USA > Virginia > Historical collections of Virginia : containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities ; together with geographical and statistical descriptions ; to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia. > Part 40
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My next visit was to Pohick church, in the vicinity of Mount Vernon. the seat of Gen. Washington. I designed to perto in service there on Sameday as well as Sunday, but through some mistake no notice was given for the former day. The weather, in- deed, was such as to prevent the assembling of any but those who prize such occasions so much as to be detected only by very strong considerations. It was still rising when I approached the house, and found no one there. The wide opened doors invited me to enter, as they do invite, day and night through the year, not only the passing traveller, but every beast of the field and fowl of the air. These latter, however, seemed to have reverenced the house of God, since few marks of their pollution are to be seen through- out it. The interior of the house, having been well built, is still good. The chancel, communion-table, tables of the law, etc., are still there and in good order. . The roof only is decayed ; and at the time I was there. the rain was dropping on these sacred places, and on other parts of the house. On the doors of the pews, in gilt letters, aro still to be seen the names of the principal families which are amanning than It ..... conld I, while for an hour traversing those long aisles, entering the sacred chancel, as. cending the lofty pulpit forbear to ask : And is this the house of God which was built by the Washingtons, the M. sons, the McCarties, the Grahams, the Lewises, the Fair- fayos -- the house in which they used to worship the God of our fathers according to the venerable forms of the Dpiscopal Church, and some of whose names are yet to be found on these deserted pews ? Is this, also, destined to moulder piecemeal eway -- or, when some signal is given, to become the prey of spoilers, and to be carried hither and thither, and applied to every purpose under heaven ?
The Rev. M. L. Weems, to whom allusion has been made, was the rector of Mount Vernon parish at the time Washington at- tended this church. He was the author of a life of Washington, and also one of Marion. His memoir of Washington has been a very popular work, and has passed through 30 or 40 editions. It is a volume extremely fascinating to the youthful mind. "He turns. all the actions of Washington to the encouragement of vir- tue, by a careful application of numerous exemplifications drawn from the conduct of the founder of our republic, from his earliest life."
From a cletical friend of the late Mr. Weems, we have gathered these facts respect. ing him : The wants of a large family occasioned Mr. Weems to abandon preaching for s livelihood, and he became a book-agent for the celebrated Matthew Carey of Phily. delphia. He travelled extensively over the southern states, and met with almost unpre- cedented success-selling. in one year, 3000 copies of a high-priced Bible. He also sold other works, among which were those of his own writing. He was accustomed to be present at courts and other large assemblages, where he mingled with the people ; and by his faculty of adapting himself to all circumstances, he generally drew crowds of listen- ers, whom he would address apon the ments of his works, intersparging his remarks with anecdotes and humorous sallies. He wrote and sold a pamphlet entitled " The Drunk. erd's Looking-Glass," illustrated by cuts, showing the progressive stages of the drunk- ard, from his first taking the social glass until the final scene of his death. With this in hand he entered toverns, and addressing the inmates, would mimic the extravagances of an imbriate, and all the pamphlet. His eccentricines and singular conduct lowered hie dignity and occastored the escalation of any files and ridiculous tales unbecoming luis clerical profession. He was a man of much benevolence, and a great wit. When travelling, he sometimes received and accepted invitations to preach. His sermons were
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generally moral essays, abounding with humor. On one occasion, when at Fredericks- burg, he preached from the text, " We are fearfully and wonderfully made,"-which ser- mon he abruptly concluded by saying, " I must stop ; for should I go on, some s' tho young ladies present would not sleep a wink to night." Mr. Weems was of the medium. statue, We hair salat, and May, and His countenance expressive and sprightly. energetic in his movements, and polite. He proved useful in his vocation, bring ostale not to circul ve any works but the end a good moral tendeurs. He died at atlas age, many years since, leaving a highly respectable and well-educated family.
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Residence and Tomb of Washington, Mount Vernon.
An English traveller in this country, about the close of the revo- lution, gives the following list of the seats on the Potomac existing at that time :
" On the Virginia side of the Potomac, are the seats of Mr. Alex. ander, Gen. Washington, Col. Martin, Col. Fairfax, Mr. Lawson, near the mouth of Oquagnon. Col Mason. Mr. Lee, near the mouth of Quantico. Mr. Brent,* Mr. Mercer, Mr. Fitzhugh, Mr. Alexan- der, of Boyd Hole and all Chotank. Col Frank Thornton, oo
# Burnt by the enemy early in the revolutionary war,
33
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Marchodoek, Mr. Thacker Washington, Mes. Blair, Mr M'Carty, Col. Phil. Lee, of Nominey," &c.
