and gay 
gallants bow gracefully to each other and trip gaily through the mazes of the minuet. 
Meanwhile, as the music and the dance go on, my Lord Thomas sits complacently in 
his easy armchair, attired in velvet coat, and ruff, doublet and silken hose and buckles. 
His dancing days are over, for he has passed his threescore milestone, and his hair is 
well silvered o'er, but he watches intently the gliding figures over the oaken floor, and 
mayhap, his thoughts are far away in halls of Yorkshire or Kent, or old London, when 
in his heyday of life he, too, had tripped so gaily with the giddy girl who had so cruelly 
won his heart and then played him false for another. The old baron is genial and 
kindly to all, and everybody is fond of him and graciously defers to his lineage and 
experience. He chats pleasantly with the guests, delights in their merriment, and anon, 
in drowsy mood, goes nodding, and then passes away to the land of dreams. We linger 
still, and the scene again changes. The blessed Christmas tide comes round. The 
busy note of preparation is rife in parlor and kitchen, the hickory yule logs are piled 
and lighted, and their cheery and warming flames go trooping up the great stone chim- 
neys into the midwinter night. The holly branches and mistletoe boughs are hung 
on the walls. Genial and convivial friends, young and old, come in from anear and 
afar, and there is full measure of kindly feeling and good cheer and a jocund time for 
all. The bountiful board smokes as in old England's manorial homesteads, with savory 
venison, wild turkey, and the wild boar's head from the surrounding forests. As we wait 
still longer in the shadows of the old mansion we may still give wider range to fancy, 
and call up to view scenes of mirth and rejoicing, as when joyous bridal bells were 
chiming; or scenes of sorrow and mourning, as when funeral bells were tolling. And, 
waiting still longer with the coming and going of the years, we may note the passing 
out over the threshold of the old mansion its master and mistress, to take that long 
voyage across the ocean which was to separate them forever from their Virginia home. 
And yet a little longer we will wait, till the household heirlooms and treasures are sold 
under the hammer of the auctioneer and are scattered widely over the lands, and 
finally, till that baleful day comes, when those storied walls go down in fire and crumble 
to dust, and there is an end to all the times of glad meetings and good cheer — of all the 
times of song and music and the dance, and of all the kindly greetings and farewells at 
the ancient homestead of Belvoir. 

The years Upon the strong man, and the haughty form 

Have gone, and with them many a glorious throng Is fallen, and the flashing eye is dim — 

Of happy dreams. Their mark is on each brow, They trod the hall of revelry, where throng'd 

Their shadows in each heart In their swift course The bright and joyous, and the tearful wail 

They waved their sceptres o'er the beautiful, Of stricken ones is heard where erst the song 

And they are not. They laid their pallid hands And reckless shout resounded. 

These are only the picturings of fancy, and to many they may seem idle and vague, 
even foolish; but they are picturings which some of us love to linger over, and are loth 
to let pass from our visions, for they touch responsive chords of our hearts and set 
them to rhythm and accord with all that belongs to those remote but cherished times; 
and as the vistas lengthen and grow dimmer we shall but cling to them and love them 
all the more. 

Scattered over the tide-water region of Virginia, are hundreds of such heaps of bricks 
and stones, as those to be seen on the site of the old house of Belvoir we have been de- 



102 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



scribing; and they arrest the attention of the thoughtful passer and tell to him mute 
but pathetic and impressive stories of the past, of rural mansions, of the great Virg^inia 
estates where culture, refinement, and a generous hospitality abounded. Only a few of 
the typical old buildings remain for us, and these are passing rapidly from view, and 
the time is not far distant when the last of these landmarks of the vice-regal and revo- 
lutionary times will be no more. 

GREENWAY COURT. 

WHERE LORD THOMAS FAIRFAX LIVED. 

Not far from the little village of Milwood, in the Shenandoah Valley, there stood a 
few years ago an ancient mansion of peculiar interest. It was plainly a relic of the re- 
mote past — quaint in style, and suggestive to the beholder of strange circumstances and 
histories. Tall locusts of a century's growth surrounded it, and waved their spreading 

branches over its steep roof and windov/s. 

This ancient mansion was 
once the home of an English 
nobleman, who only chanced to 
live in Virginia, and did not 
directly influence to any con- 
siderable measure the events of 
the period in which he was an 
actor. And what, it may be 
asked, had Thomas, Lord Fair- 
fax, Baron of Cameron, the 
sixth of the name, of Greenway 
Court, in the Shenandoah Val- 
ley, to do with the history of 
this era? What did he per- 
form, and why is a place de- 
manded for him in our annals? 
The answer is not difficult. 
With this notable person who 
has passed to his long rest, and 
lies nearly forgotten in the old 
church at Winchester is con- 
nected a name which will never 
be forgotten. His was the high 
mission to shape in no small 
measure the immense strength 
of George Washington. His 
hand pointed attention to the 
rising planet of this great life, 
and opened its career toward the 
zenith — the planet which shines 
now, the polar star of our liber- 
ties, set in the stormy skies of the 
Revolution. The brilliance of 
that star no man can now in- 
crease nor obscure, as no cloud 
can dim it, yet, once it was un- 




THOMAS SIXTH LORD FAIRFAX. 
From a painting in the Masonic Lodge Room, Alexandria. 



known, and needed the assistance, which Lord Fairfax afforded. 

Any account of the youth of Washington must involve no small reference tx> the old 
fox-hunting Baron who took an especial fancy for him when he was a boy of sixteen, 
and greatly aided in developing his capabilities and character. Fairfax not only thus 
shaped by his counsels the unfolding mind of the young man, but placed the future 
leader of the American Revolution in that course of training which hardened his mus- 
cles, toughened his manhood, taught him self-reliance, and gave him that military re- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



103 



pute in the public eye, which secured for him at a comparatively early age the appoint- 
ment of commander-in-chief of the Continental armies over all competitors. First and 
last, Fairfax was the fast and continuing friend of Washington, and not even the strug- 
gle for independence in which they espoused opposite sides, operated to weaken this 
regard. In imagination let us look at this old house in which Lord Thomas passed 
about thirty years of his bachelor life. It stands before us on a green knoll — solitary, 
almost, in the great wilderness, and all its surroundings impress us with ideas of pioneer 
life and habits. It is a long, low building, constructed of the limestone of the region. 




A row of dormer windows stands prominently out from its steep over-hanging roof, and 
massive chimneys of stone appear outside of its gables which are studded with coops 
around which swarm swallows and martins. From the ridge of the roof rise two belfries 
or lookouts, constructed probably by the original owner to give the alarm in case of aii 
invasion by the savages. Not many paces from the old mansion was a small log house 
in which the eccentric proprietor slept, surrounded by his dogs, of which he was 
passionately fond; the large edifice having been assigned to his steward. A small 



104 SOME OI.D HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

cabin of stone near the north end of the house was his office; and in this he trans- 
acted all the business of his vast possessions, giving quit-rents, signing deeds, and 
holding audiences to adjust claims and boundary lines. Scattered over the knoll were 
the quarters for his many servants. And here in the midst of dogs and horses, back- 
woodsmen, Indians, half-breeds, and squatters, who feasted daily at his plentiful board, 
the fine gentleman of Pall Mall, the friend of Joseph Addisgn, passed more than a 
quarter of a century. He lived in this frontier locality the life of a recluse. He had 
brought with him an ample library of books, and these were welcome companionship 
for him in his solitary hours. Ten thousand acres of land around his unpretentious 
lodge he had alotted for a manorial estate, with the design at some time of erecting 
upon it a castle for a residence. This design he never executed. 

At the ag« of twerity-five. Lord Fairfax was one of the gayest of the young men of 
London society. He went the rounds of dissipation with the fondest enjoyment, and 
was considered one of the finest beaux of his day. He was well received by all classes. 
Young noblemen, dissipating rapidly their patrimonial substance, found in him a con- 
genial companion in their intrigues and revels. Countesses permitted him to kiss their 
jewelled hands and when he made his bow in their drawing-rooms, received him with 
their most patronizing smiles. But our young lord after a time found himself arrested 
in his gay round of pleasures in the haunts of silk stockings and hooped petticoats. 
He had revolved like a gaily-colored moth about many beautiful luminaries without 
singeing his wings, but his hour of fate came. One of the beauties of the time trans- 
fixed him. He circled in closer and closer gyrations. His pinions were caught in 
the blaze, and he was a hopeless captive. My Lord Fairfax no longer engaged in revels 
or the rounds of dissipation, but like a sensible lover accepted the new conditions, and 
sought only to make everything ready for a life of real happiness in the nuptials of 
two loving and confiding hearts. He turned resolutely from the frivolous past and 
looked only to the promising future, which he saw as if unfolding something higher and 
more substantial for his achievement and enjoyment. Then the real sweetness and 
depth of his truer nature revealed themselves from beneath the wrappings of dissipation 
and vice. He gave up everything which had pleased him for this woman and all that 
he now asked was permission to take his affianced away from the dangerous atmosphere 
of the court, and to live with her peacefully as a good nobleman of the provinces. He 
loved her passionately, and wished to discard all who threatened to interfere with the 
exclusive enjoyment of her society. All his resources were taxed to supply the most 
splendid marriage gifts; and absorbed in this delightful dream of love, his happiness 
was raised to the empyrean. But he was destined to have a sudden awakening from his 
dream, a terrible, almost fatal fall froni his cloudland. He had expended the wealth 
of his deep and earnest nature on a coquette — his goddess was a woman simply — and 
a very shallow one. She threw Fairfax carelessly overboard, and married a nobleman 
who won her by the superior attractions of a ducal coronet. Thus struck doubly in 
his pride and his love, Fairfax looked around him in despair for some retreat to which 
he might fly and forget in a measure his sorrows. London was hateful to him, the 
country no less distasteful. He could not again plunge into the mad whirl of the one, 
nor rust away in the dull routine of the other. His griefs demanded action to dissipate 
them — adventure, new scenes — another land was needed. This process of reflection 
turned the young man's thoughts to the lands in far away Virginia which he held in 
right of his mother, the daughter of Lord Culpeper, to whom they had originally been 
granted; and finally he bade adieu to England and came over the seas. Such were 
the events in the early life of this gentleman which brought him to Virginia. 

