Part 1

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fred A. Seaton, _Secretary_

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Conrad L. Wirth, _Director_

_HISTORICAL HANDBOOK NUMBER TWENTY-SIX_

This publication is one of a series of handbooks describing the historical and archeological areas in the National Park System administered by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior. It is printed by the Government Printing Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D. C. Price 25 cents.

_GEORGE WASHINGTON BIRTHPLACE National Monument Virginia_

_by J. Paul Hudson_

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES No. 26 Washington, D. C., 1956

_The National Park System, of which George Washington Birthplace National Monument is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic, scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the benefit and enjoyment of its people._

_Contents_

_Page_ JOHN WASHINGTON 5 LAWRENCE WASHINGTON 6 AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON 10 Early Life 10 First Marriage 10 Purchase of Popes Creek Farm 12 Building the Birthplace Home 12 The Birthplace 12 Second Marriage 14 Virginia in 1732 14 GEORGE WASHINGTON 16 THE DISASTROUS FIRE 22 A CENTURY OF NEGLECT 23 THE SAVING OF WASHINGTON'S BIRTHPLACE 27 GUIDE TO THE AREA 33 HOW TO REACH THE MONUMENT 43 ABOUT YOUR VISIT 43 RELATED AREAS 44 ADMINISTRATION 44 SUGGESTED READINGS 44

_GEORGE WASHINGTON_

_"... His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives ... of friendship or hatred being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man.... His heart was not warm in its affections; but he exactly calculated every man's value and gave him a solid esteem proportioned to it.... Although in the circle of his friends ... he took a free share in conversation, his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas, nor fluency of words.... Yet he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy and correct style.... On the whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in few points indifferent; and it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example...."_

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Dr. Walter Jones, January 2, 1814, more than 14 years after Washington's death.

"A place of rose and thyme and scented earth, A place the world forgot, But here a matchless flower came to birth-- Time paused and blessed the spot." --_Inscription on the sundial in the herb garden, Washington's Birthplace._

The story of the Washington family plantation in Westmoreland County, Va., where George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, may be divided into 3 main parts. The first relates to the activities of the early Washingtons who lived on the plantation during the latter third of the 17th century and fourscore years of the 18th century--a period covering 115 years. During that time the plantation between Bridges Creek and Popes Creek grew; successive members of the Washington family became prosperous planters, acquired large landholdings, and attained important civic and political offices in their county and colony. The climactic year of this first period was 1732--the 6th year in the reign of King George II and the 125th year in the history of the colony--when George, the son of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington, was born. The period ends during the American Revolution when the home in which George first saw the light of day accidentally caught fire, burned to the ground, and was abandoned as a homesite.

The second period spans a hundred years--a century when the birthplace site was neglected, and was all but forgotten by a growing nation which showed little or no interest in preserving the birthplace of its great military leader and first president. Wild honeysuckle and bramble thickets covered the foundations of the burned home; the place was forgotten for so many years that knowledge of the exact location and use of many of the plantation buildings became lost.

PATERNAL ANCESTRY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON

Col. JOHN WASHINGTON Born 1632, founder of Washington family in Virginia, 1656-57. Died Sept. 1677.

ANNE POPE Daughter of Lt. Col. Nathaniel Pope. Married 1658, died 1669.

Capt. LAWRENCE WASHINGTON (1) Born Sept. 1659, Westmoreland Co., Va. Died 1698.

MILDRED WARNER, GEORGE GALE (2) Daughter of Augustine Warner. Married 1690, died 1701.

Capt. AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON Born 1694. Died 1743.

(1) JANE BUTLER Born 1699. Married 1715. Died 1729.

Butler, died young. Lawrence, of Mt. Vernon. Augustine, inherited Wakefield. Jane.

(2) MARY BALL Daughter of Joseph Ball. Born 1708. Married 1731. Died 1789.

GEORGE WASHINGTON Born February 11, 1732 (Old Style); or February 22, 1732 (New Style). Married Jan. 19, 1759. Died Dec. 14, 1799.

MARTHA (DANDRIDGE) CUSTIS Widow of Daniel Parke Custis.

Elizabeth. Samuel. John Augustine. Charles. Mildred.