Mount Vernon is on the Potomac, 8 miles from Alexandria, and 15 from Washington City. The mansion is built of wood, cut in imitation of free stone. The central part was built by Lawrence Washington, brother to the general; the wings were added by Gen. Washington. It is named after Admiral Vernon, in whose expedition Lawrence Washington served.
The following graphic description of a visit to Mount Vernon, from the pen of a New Englander, we extract from a recent BIEN ber of the Boston Daily Advertiser and Patriot :
I had this morning, for the first time, crossed the Potomac, and was under the full in- fluence of the sense that I was in a new land, and amid all the historical associations of the " Ancient Dominion.", The day was soft and balmy, and, though early in March, was es warmas our bedding days of May. We were we portion of the great primeval forest of America. The crows cawed from the tops of the ancient, half-decayed trees ; and the naked trunks and branches of the sycamore, and the strange spreading formis of the other giants of the wood, were beautifully relieved by the evergreen of the pines and cedars. A solemn stillness filled the air. An ancient, sad, half-degenerate, but most venerable and soul-stirring character was impressed upon all around us.
After a few miles of riding through the forest, with occasional openings and cultivated spots, in one of which a negro was following his plough through the furrows, my friend pointed out a stone suuk in the ground by the road-side, which, he said, marked the begin- ning of the Mount Vernon estate. Still. we rode on for a couple of miles of beautiful country, left much in its natural condition, without even a fence to line the road-side, with a delightful variety of surface, before the gate and porter's lodge came in sight.
Instead of an iron gate upon stone posts, there was a simple wooden gate, swinging from posts of wood, without paint, turned to a gray color, and shutting with a wooden latch. 'An aged negro caine out from the porter's house, courtesied as we passed, and an- swered civilly the questions as to her health, and whether ber mistress was at home. All was characteristic of the domestic institutions of Virginia, even to the woman's stand- ing still, and letting the gate swing to and lateh itself. We had still half a mile before us, and the simple carriage-path led us over hills and down dales, with a surface as di- versiked as that of Mount Auburn, while the trees were more grand and forest like. though thinly scattered, and with less variety and richness. We crossed a brook, passed through a ravine, and felt ourselves so completely in the midst of aboriginal, untouched natore, that the sight of the house and its cluster of surrounding buildings, come like a surprise upon me. The approach to the house is towards the west front. The high pi- azza, reaching from i've roof to the ground, and the outline of the bonding, are familiar to us from the engravings ; but its gray and time- worn aspect must be mentioned to those whose eyes are accustomed to the freshness of white walls, green blinds, and painted bricks. We rode up to the piazza, but an unbroken silence reigned, and there was no sign of life, or of any one stirring. Turning away, we passed among the adjoining houses, occupied by the blacks, from one of which a servant, attracted by the sound of our horses' hoofs, come out, and being recognised by iny friend, took our horses from us, and we walked towards the house. The door from the piazza opened directly into a large room, which we entered. It was no mere babit that lifted the hat from my head, and I stepped lightly, as though upon hallowed ground. Finding that no one had seen us, my friend went in search of the family, and left me to walk through the halls. From the first room I passed into another, from which a door led me out upon the eastern piazza. A warin afternoon breeze shook the branches of the forest which closes in apou the house on two sides, und breathed across the lawn and rising knolls with a delicious softness. Under this piazza, upon its pavement of flat stones, Washington used to walk to and fro, with migtary regularity, every morning, the volle Potomac in full view, spreading out into the width of a bay at the foot of the count, and the shore of Maryland lining the eastern horizon. By the side of the door hung the spy glass, through which he watched the passing objects upon the water. Little effort was ne- cessary to call up the commanding figure of the hero, as he paced to and fro, while those pure and noble thoughts, which made his actions great, moved with almost an cynal order through his simple and majestic understanding.