The house of Belvoir to which Lord Fairfax came was the residence, as has already 
been stated, of William Fairfax his cousin, to whom he had intrusted the manage- 
ment of his Virginia lands. Lawrence Washington, the eldest brother of George had 
married a daughter of William; and now commences the connection of the already 
aged proprietor and the boy of sixteen who was to lead the armies of the Revolution. 
Washington was a frequent inmate of the Belvoir home, and the boy was the chosen 
companion of the old Lord in his hunting expeditions. In the reckless sports of the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYl^AND. 105* 

« 

field the proprietor seemed to find the chief solace for his love-lorn griefs. Time slow- 
ly dissipated his despairing recollections, however, and now, as he approached the 
middle of that century, the dawn of which had witnessed so much of hi^ misery, the 
softer traits of his character returned, and he was to those for whom he felt regard a» 
most delightful and instructive companion. Almost every trace of personal attraction, 
though, had left him. Upwards of six feet in stature, gaunt, raw-boned, near-sighted,, 
with light grey eyes, and a sharp aquiline nose, he was scarcely recognizable as the ele- 




gant young nobleman of the days of Queen Anne. But time and reflection had meU- 
lowed his mind, and when he pleased, the old gentleman could enchain his hearers- 
with brilliant conversation, of which his early training and experience had given him' 
very great command. He had seen all the great characters of the period of his youth, 
had watched the unfolding of events and studied their causes. All the social history,, 
the scandalous chronicles, the private details of celebrated personages had been famil-- 



106 



SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 



iar to him, and his conversation thus presented a glowing picture of the past. Some- 
thing of cynical wit still clung to him, and the fireside of Belvoir was the scene of 
much satiric comment between the old nobleman and his cousin William. But Fair- 
fax preserved great fondness for youth, and took especial pleasure in the society of our 
George of Mount Vernon. He not only took him as a companion in his hunts, but 
liked to have the boy with him when he walked out; and it may be easily understood 
that the talks of the exile had a deep effect upon young Washington. 

The import of Lord Fairfax's connection with the future commander-in-chief lies 
chiefly in the commission which he intrusted to Geo. Wm. Fairfax, his cousin, and 
Washington, the boy of seventeen, that of surveying and laying out his vast possessions 
in the Shenandoah Valley. Providence here as everywhere seemed to have directed 
the movements of man to work out His own special ends. This employment as sur- 
veyor on the wilderness frontiers was the turning-point in the young man's life, and 
the results of the expedition of three years in its influences on his habits and character, 
the information and self-reliance it gave him, and the hardships it taught him to endure 
are now the property of history. 

*It is not a part of our design to follow the young surveyor in his .expedition which 
led him from Greenway Court to the headwaters of the Potomac where Cumberland 
now stands, and thence into the wilderness of the "Great South Branch," a country as 
wholly unknown as it was fertile and magnificent. He returned to Mount Vernon a 
new being, and the broad foundation of his character was laid. 

The first act of his eventful life had been played — the early lessons of training and 
endurance thoroughly learned — the ground work of his subsequent exertions fixed; and 
the prudence, courage, coolness, and determination which he displayed on this arena, 
made him general-in-chief when the crisis came, of the forces of the Revolutionary 
struggle — Lord Fairfax had given him the impetus. From him he had received the 
direction of his genius, and to the attentive student of these early events the conviction 
becomes more and more absolute that Lord Fairfax was the great "influence" of his life. 
And the interest attaching to the career of this noble patron consists chiefly in his con- 
nection with the life of the rising hero. Having 
formed as we have seen in no small measure the 
character of the boy of seventeen, he Hved to re- 
ceive the tidings that this boy had overthrown 
forever the dominion of Great Britain in America 
on the field of Yorktown. So had Providence de- . 
creed; and the gray haired baron doubtless felt 
that he was only the humble servant in that all 
powerful Hand. 

After Yorktown — after the supreme defeat of 
the proud English general by the lad whom he 
liad trained, it was, as he said, "time for him 
to die." 

His death took place in 1781, at the age of 
ninety-two, and his body lies buried in the old 
Episcopal churchyard at Winchester, Va. His 
barony and its prerogatives according to English 
law descended in the absence of a son to his 
eldest brother Robert, who thus became seventh 
Lord Fairfax. The latter died in Leed's Castle, 
England, 1791, without a son. The baronial title 
then fell to Rev. Bryan Fairfax, son of William 
Fairfax then dead, and brother-in-law of Law 
rence Washington. 

His main and last residence in Virginia was 




*SGt "Story of Young Surveyors" by author. 



RIGHT HON. REV. BRYAN, EIGHTH 

LORD FAIRFAX. 
Courtesy of Miss F. M. Burke. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND. 107 

Mount Eagle on a high eminence near Great Hunting Creek, Fairfax county. But 
he had another homestead known as "Towlston Hall," a few miles above Alexandria, 
destroyed by fire just before the Revolution. He became the Eighth Lord in descent, 
and died at Mount Eagle in 1802. He was probably buried in Ivy Hill Cemetery near 
Alexandria. On a tablet in this burial place erected by his granddaughter is the fol- 
lowing inscription: 

In Memoriam. 

Right Hon. Rev. Bryan, Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron 

AND Rector of Christ Church, Fairfax Parish. 

Died at Mount Eagle, Aug. 7, 1802, aged 78. 

The Lord forsaketh not the Saints. They are Preserved Forever. 

The last living heir to the title of Lord, in line of descent is Mr. Albert Fairfax of 
Kew York City. He has become by fhe recent death of his father, John Contee Fairfax 
of Maryland, the twelfth Baron. 

The great landed estates of Lord Thomas Fairfax with their entails were in eflFect 
confiscated by the success of the American Revolution; and the legislature of Virginia 
in 1785 passed an act in relation to the Northern Neck, declaring that the landholders 
within said domain "should be forever after exhonerated and discharged from all com- 
positions and quit rents for the same." This was the end of the millions of acres of 
the royal Culpeper patent. 

A daughter of Bryan Fairfax, "Sally," a favorite young friend of Washington, " died 
in early womanhood. A son, Thomas, lived beyond the age of eighty and died at 
Vaucluse near Seminary Hill, Va., in 1846, a zealous convert to the doctrines of 
Swedenborg. He was a man of broad and liberal views of human duties. He lib- 
erated all the slaves belonging to his patrimonial estate and was the originator of the 
African colonization society. 

DESCENT OF THE FAIRFAX TITLE. 

The Fairfaxes have been - prominent personages during a thousand years of English and American 
history. Coming down through that history we find mention of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton near Otley 
on the banks of the river wharfe in Yorkshire. His eldest son Thomas was Knighted for distinguished 
service before the city of Rouen in 1594 and in 1625 was created by Charles I, Lord Fairfax, 
Baron of Cameron, in the Scottish peerage. His son Ferdinando became second Lord Fairfax and was 
commander-in-chief of the parliamentary forces at the battle of Marston Moor in 1644. His son Thomas 
becafkie third Lord Fairfax and was generalissimo of the armies of parliament under Oliver Cromwell in 
the war against the forces of Charles I. His name was on the list of judges to try the King, but he was 
not present at the trial. He died in 1671 and was succeeded in the title by his cousin Henry, fourth 
Lord Fairfax, of the cavalier branch of the family. This nobleman's eldest son Thomas, fifth Baron 
Fairfax, was married to Catherine, daughter of Lord Culpeper, and his son Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, 
became proprietor of the "Northern Neck" 'in Virginia. He came to Virginia just previous to 1740 
and lived the rest of his life, chiefly at Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley. His cousin Robert in 
England became seventh Lord, Bryan Fairfax son of William of Belvoir became eighth Lord. His son 
Thomas who died at an advanced age in 1846, succeeded to the title as ninth Lord. He was succeeded 
by his grandson Charles Snowden Fairfax, as tenth Lord. The title after his death fell to his brother, 
John Contee Fairfax as eleventh Lord. The last of the line is his son Albert Kirby Fairfax, of New York 
City as twelfth Lord. 

WASHINGTON'S LAST VISIT TO HIS MOTHER. 
HIS MIDNIGHT RIDE. 

• He speeds at night when the world is still, A beacon bright as the guiding Star 

Over lonely plain and meadow and hill; The Eastern Magi sought afar — 

His way is rugged and lonely and dim; He sees the light of a mother's eyes 

But a friendly beacon is shining for him — Ever before his pathway rise! 

Early on an April day of 1789 a wearied messenger arrived in haste at the gates of 
Mount Vernon. He had ridden from the city of New York, a distance of over two 
hundred and fifty miles, partly in lumbering stage coaches and partly on horseback 
over a highway abounding in ferries and fording places and much of it very rugged 
and difficult of passage. 