The third and last period of the story covers the years when the Federal Government, various individuals, and patriotic organizations became interested in preserving the historic site; a period culminating in the preservation of the ancient plantation by the Wakefield National Memorial Association and the United States Government.

_John Washington_

In late 1656, or early 1657, John Washington, about 24 years old, arrived in the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Va., as mate of the Ketch, _Sea Horse of London_. Owing to a disagreement with the owner and captain of the vessel, Edward Prescott, John decided to remain in Virginia.

Of John's early history little is known. He was born in England about 1632, son of the Reverend Lawrence Washington (M.A., B.D., Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, Rector of Purleigh, Essex) and Amphillis Twigden of Northamptonshire. In November 1640, Charles I presented John with a "scholar's place" at Sutton Hospital (Charterhouse School), but owing to a long waiting list he did not receive an appointment and appears to have been educated elsewhere.

A year or two after his arrival in Virginia, John married Anne Pope and, in 1659, was given land on Mattox Creek by his father-in-law, Col. Nathaniel Pope. Here their first son, Lawrence (George's grandfather), was born in September 1659. John quickly took rank with the important men of his community. In 1661 he was elected a vestryman of his church. The same year he was appointed coroner, and in 1662 he was made justice of Westmoreland County Court. In 1664 a distinct honor was accorded him--the changing of the name of Appomattox Parish in Westmoreland County to Washington Parish, the one it bears today.

On December 3, 1664, John Washington purchased from David Anderson 100 acres on the east side of Bridges Creek (only a short distance from its confluence with the Potomac River), and there he and Anne established their second home. Known as the Bridges Creek plantation, it was the first tract of land acquired by a Washington on the area which today is designated as George Washington Birthplace National Monument. There John and his family lived and prospered, and there he developed his tidewater plantation and carried out many important duties for his King and colony. (Seventy-eight years after John acquired the Bridges Creek property it was purchased by George's father, Augustine Washington, and for the first time became a part of the plantation which later became known as "Wakefield".)

About 1672, John was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the county militia and, in 1675, was directed to raise troops to conduct a campaign against the Doeg Indians in Maryland who had made forays into Virginia and murdered three citizens. On at least two occasions, John represented his county in the Virginia House of Burgesses and attended its sessions at Jamestown, the "Capital Cittie" of the colony. In 1676 he actively supported Royal Governor William Berkeley against rebellious Nathaniel Bacon and his followers, and later was awarded 9,950 pounds of tobacco for his part in raising forces to aid in suppressing the rebellion.

By importing servants whose land "headrights" he could claim by purchase, by original patent, and by taking up grants of deserted land, John yearly added to his holdings, and at the time of his death owned several thousand acres of land in tidewater Virginia, including the property on the Potomac which later became known as Mount Vernon. John died in 1677 and was buried in the family cemetery at Bridges Creek, about 1¼ miles northwest of the site where his illustrious great-grandson, George, was born 55 years later.

_Lawrence Washington_

Lawrence Washington was 5 years old when his parents moved from Mattox Creek to the Bridges Creek plantation. Except for a few months when he may have attended grammar school in England, he lived at Bridges Creek until early manhood. He was 18 when his father, John Washington, died; being the eldest son, he inherited the largest share of the land. As he grew and matured, he became a man of means, culture, and ability, and during his short life-span of 39 years he was honored with the highest political offices which the citizens of Westmoreland County could bestow.

Following in his father's footsteps, he served as justice of the Court of Westmoreland County, as an officer in the county militia, and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was first elected to the latter office when only 25, serving four terms as a burgess in the Colonial Assembly at Jamestown. Another position he held for several years was sheriff of Westmoreland County.

In 1690 Lawrence married Mildred Warner of Gloucester County, Va., daughter of a prominent planter, Augustine Warner, who at one time had been speaker of the House of Burgesses and a member of the Governor's council. Their second son, Augustine, born in 1694, was destined to become the father of George Washington.

Lawrence Washington died in 1698, and was interred in the family cemetery at Bridges Creek. He left a sizeable estate to his wife and three children (his personal property alone consisted of £406 and 32,509 pounds of tobacco), and to each of the two Anglican churches in Washington Parish he provided for "a Pulpett Cloth & Cushion."