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My friend approached and told me he had learned that the family were at dinner, and we left the house privately and walked towards the tomb. At a short distance from the house, in a retired spot, stands the new family tomb, a plain structure of b.ick, with a barred iron gate, through which are seen two sarcophagi of white marble, side by side, containing the remains of Washington and his consort. This had been recently finished, as appeared from the freshness of the bricks and mortar, and the bare spots of eurti: about it, upon which 're grass bad not yet grown. It is painful to see change and hoy. elty in such connections ; but all has been done by the direction of Washington's will, iu which he designated the spot where he wished the tomb to be. The old family tonb, in which he was first placed, is in a more picturesque situation, upon a knoll, in full view of the river ; but the present one is more retired, which was reason enough to determine the wishes of a modest man. While we were talking together here, a person approached us, dressed in the plain manner of a Virginia gentleman upon his cstate. This was the young proprietor. After his greeting with my friend, and my introduction, he conducted Us to the old tomb, which is the one represented in the prints scattered through the coun- try. It is now going to decay, being unoccupied, is filling up, and partly overgrown with vines and shrubs. The change was made with regret, but a sacted duty seemed to re- quire it. It is with this tomb that our associations are connected, and to this the British feet is said to have lowered its flags while passing up the Potomac to make the attack upon the capitol.
To one accustomed to the plantation system and habits of Virginia, this estate may have much that is common with others; but to persons unused to this economy, the whole is new and striking. Of things peculiar to the place, are a low rampart of brick, now partly overgrown, which Washington had built around the front of the house, and an underground passage leading from the bottom of a thy will, and coming out by the river side at the foot of the mount. On the west side of the house are two gardens, a green-house, and-the usual accompaniments of a plantation-seed-houses, tool-houses, aud cottages for the negroes-things possessing no particular interest, except because they were standing during Washington's life, and were objects of his frequent attention. I would not be one to countenance the making public of any thing pertaining to those who have received a viitor in confidence and good faith. And I hope not to transgress when I say, that if he can judge from what may be seen among those who brac the. maine and inherit the estate of the hero, no Massachusetts man werd fear that the bend which united the twoancient Historical commonwealths, is at all weakened : or that those memory-charge, cabalistic words, Massachusetts and Virginia, have lost any of their force with the true sons of either. Among the things of note shown us in the house. was the key of the Bastile, sent to Washington from France at the time of the destru .. tion of the prison. Along the walls of the room hung engravings, which were Beats battle or hunting-pieces. Among them I noticed a print of Bunker Hill, but none of any battle in which Washington himself was engaged. The north room was built by Dash- ington for a dining room, and for the meetings of his friends and political visitors. The furniture of the room is just as when he used it, and leads us back to the days when there were met within these walls the great men of that generation who carried the states through the revnation. Red the foundations of the government, and administered it in its purer days. The rooms of the house are spacious, and there is something of elegance in their arrangement ; yet the whole is marked by great simplicity. All the regard one could wish seems to have been shown to the sacredness of these public relics, and all things have been kept very nearly as Washington leit them. Money made in the stocks can purchase the bedizenry of our city drawing-rooms ; but these elevating asso- ciations, which no gold can buy, no popular favor win, which can only be inherited, those are the heir-looms, the traditionary titles and penzions, inalienable, not conferred, which a republic allows to the descendants of her great servants.
Let every American, and especially every young American, visit this place, and catch, if he cont. something of its spirit. It will make an impression upon him which he may keep through life. It will teach him the story and lessons of the past so as no printed page can teach them. From amid the small machinery of day and week poli- ties, he may learn what was once the tone of public life. It will enlarge his patriotism. elevate his notions of the public service, and call ont some sense of veneration and loy- elty towards the institutions of his country and the memory of her mighty dead ; so that YOUNG AMERICA may, as there is some hope she may, bring back the elements which dignified the first eight years of our constitutional history.
As the afternoon rew to a close, and we were obliged to take our leave, regret from parting from our courteous entertainers, was lost in the grand and solemn impression
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made by all around us. Nothing was real. Every thing acted through the imagina. tion. Each object was dim with associations, and seemed but the exponent of some thought or cmotion, the shadow of something great and past. The whole was enchanted ground : and the occupants seemed privileged persons, whom the guardian spirits of the place allowed to remain its tenants and keepers. When the young proprietor took leave ofus at the piazza, he stood where Washington had stood to welcome and to put from the immortal men of France and America. He stood there his representative to a third generation. he may well be supposed that as we rode slowly home, our thoughts were in no ordinary course. We repassed the gate, the rivulet, and the open field, but still we were on enchanted ground. So impressed was I with this feeling, that had I met a procession of the great men of the past, riding slowly towards the mansion of their com- panion in arms and in the cabinet, it would have sected only a natural consumamatton. It was not until we had reached the town, and our horses' hoofs struck upon the pave- ment, that the illusion was fairly broken.