The messenger was the venerable Charles Thompson, secretary of the Continental 
Congress, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He had been 
commissioned by the new Congress under the Federal constitution to announce to Gen- 



108 SOME Oi:,D HISTORIC I.ANDMARKS 

eral Washington in his retirement, that he had been unanimously chosen to be the 
chief magistrate of the United States. 

The presence of the distinguished chief was urgently desired at the seat of govern- 
ment, and he immediately set himself about the arrangement of his domestic affairs- 
preparatory to obeying the important summons. His new duties as president woul<± 
make necessary a long absence from his home, in the distant metropolis, and he must 
hastily make a tour of inspection over his large estate to view the condition of his vari- , 
ous plantations, note their prospects for crops and give all needed directions to his- 
overlookers, for he was as careful and methodical in the management of his acres as he 
had been in the campaigns of the Revolution. 

But he could not start on the long journey he had to make, until he had performed a 
sacred and very kindly duty. 

Always filial in his disposition and dutiful in his deep emotions of gratitude to the 
American people for their spontaneous expression of their confidence in his ability to 
again serve them, he did not forget his mother who had ever been to him the kind and 
affectionate counsellor and abiding friend, and who had proved so influential in shaping^ 
and diriecting his young inclinations after having been so early bereft of the care and 
parental guidance of his father. She was living at her rural home near Fredericksburg, 
fifty miles distant. And although it had been but a short time since he had looked upon 
her furrowed face and received her blessings, he felt that under the circumstances he 
must now again behold her. She was aged and infirm, and it might be the last oppor- 
tunity for him to see her among the living. So, when the shadow of evening had far 
lengthened and disappeared athwart the fields, he mounted his fleetest horse, and ac- 
companied by his faithful servant started on his mission in obedience to the promptings 
of that inward monitor which from boyhood he seemed always to have considered 
decisive. 

Passing the borders of his own pleasant domain he reached the wooded heights of 
Accotink as the last faint rays of the sunset were fading beyond the western hills. It 
was no broad highway that he had taken, with smooth, level turnpiked surface, albeit, 
it was the main stage road, the old "King's Highway" from Williamsburg, the provin- 
cial capital, up through the Northern Neck to the Shenandoah, and the road, over which 
the early planters once rolled their tobacco wains, and drove their liveried coaches, or 
clattered fleetly with their thoroughbreds, though it was little better than a bridle path, 
rough and vexatious to the wayfarer. But our rider was no stranger to its gullied ways 
and winding courses, since that time fifty odd years before, when a small boy four or 
five years of age with his father Augustine and his mother Mary, and his little sister 
Betty and his younger brother Samuel, he was brought up in the family carriage from 
the old homestead in Westmoreland to the new home at Epsewasson, two miles below 
where now stands the mansion of Mount Vernon, a home not then established, though 
it had been projected by Augustine the father. Over the same road, thirty years be- 
fore, when a young man of twenty-eight, he had ridden in his coach and four from Wil- 
liamsburg with his bride, the widow Martha Custis to her new home at Mount Vernon. 

Through the chill and lonely hours of the night did our Washington with the one 
great and controlling purpose in view ride on and on to his destination, sometimes 
through plantation clearing or straggling hamlet, and sometimes through stretches of 
woodland, fording or ferrying the many streams now deep and full with the spring 
time freshets. 

At Colchester, eight miles away he drew in his horse's rein and tarried awhile for re- 
freshments for man and beast, with mine host of the "Arms of Fairfax" a hostelry still 
standing solitary in the wastes of the vanished town. When he again mounted his 
horse and clattered down the street of the drowsy hamlet to the b««ks of the OccOquan, 
the ferryman made haste to set the distinguished wayfarer over the swiftly flowing 
stream, as many a time he had done before, and bid him speed over the hills and val- 
leys of Prince William. 

On and on he pursues his solitary way. He leaves behind him the highlands of ro- 
mantic Occoquan, and the roaring of its cascades die away in the distance. He crosses 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI,AND. 109 

the waters of the Neabsco, Quantico, Choppawamsic, Aquia, and Potomac creeks into 
the sandy lowlands of Stafford and Spottsylvania. 

As he sped fast through the watches of the night with no token or sound of life to 
relieve the stillness of the surroundings save here and there the glimmering light in 
lonely farm house or negro cabin, or the baying of watch dog or croaking of frog in 
the wayside fen, how profound and varied must have been the thoughts that drifted 
through the mind of the great man. 

For thirty years he had been prominently connected with the history of. the colonies, 
had been through many years a member of the Virginia Assembly, had been a member 
of the Continental Congress, had been conspicuously instrumental with other compatri- 
ots in developing alid successfully directing the spirit of independence under the op- 
pressive measures of Great Britain, had been commander-in-chief of the victorious 
American armies in the Revolution, and now was to be first President of the United 
States. 

The road he passed over was historic. In 1676 the armed rangers and colonists, of 
the Bacon Rebellion under the lead of his own great grandfather Col. John Washington 
had hurried to their bloody work at Assaomeck and Piscataway. Over a portion of it 
in 1 716 had clattered the Knights of the Golden Horse Shoe under the gallant Spotts- 
wood to open a way for the white man through the Alleghanies to the great West. 
Later, in 1740, Virginians contingent of provincials passed over it to join the forces of 
Admiral Vernon fighting the Spaniards at Carthagena. Then in 1755 it had seen the 
passing- of other Virginia troops on their way with Braddock to fight the Frencii and 
Indians on the banks of the Ohio, and in 1781 it was gay and noisy with the "continen- 
talers" going to and from Yorktown. 

Before the early dawn, Washington had finished his journey, and damp with the 
night airs, was standing at the gate of the maternal home on the borders of the Rappa- 
hannock. Of Jhe notable interview between the honored chief and his aged mother, 
George Washington Parke Custis, his adopted son, has left us this enthusiastic and in- 
teresting narrative. 

"The President had come all unheralded and unannounced. After their first moment 
of greeting, he said, 'Mother, the people of our republic have been pleased with the 
most flattering unanimity to elect me their chief magistrate, but before I can assume 
the functions of the office, I have come hastily to bid you an affectionate farewell, and 
to ask your maternal blessings. So soon as the weight of public business which must 
necessarily attend the beginnings of a new government, can be disposed of, I shall hasten 
back to Virginia' — and here the matron interrupted him with — *And then you will not 
see me. My great age and the disease which is fast hastening my dissolution warn me 
that I shall not remain long in this world; and I trust in God that I may be better pre- 
pared for another. But go George and fulfill the destiny which heaven appears to have 
intended for you. Go, my son and may God's and a mother's blessing be with you tq 
the end!' The President was deeply moved. His head rested fondly on the shoulder 
of his parent whose aged arm feebly but affectionately encircled his neck. Then the 
brow on which fame had wreathed the fairest laurels ever accorded to man, relaxed from 
its lofty bearing. That look which could have overawed a Roman Senate, was bent in 
filial tenderness upon the time worn features of the taltering matron. 

He wept! — a thousand recollections crowded upon his mind as memory retracing 
scenes long past, carried him back to the lowly homestead of his youth in Westmore- 
land where he beheld that mother whose care, education and discipline had enabled 
him to reach to the topmost height of laudable ambition. Yet how were his glories 
forgotten in the moment, his exploits and his victories, while he gazed upon her from 
whom he was soon to part to meet no more. Her premonitions were but too true. She 
passed away from earth in August of the same year, 1789, at the age of eighty-five." 

Passing from the dear pathetic presence, and hurriedly retracing his way, next morn- 
ing, back to Mount Vernon, the President elect, perhaps did not hear the plaudits in 
the streets of Fredericksburg. He rode all day and reached his home before evening, 



110 SOMK OI.D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

having exhibited his powers of endurance at the age of fifty-seven, by riding over eighty- 
miles in twenty-four hours. His good wife Martha in his absence had busied herself in 
making ready the necessary traveling equipage, and on the following morning, April' 
i6th, the President set out for New York, then the seat of the new Government. 

GUNSTON. THE HOME OF GEORGE MASON. 

"Twas an old colonial palace Through the thrilling land'; 

Ere that brazen boom I„ those days it was a great house, 

Thunder d Freedom from the State House Spacious, feudal, grand." 

The next place of historic interest below the Fairfax home of Belvoir on the Poto- 
mac, IS an estate which in its original entirety contained seven thousand acres and be- 
longed m the colonial days to Col. George Mason, the distinguished patriot, whose- 
name is very prominent in early Virginia history, and especially in that portion of it 
which relates to the Revolutionary contest. He was not a soldier and had no aspira- 
tions for official dignity and honor, but he was a thinker and a most forceful writer, 
and better than all, a man of correct principles and honest purposes. 

On one of the commanding situations of his manorial domain he erected in 1758 a 
pretentious dwelling where for thirty-four years he lived in almost princely style, dis- 
pensing a generous hospitality to his wide circle of acquaintances in the colonies and 
devoting his time to his broad acres, the pursuits of literature, the promotion of neigh- 
borhood improvements and the dissemination of his liberal and popular ideas of colonial 
independence. 

The founder of the Virginia family of Masons of whom George Mason, the builder of 
Gunston Hall and fifth in line of descent, was a member of the long parliament dis- 
solved by Oliver Cromwell in the reign of Charles the first of England. Like Hyde 
and Falkland, though fully committed to the reformation of many of the then existing 
evils of the royal prerogative, he did not favor the overthrow of the fnonarchy; for 
when the two great factions of the kingdom came into armed conflict he organized a 
military body to defend his king against the measures of Cromwell and his party. 