GEORGE WASHINGTON BIRTHPLACE NATIONAL MONUMENT --_area_--

_Mattox Creek Farm_

_John Washington, great-grandfather of George and founder of the Washington family in Virginia, landed near here in 1656-57. Here John and his wife, Anne Pope, were given land by John's father-in-law, Col. Nathaniel Pope. Here their first son, Lawrence (George's grandfather), was born in 1659. Lawrence inherited the Mattox Creek farm when his father died in 1677._

_The Bridges Creek Farm_

_John Washington (George's great-grandfather) purchased 100 acres of land here in 1664 and established his second home in Virginia, where he lived for 15 years--until his death in 1677. Here Lawrence Washington (George's grandfather) lived as a boy. George's father, Augustine Washington, acquired the land in 1742. Here John Washington, the emigrant, established the family burying ground; and in the cemetery are buried George's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather._

_Here young George made one of his first surveys--in 1747, at the age of 15._

_Church Point_

_Mattox Episcopal Church was located here about 2½ mi. from Popes Creek where Geo. Washington was born. George may have been Baptized here on April 5, 1752._

SCHOOL HOUSE

_George Washington may have attended the school Henry Williams conducted here near Mattox Creek, but no direct evidence of this has been found._

POTOMAC MILLS

_Mill owned by George's father, Augustine Washington. Acquired by him in 1728._

_Popes Creek Farm (Wakefield)_

_Augustine Washington, George's father, purchased 150 acres here in 1717-18 from Joseph Abbington. Here he built a brick home between 1723 and 1726. Here George Washington was born on February 22, 1732. The home burned to the ground in 1779._

_Augustine Washington_

EARLY LIFE.

George Washington's father, Augustine Washington, was born at Mattox Creek, Westmoreland County, Va., in 1694. He remembered little of his father, as Lawrence Washington died when Augustine was only 4 years old. Two years later his mother married George Gale, and during the autumn of 1700, the family moved to England. Their family life abroad was short-lived, however, as Augustine's mother died a year later, when he was only seven. His stepfather, who seems to have been a kindly man, sent Augustine and his brother, John, to Appelby School. Their schooling, too, was cut short, for a year or two later the boys returned to Virginia to live with their elder cousin, John Washington of "Chotank," whose plantation was located on the Potomac, about 20 miles up the river from Bridges Creek. While little is known of Augustine's teen-age activities one can surmise that he enjoyed plantation life to the utmost while living with various relatives whose farms were located on the wooded south shore of the Potomac River.

FIRST MARRIAGE.

Augustine Washington became of age in 1715, and shortly thereafter married Jane Butler, daughter of Caleb Butler, a successful Westmoreland County lawyer and planter. Four children were born of this union: Butler, 1716 (who died in infancy); Lawrence, 1718 (who built and named Mount Vernon); Augustine, Jr., 1719 or 1720; and Jane, 1722.

PURCHASE OF POPES CREEK FARM.

In 1717-18 Augustine Washington bought from Joseph Abbington 150 acres of land on Popes Creek--a beautiful tract overlooking the tidal creek and the Potomac River. Popes Creek, running along the east side of the tract, was approximately one-half mile wide, and joined the Potomac half-a-mile away. From Augustine's land the river could be seen clearly, as it was over 5 miles wide from the Virginia side to the distant Maryland shore. Augustine's historic piece of property is described in _Westmoreland Deeds and Wills_:

All that one hundred and fifty acres of lands scituate in the said County of Westmoreland aforesd and bounded Viz. Beginning at a marked hiccory on the head of the dancing marsh and so running down the said line to Popes Creek thence up the said Creek to the line of Nathaniel Washingtons and then up that line to include the aforesd One hundred and fifty acres of land which was given to Lawrence Abbington & his daughter Lydia Abbington together....

The tract probably included Joseph Abbington's home, for the purchase covered "all houses, edifices, buildings, tobacco houses, fences, orchards, and gardens."

BUILDING THE BIRTHPLACE HOME.