After the disastrous battle of Worcester which sealed the fate of Charles, Mason fled 
in disguise with many others of the royal adherents from the English realm, and in 
1651 found refuge in the province of Virginia, whither his family soon after followed 
him. He settled first in the county of Norfolk, but later moved to Pasbitansy on 
Acohic creek near the Potomac where he died and was buried. 

In 1676, the year of Bacon's Rebellion, he commanded a force against the Indians and 
represented the same year the county of Stafford in the House of Burgesses. StaflFord 
was carved out of Westmoreland the year before, and was so named by Mason in honor 
of his native county of Staffordshire, England. His eldest son, also called George, was 
married to Mary, daughter of Gerrard Fowke of Gunston Hall, Staffordshire, England. 
The eldest son by this marriage also bore the name of George, the third of this name, 
and like his father, lived and was buried on the patrimonial estate of Acohic. Their 
wills were recorded in Stafford county Court in 1710 and 1715 respectively. 

George Mason the fourth in descent and eldest son of the last named, married a 
daughter of Stevens Mason of Middle Temple, attorney general of the colony of Vir- 
ginia in the reign of Queen Anne. He established a plantation in Dogue Neck on 
thei Potomac, then in Stafford, now in Fairfax, on land which he had inherited, and was. 
the Lieutenant and chief commander of the county of Stafford, in 1719. He was- 
drowned by the upsetting of his sail boat. He left three children, two sons and a. 
daughter, of these two sons one was George Mason of the Virginia convention and the 
other Thomson, hardly less celebrated than his brother, who settled in Loudoun county 
and was frequently a member of ihe Assembly, an eminent lawyer and a true patriot.. 
His son, Stevens Thomson Mason was a member of the Virginia convention which 
adopted the Federal Constitution, and was a United States Senator as was also his soi» 
Armistead. 

George Mason of the text, the fifth of the name, was born in 1725, seven years be- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI,AND. 



Ill 



fore Washington. At the age of twenty-five he was married to Anne Eilbeck of 
Maryland, aged sixteen. This was in 1750. She was said to have been a very esti- 
mable woman. She died at the age of thirty-nine leaving children, George, Anne, WiL- 




112 



SOME OI^D HISTORIC l^ANDMARKS 



fiam, Thomson, Mary, Daniel, Sarah, John and Elizabeth. Of the sons, George, and 
Thomson of Hbllin Hall served in the Continental Army, Thomson settled in Loudoun 
county. The last surviving son of John, lived on Analostan Island opposite to George- 
town. He was the father of James Murray Mason who for years was United States 



an 
C 



> 




Senator from Virginia; who figured with Slidell in the famous Trent aflFair and was 
afterwards confederate commissioner to England. He died at Clermont, Fairfax county, 
1849 aged 43 years. His eldest daughter by his second wife became the wife of Samuel 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI«AND. 113 

Cooper, Adjutant General of the Confederate Army. Another daughter married S. 
Smith Lee, brother of Robert E. Lee and was the mother of General Fitzhugh Lee. 

Col. George Mason was twice married. His second wife was named Brent but of 
this alliance there was no issue. His last years were made miserable by chronic gout. 
He died in 1792 and was buried in the family grave yard at Gunston, but no stone was 
set to mark his grave until a hundred years afterward. In 1896 through the instrumen- 
tality of the "Sons of the Revolution" a small granite shaft was erected to the memory 
of the distinguished statesman and patriot. 

George Mason was one of the best and purest men of his time, and possessed the con- 
fidence of those younger civilians, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, whose opinions he 
did much to mould and shape along the lines which led to American Independence. He 
was a near neighbor to Washington and the Fairfaxes, and on the most intimate terms 
with them. In 1776 we find him writing to his agent in London a powerful statement 
of the wrongs inflicted by the mother government upon the colonies; and about the 
same time appeared his masterly exposition of "colonial rights," entitled "Extracts 
from the Virginia charters, with remarks upon them." In 1769 he drafted the "Articles 
of Association" against importing British goods, which the Burgesses signed in a 
body on their dissolution by Lord Botetourt; and in 1774 he drew up the celebrated 
Fairfax county resolutions, upon the attitude to be assumed by Virginia. In 1776 he 
was elected to represent his county in the convention of that year, and drew up the 
"Bill of Rights" already alluded to which was adopted- Jefferson, then in Philadel- 
phia, had written "a preamble and sketch" to be offered, but Mason's had been re- 
ported, and the final vote was about to' be taken when it arrived. Mason's bill was 
therefore adopted, but Jefferson's "preamble" was attached to the Constitution. Ma- 
son sat afterwards in the Assembly, and supported Jefferson in his great reforms of 
organic laws, such as the cutting off of entails, the abolishing of primogeniture, and 
the overthrow of church establishments. The disinterested public spirit of the man 
may be inferred from the fact that, by birth and education, he belonged to the dominant 
class and to the Episcopal Church. He also advocated the bill forbidding the further 
importation of slaves, in 1778, and ten years afterwards sat in the Convention to decide 
on the adoption or rejection of the Federal Constitution. He was elected one of the 
Senators for Virginia, but declined the honor on account of pressing home duties, and 
continued to reside on his Gunston estate. In the much admired group of sculptured 
heroes and statesmen which adorns State House Square in Richmond, his statue is 
conspicuous. 

George Mason with all his force of intellect; with his correct judgment of the pur- 
poses and actions of men, with his fine perceptions of right and wrong among individ- 
uals, communities and nations, which won for him the approval and admiration of all 
among whom he moved, and with his fitness for any position of public trust and confi- 
dence, was remarkably modest and unassuming. He was domestic in his attachments 
and inclinations, and cared more for the enjoyments of his home life than for the en- 
vied circumstances, often vexatious and forbidding which surround the politician and 
legislator. By his own fireside in the midst of his family circle in his own manorial 
halls was the place of all others most dear to him. But withal, he was no recluse. He 
went often out from his fireside and circle and mingled freely with his friends at church, 
at elections, at barbacues, and on other social occasions, and he loved to have them 
come and share under the roof of Gunston his large and cordial hospitalities. His 
library was extensive and varied for the time, and in it he found perennial delights. He 
was not a learned man according to the common acceptation of the term, but his 
knowledge of the world so far as he had delved and studied was very correct and 
practical. He was not an orator and never indulged in lofty flights of language to carry 
convictions but he had been endowed with a great store of strong common sense which 
he put forcibly into all the phrases of his public addresses and documents. He had an 
abiding interest in the affairs of his county and parish, and he co-operated earnestly 
with the founders of the towns of Alexandria and Colchester, the first stones of both of 
which he had seen laid in the wilderness.' 

Letters of this sterling patriot to his children have been preserved and are replete 



114 SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

with good advice and parental solicitude. One of them, a sample of them all, to his son 
John, a merchant in Bordeaux, France, and to whom he consigned cargoes of his plan- 
tation products, closes as follows: "Diligence, frugality and integrity will infallibly in- 
sure your business, and your fortunes. And if you content yourself with moderate 
things at first you will rise, perhaps by slow degrees, but upon a solid foundation." 

In his last will and testament he thus charges his sons: "I recommend to you from 
my own experience in life to prefer the happiness of independence and a private station 
to the struggles and vexations of public business; but if either your own inclinations oi 
the necessities of the times should engage you in public affairs, I charge you on a 
father's blessing, never to let the motives of private interest nor ambition induce you tc 
betray, nor terrors of poverty nor disgrace nor fear of danger nor of death deter yoia 
from asserting the liberty of your country and endeavoring to transmit to your coun- 
try's posterity those sacred rights to which you were born." 

George Mason held many slaves, for he had numerous plantations under cultivation, 
requiring a vast amount of labor, and his exports of grain and tobacco to foreign mar- 
kets were on a large scale, but like his neighbors Washington and Jefferson he deplored 
the existence of the system in the colonies, for he foresaw clearly the consequences of 
its workings in the generations which were to com^ after him. He said in the Virginia 
convention: "This infernal traffic originated in the avarice of the British merchants. 
The British government constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to it. 
The present question concerns not the importing states alone but the whole union. 
Maryland and Virginia have already prohibited the importation of slaves expressly. 
North Carolina has done the same in substance. All this would be in vain if South 
Carolina and Georgia be at liberty to import them. The westerm people are already- 
calling out for slaves for their new lands and will fill their country with them if they 
can be got through those two states. Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The 
poor despise labor when it is performed by slaves. They prevent the migration of 
whites who really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce the most pernicious 
effect upon manners. Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the 
judgment of Heaven on a country. As nations can not be rewarded nor punished in 
the next world they must be in this. 1By an inevitable chain of causes and effects 
Providence punishes national sins by national calamities. I regret that some of our 
Eastern brethren have from a love of gain embarked in this nefarious traffic. I hold it 
essential in every point of view that the general government should have the power to 
prevent the increase of slavei^y." What his ideas of religious toleration were, may be 
learned from the last article in his Bill of rights. "Religion, or the duty we owe to 
our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and con- 
viction — ^not by force nor violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the ex- 
ercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that it is the mutual duty 
of all to practice christian forbearance, love and charity towards each other" — iMason 
was a member of the church of England but his influences were for its disestablishment. 

Gunston Hall is one of the very few colonial dwelling places of the upper Potomac 
tide water region which are still standing as in the past, one stone upon another. But 
it has shared a better fate than the most of them, thanks to its enduring materials of 
construction and to two of its proprietors since the civil war, Col. Edward Daniels and 
Mr. Joseph Specht; it is now in as good condition as in the days of its builder and 
first master. Not only its interior of spacious apartments with their high ceilings, 
wainscotings and elaborate stairways have been put in pleasing order, but its exterior 
of quaint roofs and gables, and dormer windows and tall chimneys has been well cared 
for. The manorial domain of seven thousand acres which once belonged to it has 
dwindled down to only a few hundred. Long may the old historic landmark continue 
through the mutations of time to call up to coming generations memories of a ster- 
ling, self sacrificing patriot whose potent influences in the shaping of the beginnings of 
our republic have never been sufficiently understood and recognized. 

The patriotic and curious pilgrim who wishes to visit this colonial shrine can board 
the steamer which plies daily between Washington and Mount Vernon. Or if he pre- 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI«AND. 115 

fers going leisurely by land, he can in carriage take the old King's Highway at Alex- 
andria and visit in his way of eighteen miles, Mount Vernon, Washington's old mill 
at Epsewasson, Woodlawn, Belvoir and the little hamlet of Accotink at the head of 
Accotink Bay where in the hostelry of "Royal George," long since gone to ruin, Wash- 
ington often met his neighbors after a barbecue or fox chase. The site of the van- 
ished town of Colchester on the Occoquan, seven miles below Mount Vernon will well 
repay a visit 

The following lines were written by a sojourner under Gunston roof on a Christmas 
night a few years ago. 

I sat in Guneton Hall; — I saw the hearth-stone blaze. Each captive husband vied 

Grim shadows on the wall As in colonial days. With lover by his side, 

Around me pressed. In this old hall; To own her sway 

As memories of the past With beauty flashing high. Who practised less the art 

Came crowding thick and fast, And gallants thronging nigh, To win than keep a heart 

And to my mind, at last, As if some love-lit eye That once to Cupid's dart 

Their theme adressed. Held them in thrall. Had fallen prey; 

Back from the shadowy land They seemed to grow apace While wives with sweethearts strove 

They pressed, a noble band. Like old Antenor's race. To keep the torch of love 

A stalwart race; — Of Trojan fame. In constant flame, * 

I saw them come and go, Or men of lofty state, That, like sweet Omphale, 

As if they thought to show On whom the good and great They might retain their sway. 

Their stately grandeur to Bestowed their utmost weight And yet their lords obey 

My mind apace. Of honored name. By rightful claim. 

From veall and ceiling high, Then prouder forms were seen, So passed the shadowy throng. 

And ancient panel nigh, Of more majestic mien, — In misty group along, 
Their faces showed. Those grand old knights. As fancy played, 

I marked them, one and all, Whose sires at Runnymede Or pictured, one by one, 

Majestic, grand, and tall. Stocked England with a breed These spectral scenes upon 

As from the corniced wall Of men that made kings heed My mind, as night wore on 
Their shadows strode. Their subjects .rights. With deep'ning shade. 

Then hall and mansion wide Their spectral grandeur showed And as my eyelids fell 

They filled on every side. In every step they trode They grew more palpable— 

With phantoms grand; Through ancient hall, Th/ese spectres grand, 

While, at the outer gate, While women held their place That still, in Gunston Hall, 

Pressed carriages of state. Supreme in- every grace Hold nightly carnival, 

With spectral steeds to mate With which the Gothic race As fancy stirs withal 

The shadowy band. Invests them all. Her conjurer's wand. 

The Gunston estate was divided into the following named "quarters" or "plantations" 
Gunston, Occoquan, Pohick, Stutnp Neck, Hallowing Point, Dogue Run, and Hunting 
Creek. From these places the exports of grain and tobacco were large for inany years 
after their clearing of the original growth of heavy timber. But other commodities 
were produced as appears from an account book of the proprietor before us, such as 
beef, tanned hides and wool. Of the last named article there are the following entries: 

1789 167 fleeces 397 p'ds. 

"90 164 " 398 " 

"91 166 " 384 " 

"92 171 " 458 " 

George Mason, like his neighbor Washington, was orderly and methodical in all his 
business affairs, and his integrity in his dealings is a fact well established. 

GUNSTON HALL RESTORED. 
"Whatever was in condition to remain as it was originally, stands to-day, voicing in more eloquent lan- 
guage than could be conveyed by the most fervent patriot the spirit of the past. Thus the long, worn 
flights of sand stone steps leading to the porched entrances on the north and south fronts of the mansion, the 
most beautiful external features of the house, have weathered the hundred and fifty years that they have 
stood and are now battered 99<i hollow with age and long use. .. i , 

^ The principal entrance tO the house is^ on the nortli side, andMs inade through a large, -square porch, 
solidly built of brick and stone, with a peaked roof, supported in front by four Doric pillars of stone. 
The front door is crowned by a lunette of glass that corresponds to the arched front of the porch, and on 
either side are narrow hall windows. The southern portico is a smaller, octagonal structure, quite classlc- 
in its grace of form. In this picturesque retreat, doubtless. Colonel Mason was wont to entertain his dis- 
tinguished guests of a. summer evening, where they might rest and be refreshed by the cool breezes arising^ 
from the quiet waters, of Pohick Bay, as it was then called, now Gunston Cove, not many yards below. 



116 SOME OI^D HISTORIC I,ANDMARKS 

This porch is said to have been a favorite spot, too, for a quiet turn at draughts between Washington 
and Mason. 

The mansion is built of bricks that were imported from Scotland, and its walls, interior as well as 
exterior, have the thickness of three of these very large blocks. It is surmounted by a long, sweeping 
Virginia roof, that gives slope to the walls of the chambers in the second story, and necessitates the quaint 
dormer windows that are an- added featttre of attraction. Four immense brick chimneys rear themselves 
high above the roof, f'rom the four corners of which they spring, though they have their bases in the im- 
mense cellar that runs beneath the entire house. The present owner of the mansion has built a tall 
observation tower on the top of the house, sacrificing somewhat the architectural harmony of the structure 
to the pleasure of enjoying the inimitable landscape spread before one for miles below. 

INTERIOR OF THE HALL. 

Within, the house has the admirable features of the best of the Southern mansions of its time, the 
wide hall running across the entire breadth of the house, broken only by a fine broad staircase ascending 
at one side, and in this case relieved half way down its length of wall on either side by a carved panel 
reaching from floor to cornice, where they form themselves into two graceful arches, that meet in the 
centre of the ceiling in a drop. in the form of a hugfe acorn carved in wood. From both sides of the hall 
enter the chief rooms of the house, the doors curiously low in proportion to the heights of the walls, with 
deep panelled casements, and opening into four apartments of fine dimensions. 

On the right of the main entrance is what is known as the Jefferson room, as here there is reason to 
believe that Thomas Jefferson consulted and talked over with his friend and settled many a question that 
is embodied in this country's laws, giving more than .reasonable indorsement to the popular belief that in 
this room the American Declaration of Independence was practically framed. The room is at present 
modernly furnished with the elegant appointments of a lady's boudoir, being the sitting room of the 
daughter of the house, but its most prominent ornament withal is a fine bust of the third President of the 
United States. 

HISTORIC WHITE PARLOR. 

On the south side, and communicating with this room, is the handsomest apartment in the mansion, and 
is the room in which all affairs of especial ceremony took place. It has been alluded to as the White 
Parlor, taking the name from the ivory white woodwork in which it is finished. This woodwork is of 
particular note, being of a character in its elaborate hand carving and solidity that is not often reproduced 
today. However, the wood fitments of Gunston Hall are one of its nouble features. George Mason 
brought over from England several workmen to erect, and decorate the woodwork throughout his house, 
and they spent three years in accomplishing the task. The two doors in the white Parlor, its two large 
windows, and the recesses on either side of the big square open fire place are all incased in broad, 
fluted, square pilasters with frontal decorated after the chaste Doric designs. The heavy panelled doors 
are also finished with classic scrolls. A Northern architect visiting Gunston Hall not long sinee — 
fortunately it was not before the arrest of its decay — offered $3,000 {or the woodwork of this room, which 
he had an ardent desire to transfer to a colonial mansion he was erecting near Boston. 

The plainer, though very handsoine woodwork in wainscoting cornices, doors, mantel and window 
frames, and otherwise finishing of the mansion's stately dining room, situated across the hall from the 
White Parlor, has an appropriate finish of oak graining. As one sits at the characteristically hospitable 
board of Gunston Hall, thought irresistibly travels back to former guests who have been regaled in this 
room. They present an imposing array — the great Washington himself frequently came over from Mount 
Vernon, six miles away; Jefferson was a very frequent Gunston Hail guest; Adams, Madison, and 
Monroe, who was a political pupil of Mason; Randolph and Henry visited it; also the gallant La- 
fayette; and General Green, in fact, all the notable statesmen of the time were guests at one time or 
another of this *'Solon and Cato," the law giver and the stern patriot of the age in which he lived. 

The library, occupying the north front of the house, is again handsomely finished in dark, carved wood, 
with deep, glass inclosed alcoves in the east wall filled with shelving for books. 