Some time between 1723 and 1725 Augustine Washington hired David Jones, a local carpenter and undertaker, to build a house on his Popes Creek property for 5,000 pounds of tobacco with extra amounts in cash for incidentals. The late Charles A. Hoppin, authority on the Washington family, believed that George's father had the brick for his new home made on the plantation grounds, the foundations built, and many timbers hewed for the building before Jones began construction of the house. Jones also contracted to build for Augustine "2 bedsteads," "1 cradle," "2 Mantoll [mantel]pieces," and "a small Poplar Table." David Jones died in 1725, before the Washington house was completed, and Augustine entered a claim against his estate asking the sum of 500 pounds of tobacco. It may be inferred that the home was completed in 1726 and was about 6 years old at the time of George's birth.

THE BIRTHPLACE.

While little is known about the appearance of the home in which George was born, the foundations and cellar floors uncovered during archeological excavations revealed that it was built either partially or entirely of brick. Several foundations of outbuildings were unearthed, and all were constructed of brick. So, also, all walls, cellar stairways, wine vaults, and fireplaces that have been excavated were built of brick.

The location of the new home was superb, being on a rise of ground 26 feet above Popes Creek and a little over 200 feet inland from its high western bank. To the east and northeast were pretty water views; to the north, beyond cleared fields, was Dancing Marsh, green with lush grass and swamp plants; and to the southeast, 100 yards or so away, was a little peninsula which jutted out into Popes Creek (now heavily wooded with a beautiful grove of eastern redcedar, _Juniperus virginiana_). To the west of the house were pastures and cleared fields, and beyond the clearings was the dense forest--a mixed stand of broadleaf trees and evergreens. A farm road ran in a northwesterly direction for a mile or so, passing by the family burying ground where rested Augustine's father and grandfather and other early members of the family. A short distance beyond the burying ground the road came to an end at the sandy south shore of the Potomac River.

The new home must have been rather commodious for a 1762 inventory of its furnishings lists 10 bedsteads, 13 tables, 57 chairs, 8 mirrors, 8 chests, accessories for 8 fireplaces, and scores of other furnishings and household items befitting a fairly large establishment. Certainly, the house in which George was born could not have been the humble 1-story clapboard structure portrayed in 19th-century imaginative sketches by artists who probably knew little about the social and economic status of George's father.

Though not a man of great wealth, Augustine was able to send two sons to England for schooling. Early 18th-century objects unearthed near the foundations of his Popes Creek home, offer ample proof that he imported fine quality silver, pewter, glassware, and pottery from the mother country, and could afford to have his monogram stamped on his wine bottles. He was a man of some influence in his community, having held at various times the positions of justice of Westmoreland County Court, captain in the county militia, sheriff of Westmoreland County, and a vestryman of his church. He was part-owner of two iron-furnaces--Accokeek in Virginia and Principio in Maryland--and was financially able to visit England on two occassions to deal directly with his partners. He owned land and buildings in 3 Virginia counties and was master of at least 49 slaves. Though not as wealthy as certain other planters in the Northern Neck (the tidewater counties lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers), he was a man of good social standing.

Jane Butler Washington did not enjoy the new Popes Creek home many years, for in 1729 (when only 30) she died, leaving Augustine with the care of the 3 children. Lawrence, the eldest, was only 11.

SECOND MARRIAGE.

Sixteen months after Jane's death, Augustine married another young lady from the Northern Neck, Mary Ball, on March 6, 1731. Mary was born at "Epping Forest" in Lancaster County, and was left an orphan at the age of 12. Between that time and the day of her marriage to Augustine Washington (when she was 23) she had lived with two prominent Westmoreland County families--the George Eskridges and the Samuel Bonums. George Eskridge, a kindly guardian, was like a real father to Mary and it is believed that she later named her first-born child after him.

Following her marriage to Augustine, Mary moved to his Popes Creek home where his 3 children were in need of their new mother. She soon gained the respect of her stepchildren--Lawrence 13, Augustine 12, and Jane about 9. Accustomed to farm life, Mary quickly assumed her new duties as mistress and manager of the household, and time passed quickly for her.

As February 1732 approached, Augustine and Mary Washington knew that their first son or daughter soon was to join the family. What they did not know was that their beloved first born would be a son who, one day, would become the first President of the United States of America--an office and a nation not yet dreamed of by any man. They did not know that their tiny son's deeds and character would, in time, make him an immortal figure in the history of the new nation. Nor did they know that, before 200 years would pass, a city given his name would be the capital of a great World Power.

VIRGINIA IN 1732.