Ascending the beautiful stairway, with its graceful, hand-turned, mahogany balustrade, one is surprised 
to find on turning to the second flight, over the broad hallway at its head, a series of graceful arches sup- 
ported by square fluted pillars. A broad hallway runs from end to end on this floor between the rows of 
chambers on either side, each with ite individual feature of quaintness and beauty. The room occupied 
by Lafayette when he visited Gunston Hall is that situated in the southwest corner, with two small 
gable windows gathering . all the possible warmth from the late sun, and its dormer window commanding 
a fine view of the sloping lawns below and the peaceful Potomac in the near distance." 

TmK '>liinCKTON" CATA«TllOPM«-BUR«Tllia OF THB "FtACWiAKKR." 

On the 28th of Febrtiary, 1844, a large party of ladies and gentlemen of Washington 
including President Tyler and the members of his Cabinet with their families, were in- 
vited by Commodore Stockton, of the navy, to pass the day on the frigate "Princeton" 
lying at anchor off the city of Alexandria. The day was fine and the company numer- 
ous and brilliant, not fewer than four hundred in number of whom the majority were 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 1J7 

ladies. After the arrival of the guests the "Princeton" got under way and proceeded 
down the river a short distance below Fort Washington. During the passage down, 
the largest gun of the vessel, the "Peacemaker," firing a ball of two hundred and 
twenty-five pounds, was fired several times to test its strength and capacity. The gun 
had been constructed from a model of, and under the immediate direction of the 
commodore, and Mr. Tyler had manifested a great interest in its success. At two p. m. 
the ladies of the party were invited to a sumptuous repast in the cabin. The gentle- 
men succeeded them at the table, and some of them had got through and left it. The 
ship was on her return to her anchorage, and when opposite Broad Bay, the commander 
proposed, for the special gratification of the President and his Cabinet, to fire the gun 
again, a salute, as he said, in honor of the "great peacemaker" of his country — George 
Washington. Accordingly, all the members of the Cabinet started to go upstairs, the 
President with them, but at that instant they were called back to hear a toast proposed 
by Miss WickliflFe. It was this: "The flag of the United States, the only thing Amer- 
ican that will bear a stripe." This was received with great enthusiasm. The Presi- 
dent in response then gave as a toast, "the three great guns,— the 'Princeton,' her com- 
mander, and his Teacemaker.' This was loudly applauded by the ladies and then the 
members of the Cabinet started to go upstairs again. At this moment, Mr. Upshur, of 
Virginia, Secretary of State, had his hand on the President's arm and said to him, 
"Come, Mr. Tyler, let's go up and see the gun fired." Just then Colonel Dade asked 
Mr. Waller, the President's son-in-law, to sing an old song about 1776. The President 
replied, "No, by George, Upshur, I must stay. and hear that song; it is an old favorite 
of mine. You go up, and I'll join you directly." Accordingly, away went Upshur, 
Gilmer, and the others to see the gun fired. Messrs. Benton, Phelps, Hannegan, Jarne- 
gan, Virgil Maxey, Commodore Kennon, Colonel Gardiner, and many others following. 
The President remained below, listening to the singing, and just as Mr. Waller came 
to the name of Washington, off went the gun. "There," said the master of ceremonies, 
"that's in honor t)f the name, and now for three cheers." And just as they were about 
to give them, a boatswain's mate rushed into the cabin begrimed with powder and said 
that the "big gun" had exploded and killed many of those on deck; On this announce- 
ment the shrieks and agonizing cries of the women were heart-rending, — all calling for 
their husbands, fathers, brothers, and so on, rushing wildly into their arms and fainting 
with the excess of feeling. When the gun was fired the whole ship shook, and a dense 
cloud of smoke enveloped the entire group on the forecastle, but when this blew away 
an awful scene presented itself to the spectator. 

The lower part of the gun, from the trunnions to the breech, was blown off, and one 
half section of it was lying on Mr. Upshur. It took two sailors to remove it. Mr. 
Upshur was badly cut ov6r the eye and on his legs; his clothes were literally torn from 
his body, he expired in about three minutes. Governor Gilmer of Virginia, was found 
to be equally badly injured. He had evidently been struck by the section of the gun 
before it had reached Mr. Upshur. Mr. Sykes, member of Congress from New Jersey, 
endeavored to raise him from the "floor, but was unable. A mattress was brought for 
him, but he soon expired. Mr. Maxey, of Maryland, had his arms and one of his 
legs cut off, the pieces of flesh hanging to his mutilated limbs, cold and bloodless in a 
manner truly frightful. He died instantly. Mr. Gardiner, ex-member from New York, 
and Commodore Kennon, lingered about half an hour, unconscious, and expired with- 
out a groan. The flags of the Union were placed over the dead bodies as their wind- 
ing sheets. Behind the gun, the scene, though at first equally distressing, was less 
alarming. Commodore Stockton who was knocked down, rose to his feet and jumped 
on to the wooden carriage to survey the effects of the calamity. All the hair of his 
head and face was burned off. Judge Phelps, of Vermont, had his hat blown off. Nine 
seamen were seriously wounded and Colonel Benton and many others were stunned by 
the explosion. Such was the force of it that the starboard and larboard bulwarks of the 
ship were shattered and the gun blown into many pieces. 

Judge Wilkins had taken his stand by the side of Governor Gilmer but some rdmarks 
falling from the lips of the latter, and perceiving that the gun was about to be fired he 
explained, "though Secretary of War, I don't like this firing, and believe that I shall 



118 SOME OI,D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 

run," so saying he retreated, suiting the action to the word, and escaped injury. The 
most heart-rending scene, however, was that which followed. The two daughters of 
Mr. Gardiner, of New York, were both on board and lamenting the death of their father 
while Mrs. Gilmer from whom they vainly attempted to keep the dreadful news of the 
death of her husband, presented truly a spectacle fit to be depicted by a tragedian. 
There she sat on deck, with hair dishevelled, pale as death, struggling with her feelings 
and with the dignity of a woman, her lips quivering, her eyes fixed and upturned, with- 
out a tear, soliloquizing, "Oh certainly not! Mr. Gilmer cannot be dead! Who could 
dare to injure him? Yes, O Lord have mercy upon me! O Lord, have mercy upon 
him!" And then, still more apparently calm and seeming to be collected, with the 
furies tearing her heart within, "I beseech you, gentlemen, to tell me where my husband 
is? Oh! impossible, impossible! can he, can he, can he be dead? Impossible!" Here 
Senator Rives of Virginia, drew near. "Come near, Mr. Rives," she sistid in a soft 
whisper, which resembled Ophelia's madness, "tell me where my husband is — tell me if 
he is dead. Now certainly, Mr. Rives, this is impossible." Mr. Rives stood speechless, 
the tears trickling down his cheeks. "I tell you Mr. Rives, it is impossible," she almost 
shrieked; and then again moderating her voice, "Now do tell his wife if her husband 
lives!" Here several ladies exclaimed, "God grant that she may be able to cry; it would 
relieve her — if not, she must die of a broken heart." ' 

A daughter of Mr. Gardiner, one of the victims of the ill-fated party and to whom 
the President was paying attention, and who in the following June became his wife, 
gave the following relation a few years ago. "When we got down to the collation 
served in the cabin the President seated me at the head of the table with him and 
handed me a glass of champagne. My father was standing just back of my chair so I 
handed the glass over my shoulder, saying, 'Here, pa.' He did not take it but said 
'My time will come.* He meant his *time to be served,' but the words always seemed 
to me prophetic. That moment, some one called down to the President to come to see 
the last shot fired, but he replied that he could not go, as he was better engaged. My 
father started with some other gentlemen and left us. Just then we heard the report 
and the smoke began to come down the companion-way. 'Something must be wrong*, 
said a bystander, who started to go and see. He got to the door then turned around 
and gave me such a look of horror, that I never shall forget it. That moment I heard 
some one say, 'The Secretary of State is dead.* I was frightened, of course, and tried 
to get upstairs. 'Something dreadful has happened,' I exclaimed. 'Let me go to my 
father!* I cried, but they kept me back. Some one told me that the gun had exploded, 
but that there was such a crowd around the scene it would be useless for me to try to 
get there. I said that my father was there, and that I must know if any evil had be- 
fallen him. Then they told me he had been wounded. That drove me frantic, I 
begged them to let me go and help him — that he loved me, and would want me near 
him. A lady, seeing my agony, said to me, 'My dear child, you can do no good; your 
father is in heaven.*'* 

The bodies of the victims of this dire calamity, which cast a gloom over the whole 
land, were taken up to the capital. Five hearses, conveying the remains of Messrs. 
Upshur, Gilmer, Kennon, Maxey, and Gardiner, followed by a long train of carriages 
and a great concourse of citizens, on horseback and afoot, passed in silence up Penn-. 
sylvania Avenue and proceeded to the Executive Mansion. The coffins of the distin- 
guished dead were taken into the East Room and placed on biers to await the funeral 
solemnities which occurred on the Saturday following." 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



119 




OLD HISTORIC LETTERS. 

What is the harvest they bring us, 

Flotsam of life and the years? 
Kissed by the dust in their sleeping 

Bathed in love's sunshine and tears. 

The enthusiastic delver among old historic records now and then finds himself in the 
presence of veritable, apparitions of personages whose faces are seen no more save as- 
they look down through the limnings of the painter from their lonely places on the old 
ancestral walls, whose voices were silent long generations before the time of his earliest 
memories. 

These are the apparitions: A bundle of letters, folded, tied and laid away, when and 
by whom, by what careful, loving hands no record tells us. They rise up from old 
trunks, boxes, barrels, and musty shelves, in dust-strown lofts and garrets. To sit dowtt 
alone in the quiet and open these bundles of missives, faded and worn, sometimes in tat- 
ters and hardly decipherable, is like taking a long journey backward through the van- 
ished years, and holding pleasant communion with the dead, and learning somewhat of 
the lore of the times when they were living, moving actors on the world's wide stage. 
And we are glad to notice that an interest is at length being fostered among our people,, 
though thousands of opportunities have already irretrievably passed away, for the 
bringing to light of such of these precious historic souvenirs as have escaped destruction 
and securing for them preservation from further liability to loss. 

The societies of the Daughters and Sons of the Revolution have shown a zeal in this 
direction at once worthy of commendation and general emulation. Whatever relates to- 
the trials, sacrifices, habits, manners and customs of the ancestors of the colonial days- 
whatever comes up to the surface in the course of more studious investigation to throw 
new and more ample light on their home and neighborhood life takes on additional 
interest and fascination for all classes of our people an interest that will increase as the 
widening years go on, and as patriotic impulses become more and more the incentives to 
action. 

This letter taken from a bundle preserved with pious care through all the mutations 
of succeeding times, we open and read with feelings akin to awe. It is dated June I4th^ 
1723. It is to a correspondent in London and reads: 

"Wakefield, Virginia, 

Dear Brother — We have not a schoolmaster in our neighborhood until now in nearely twenty yearfti 



120 .'SOMIE OI^D HISTORIC I^AKDMARKS. 

We have now m, young minister Hiving with us who was educated at Oxford, took orders and came over as 
assistant to Rev. Kemp, of ^Gloucester. That parish is too poor to keep both and he teaches school for 
iiis board. He teaches lister Susie and me and Madame Carter's boy and two girls. I am now learning 
pretty fast. Mamma and Susie and all send love to you and Mary." 

The writer of this matter of fact epistle was no other than Mary Ball, the young 
Virginia damsel :at the age of seventeen, and who ten years later was to find favor in the 
-eyes of Augustine Washington, and become th^e mother of the future commander-in- 
chief of the Continental armies and the first President of the United States of America. 

Not much is recorded of th« youth and young womanhood of Mary Ball, daughter to 
Joseph Ball, scoi of Col. Wm. Ball who came to Virginia before 1669. Fi*om her mother 
who died in 1728 after a widowhood of many years she had doubtless inherited the noble 
qualities of mind and heart, and had been taught all those domestic Virtues of which 
contemporary testimony and tradition tell us. She was a bright exemplar of industry, 
frugality, strength of will and purpose, obedient to the behest of duty, faithfulness and 
modesty, and with deep religious convictions. Here is a letter from one of her friends 
^ which gives us a glimpse of her lovely girlhood: 

"W'MSBtJto, ye^ 7th of Oct, 1722. 
Dear Stdcey.i — ^Madame Ball, of Lancaster, and Her Sweet Molly have gone Horn. Mamma thinks 
Molly the Comliest Maiden She know. She is about 16 yrs old, is taller than Me^ is very sensible. 
Modest and Loving. Her hair is like unto flax. Her eyes are the color of yours and her Cheeks are 
like May blossoms. I wish you could See Her." 

Here i* a letter or rather a note which has been handed down as an heirloom through 
many generations. The date is Wakefield, Va., 1733, one year after the birth of George 
Washington, and it is in the handwriting of his father, Captain Augustine Washington, 
wba- with. Mary BalT^ his wife, are going to make a visit very soon to some of their 
friends in the neighborhood of the Old Homestead. They announce the time of their 
coming and their intention of bringing with them their "baby George." Through this 
1)rief note we get but a glimpse of far away events. Only the mere announcement of an 
afternoon or overnight friendly reunion. And this is all that will ever be known of the 
little social event thus briefly alluded to; but it is a glimpse which may be readily 
widened into charming views of all its unnoted details and circumstances, accordingly 
as rein is given to one^s fancies. Doubtless the infant, in swaddling clothes on this 
neighborly expedition was everywhere hailed by kindred and friends with the usual 
exclamations of fondness and delight, but they did not perceive the brightness of his 
particular star hanging serenely in the heavens above and pointing to the future mis- 
sion and the career of great renown. 

Here is a letter of great interest written to Mary Washington by her brother Joseph 
Ball on learning that there was some talk of entering her son George as a midshipman 
an the British navy. 

Stratford by Bow, London, 19th May, 1747. 

"Dear Sister: I understand that you are advised and have some thoughts of putting your son George 
to sea. I thiiik he had better be put a prentice to a tinker, for a common sailor before the mast has by no 
itneans the common liberty of the subject; for they will press him from a ship where he has fifty shillings 
a month and make him take three-and-twenty, and cut and slash him like a negro, or rather like a dog. 
And as to any considerable preferment in the navy, it is not to be expected, there are so many always 
gaping for it here who !have interest and he has none. And if he should get to be master of a Virginia 
«hip (which will be very difiicult to do) a planter that has three or four hundred acres and three or four 
•slaves, if he be industrious, may leave his family in better bread than such a master of a ship can, and if 
the planter can get ever so fittle before hand let him begin to buy goods for tobacco and sell them again 
for tobacco, (I never knew them men miss while they went on so, but he must never pretend to buy for 
money and sell for tobacco. I never knew any of them but lost more than they got. He must not be too 
fliasty to get rich, but go on gently and with patience as things will naturally go. This method, without 
aiming to be a fine gentleman before his time, will carry a man more comfortably and surely through the 
world than going to sea. I pray God keep you and yours. My wife and daughter join with me in love 
and respect to you and yours. Your loving brother, 

Joseph Ball." 

Another letter is dated 1759, twenty-six years later. It is from Mary, the mother of 
George, to a relative in London. Her son is yet but little more than a boy, but he has 
Ibcen away from her ior five years, exposed to privations and hardships untold in the 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND ^ 121 

warfare with the French and Indians on the wilderness borders, and pathetically relates 
to her correspondent how gri^voifs and afflicting to her has been his absence. But now 
she is glad he is coming home. 

And here is one of the messages she has received from her son George just after that 
disastrous battle of Braddock with the French and Indians on the Monongahela: 

Camp of Great Meadows, July 14, 1755. 
Honored. Madame: — ^As I doubt not you have heard of our defeat, and perhaps have had it repre- 
sented in a worse light, if possible, than it deserves, I have taken the earliest opportunity to give an account 
of the engagement as it happened within seven miles of the French fort on Wednesday, the 9th inst. We 
marched on to that place without any considerable loss, losing now and then a straggler by the French and 
scouting Indians. When- we came there we were attacked by a body of French and Indians whose num- 
ber I am certain did not; exceed 300 men. Ours consisted of about 1,300 well armed troops, chiefly of 
the English soldiers who were struck with such a panic that they behaved with more cowardice than it is 
possible to conceive. The officers behaved gallantly in order to encourage the men, for which they suf- 
fered greatly, there being nearly 60 killed and wounded, a large proportion out of the number we had. 
The Virginia troops showed a great deal of bravery and were nearly all killed, for out of three companies 
there is scare 30 men left alive. Capt. Poulson shared a hard fate, for only one of his men was left. In 
short, the dastardly behaviour of those they called regulars exposed all others that were inclined to 
their duty to almost certain death, and at last in spite of all the efforts of the officers to the contrary they 
broke and ran as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to rally them. The general, Braddock, 
was wounded and died three days after. Sir Peter Malket was killed on the field where died many other 
brave officers. I luckily escaped without a wound, though I had four bullets through my coat, and two 
horses shot under me. Captains Orme and Morris, two of the general's aids-de-camp, were wounded 
early in the engagement, which made the duty hard on me, as I was the only person left to distribute the 
general's orders, which I was scarcely able to do, as I was not half recovered from a violent spell of sick- 
ness that confined me to my bed and wagon for abo^ ten 4ays. I am still in a weak and feeble condition 
which induces me to halt here two or three days, in the hopes of recovering a little strength to enable me 
to proceed homeward, from whence I fear I will not be able to stir until towards September. From your 
obedient Son, George Washington. 

In July, 1760, Widow Washington writes ta her brother Joseph in London as 
follows: 

Dear Brother, this Coms by Captain Nickleson. You seem to blame me for not writeing to you butt I 
doe ashure you that it is Note for want for a very great regard for you and the family, butt as I don't 
ship tobacco the Captains never call on me, soe that I never know when tha com or when tha goe. I be- 
lieve you have got a very good overseer at this quarter now; Captain Newton has taken a large lease of 
ground from you which I Deare say, if you had been hear yourself, it had not been done. Mr. Daniel 
& his wife & family is well. Cozin Hannah has been married & lost her husband. She has only one child, 
a boy. Pray give my love to Sister Ball & Mr. Bowmon, his son in law & his Lady & I am, Deare Brother, 
Your loving sister, 

Mary Washington. 

Mr. Joseph Ball, Esq., At Stratford by Bow, Nigh London. 

There is another letter extant, written by the same hand but feebler and more un- 
steady. It is to her son John Augustine, somewhere about the year 1781, when the 
long struggle of the American Revolution was still pend^g and the independence of the 
thirteen colonies was not yet an assured fact. Her soii George had been long away 
from her again as commander-in-chief of the armies and again was exposed to great 
perils, and in the commotion and uncertainties of the times it was natural that the 
epistle of the good matron, now bowed with more than three score years and ten, and 
harrassed by many cares, should take the tinge of surrounding circumstances. She 
complains that the times are hard and that her estates are not yielding enough for her 
support, "that she is going fast, and is like an old almanack, out of date." 

We must not omit an epistle traced by the hand of George Washington when at the 
age of sixteen he was surveying the wilderness lands of his patron Thomas, Lord Fair- 
fax, Baron of Cameron. His pen doubtless was a stray quill from an eagle or other wild 
bird — his table a fallen tree — his light a blazing pine fagot. It was written to one of his 
youthful companions, perhaps a schoolmate who had shared with him the rude aca- 
demic trainings of schoolmaster Hobby in Westmoreland. 

Dear Richard: — The receipt of your kind favor of the 2nd instant afforded me unspeakable pleasure, 
as I am convinced I am still in the memory of so worthy a friendship I shall ever be proud of increasing. 



122 , SOMK OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS 

You gave xne the more pleasure as I received it amongst a parcel of barbarians and an uncouth set of 
people. The like favor often repeated would give me pleasure altho I seem to be in a place where no 
real satisfaction is to be had. Since you received my letter in October last I have not sleeped above three 
nights or four in a bed, but after walking a good deal all the day, lay down before the iire on a little hay, 
straw, fodder, or bearskin, which ever is to be had, with man, wife and children, like a parcel of dogs or 
cats, and happy is he that gets the place nearest the fire. There's nothing would make all this tolerable, 
but a good reward of a doubleoon which is my constant reward every day that the weather will permit my 
going out, and sometimes six pistoles. The coldness of the weather will n^t allow my making a long 
stay, as the lodging is rather too cold for the time of year. I have never had my clothes off, but lay and 
sleep in them like a negro except the few nights I have lain in Ferderic town. 

G. Washington. 

Two letters more and we will close our chapter. They were written by the Hon. 
William Fairfax, the founder of Belvoir, on the Potomac. In i^So, accompanied by 
his son-in-law, Major John Carlyle, of Alexandria, he made a voyage to England to 
visit such of his kinsmen and friends as were still living in the old neighborhoods of 
his boyhood. Years of close attention to private and public affairs in Virginia had 
been wearing upon him, and he needed rest. His faithful wife, Deborah, had passed 
away from his side three years before. His son, George William, and his wife and 
children were domiciled in the Belvoir home. The first of these letters is dated. White 
Haven, England, July 6, 1750. 

The second is dated London, October of the same year, and both are addressed to 
Lawrence Washington. In them he gives a description of their voyage and sea sick- 
ness, tells of the comfort they found in the plum cake with which they had been pro- 
vided by his daughter Anne, Lawrence's wife. He speaks of their remembrance of 
the Mount Vernon and Belvoir friends in their toast while envoyage, of their meeting 
with cordial friends after landing in old England, of transacting business connected 
with the tobacco trade, of their solicitude for the well and sick at home, and of the 
pleasure they had received from home letters; assures them that they will not forget 
their commissions for the purchase of tokens in London, and in concluding, indulges the 
hope that Lawrence Washington and his brother George will derive benefit from their 
visit to the springs. 

A voyage across the Atlantic ocean to the Old World in those times was one of no 
small undertaking. It was an event of a life time. There were no vessels for passengers 
enclusively and the passage had to be made in the ships, brigs or schooners of com- 
merce, many of them but poorly provided with the conveniences and comforts. Some- 
times the voyager was fortunate if favoring gales filled his sails and he crossed over in 
four or five weeks, but oftener through storms or adverse winds or besetting calms 
the time was as many months, and generally the "freshest advices" chronicled by the 
gazettes of the day from England and the other countries "beyond the seas" were quite 
old reading before they reached the firesides of the colonists. 

The old letters — the worn and faded letters written by hands which have been dust long generations. 
Now and then we take them from their places and read them over thoughtfully, as we have many times 
before, and then how they open for our visions the dim vistas of the past. Far away we can see lonely 
dwellings, rude, ungarnished cabins, the outposts of civilization in the wilderness clearings, where in their 
ruddy firelights are gathered, groups of brave hopeful hearts, the makers and builders of the neighborhoods 
and states. There are fading sails on the rivers and bays; these outward bound with cargoes of tobacco and 
bearing letters — precious letters to the English friends in homes, three thousand miles away, some of them 
from brave, hopeful hearts with cheerful story of how their lots have been cast in pleasant places. Some 
of them perchance from hearts less resolute; and repining because of besetting struggles and hardships in 
the new homes. And there are sails incoming, descried with joy and swelling hearts for the expected 
friends on board, for the long looked for messages and tokens and presents' for the pioneers. These are 
some of the shadowy throngings of the vistas which open to us when we unfold and read the faded letters. 
Let ours then be the kindly office of gathering 'and preserving such of them as still remain scattered, that 
they be not lost. 

This searching and gathering and rescuing from destruction the .faded and tattered waifs of hearts and 
fingers of the long ago is purely a labor of love and kindly instincts we know, with no compensation in 
dollars and cents and of a certainty there will be some who will put but little estimate upon our efforts, 
and fail to appreciate our motives and solicitude, .but there will be others, many others we doubt not, who 
will properly appreciate them and so, perhaps they shall not have been in vain. 



OF VIRGINIA AND MARYI^AND. 



123 



We want more facts concerning the old homesteads, the old families, the old churches, the old high 
ways, the old manners and customs — more about the heroic sacrifices of the brave pioneers, the honored 
and worthy fathers and mothers who set the hearth stones and the altars along the bays and rivers and 
creeks and by the mountains in the new found wastes and planted the germs of civil and religious liberty 
over them all. We want to learn more about the sturdy Continentalers who sprang to arms and filled up 
the regiments when flying couriers brought tidings of Lexington to the plantations along the Pautuxent, the 
Potomac, the Rappahannock, and the James. We want more enthusiasm in the direction of preserving and 
restoring the old historic houses which are fast falling to ruins — more care to keep in order the burial, 
places, to reset the falling memorial stones, restore their fading inscriptions and keep up their inclosures. 




Thc Old Gateway of Mount Vcrnom, and Lodges. 

Through this gateway in Washington's time was the only carriage road leading to* 
the Mansion of Mount Vernon. The road connected about one mile distant to the 
west with the Old King's Highway from Williamsburg by Alexandria and on to 
the Shenandoah. It was a much^ traveled way and is still used, but the approach for- 
the great tide of travel which now sets in to the consecrated home is by the Electric- 
railway and Steamboats. 



i 




THE SWIFT SURE STAGE, 

STARTS FROM THE 



GRE2N 




TRES 



124 



SOME OI^D HISTORIC I^ANDMARKS 




THE OLD VIRGINIA REEL. 

Very sweet and very merry, very faint and far away, 
!Now I hear the ancient fiddlers on the strings begin to play, 
/Keeping time with swaying bodies and a kind of whispered croon 
^Till a host of dainty slippers follow to the dear old tune. 



Ah, the instruments are shattered and the strings are snapped in twain. 

And the fiddlers have forgotten and will never play again! 

'Twas the creaking of the branches on the shingles to and fro 

That recalled to me the music and the mirth of long ago. 

But above the stars eternal in their faded pinks and blues, 

With the powder on their ringlets, and the buckles on their shoes 

I shall see the beaux and sweethearts in a long procession kneel 

And their harps will play the music of an old Virginia reel. Minnie Irving, 



i 





TABLE OF DISTAHCES OF VARIOUS POIHTS FROM ALEXAKDRI*. U. 



SPlfclNGFlRLD, Va.- 
AN74AN'DAI,E, VA- 
FwarAX COORT HOUSK, \ 

Bull Ron, Va, 
Warrenton, Va 

CTIANCELLORSVtl*!:^, VA. - 

CliLPEFER, Va 
RaPJDANj Va 
Orangr, Va 

Qn JLR f A>TTl^VTtlrH , V A 
DANVILLS, Va 

AM»nMATTOX, V V 
W HJJ A MSI* nRC, 
jAMKS'JrOWN, \ A. 
YoRKToWN^ Va 
I'liTltRSaimG, Va 

IUlls Chhr^ 
Vtknna, Va. 
LEJfSUU«G, Va 
HURKIJON* Vv 

BalU Bluff ^ V* 



MItEis. 




M^f K©, 


Va, 2 


Blukaioht, V^ 


m> 


8 


Hahprk's F«mR\\ WiiST Va- . i^S 


12 


WZNCHESTBRp Va. 


m 


{ 


CtrMaEjEMhTD, Md 


:147 


, 1^ 


Pl-rrSiLTRG, SiTK l^T. 


DUQtJHSNI^ Hid 


^iiJ 


AccoTiwic, Va, 


IQ 


oO 


C>ci;€fQOAK, Va 


'JO 


56 


QOANttco^ Va 


28 


60 


FREORRICiSBLikc., 


'p^^ 


72 


Richmond^ Va. 


' ii 


, 77 


Chantillv\ V 


\\i 


*^7 


CoLCU ESTER, Va 


1 '-: 


105 


WiLDKRNKSS, Va 


ri! 


Sil 


Front Roy%Li Va 


T.S 


1^4 


STRAftBURo* Va 


. S7 


100 


H A K R ! SiON BCJRO . V ^ 


U\H 


IHH 


Staunton^ Va 


\4H 


no 


NORl^OLK. Va. 


v'Hi 


. Sf» 


Annai*ous. Xi 1 


4- 




\tTIMORK, Ml 


iH 


]i 


ri!fLAr*HL]'tUAt V,\ 


^U 


40 


Nrw York, N. W 


Ji<*^ 


ittf 


Boston* Uabs 


r.:: 



m