The following was found inscribed on the back of a small por- trait of Washington at Mount Vernon, It was written by some unknown visitor, supposed to have been an English traveller :
WASHINGTON. The Defender of his Country .- The Founder of Liberty . The Friend of Man. History and Tradition are caplored in vain, For a Parallel to his Character. In the Annals of Modern Greatness ne stings minne : And the noblest names of antiquity, Lose their Lustre in his Presence, Born the Benefactor of Mankind. Ho united all the qualities necessary To an illustrious career. Nature made him great, Ile made himself virtuous. Called by his country to the defence of her Liberties, He triumphantly vindicated the r'ghis of humanity : And on the Pillars of National Independence Laid the foundations of' a great republic. Twice Invested with supreme mrgistracy, By the unanimous voice of'a free people He surpassed in the Cabinet The Glories of the Field. And voluntarily resigning the Scoprire and the Sword, Retired to the shades of Private Life. A spectacle so new and so sublane Was contemplated with the profoundest admiration. And the name of WASHINGTON, Adding new lustre to humanity. Resounded to the remotest regions of the earth. Magnanimous in youth. Glorious through life. Great in Death. Ilis highest ambition, the Happiness of Mankind ; His noblest Victory, the conquest of himself. Bequeathing to posterity the inheritance of his fame, And building His monument in the hearts of his countrymeu. Un Liveo-The Ommament of the 18th Century. HE DiEn-Regretted by a Mourning World.
Gunston Hall, which was the seat of the celebrated GEORGE MASON, stands on an elevated and commanding site overlooking the Potomac.
Mr. Jefferson said that he was " of the first order of wisdom, among those who acted on the theatre of the revolution, of expansive mind, profound judgment, cogent in ar- gument, learned in the lore of our former constitution, and earnest for the republican change on democratic principles, flis eloquence was neither flowing nor smooth ; but his language was strong, his manner most impressive, and strengthened by a dash of biting criticism when provocation made it reasonable." Me. Massa was the tramer of the constitution of Virginia, and a member of the convention which formed the federal constitution, but he did not sign that instrument. In corganction with Patrick Henry,
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he opposed its adoption in the Virginia convention, believing that it would tend to the conversion of the government into a monarchy. He also opposed the slave trade with great zeal. He died at his seat in the autumn of 1792, aged 67 years.
The annexed epitaph was copied from a tombstone on the harks of Neabsco Creek, in October, 1837. It is, without doubt. the oldest mourmental inscription in the United States. From the carliness of the date, icos, it is supposed that the deceased was a companion of Capt. John Smith on one of his exploratory voyages.
Here lies ye body of Lieut. William Herris, who died May ye 16th, 1608: aged 065" years ; by birth a Britain, a good soldier ; a good husband and neighbor.
FAUQUIER.
-. FAUQUIER Was created in 1759, from Prince William, and named from Francis Fauquier, Gov. of Va. from 1758 to 1967. Its great- est length is 45 miles, mean breadth 16. The surface is agreeably diversifed, and the sol!, when indicionsly cultivated. susceptible of high improvement, and very productive. In the county exist valuable beds of magnesia and soapstone, and there are several gold mines worked by the farmers with tolerable profit, at inter- vals of leisure from their agricultural labors. Pop., whites 10,501, slaves 10,708, free colored 688; total, 21,891.
Warrenton, the county-seat, is 102 miles www. from Richmond. It is a beautiful village in the heart of the county, adorned with shade-trees, standing upon an eminence commanding a fine view' of some of the spurs of the Blue Ridge. It contains about a dozen mercantile stores, 1 Episcopal, I Presbyterian, and 1 Methodist church, a fine male academy where ancient and modern languages are taught, a, female academy in excellent repute, a newspaper printing office, the county buildings, among which is a handsome court-house, (shown in the annexed view,) and a population of about 1,400. An excellent macadamized road leads from here to Alexandria. Among the anecdotes we have gathered "by the way," the one herewith presented is, perhaps, worthy of insertion. Some thirty or more years since, at the close of a long summer's day, a stranger entered this village. He was alone and on foot, and his appearance was any thing but prepossessing. Ilis gar- ments, coarse and dost-covered, indicated an individual in the humbler walks. From a cane resting across his shoulders was sus- pended a handkerchief containing his clothing. Stopping in front. of Turner's tavern, he took from his hat a paper and banded it to a gentleman standing on the steps : it read as follows-
The celebrated historian and naturalist, VOLNEY, needs no recommendation from G. WASHINGTON
There are several other villages in Fauquier. Upperville at the foot of the Blue Ridge, in the ww. angle of the county, is a new and flourishing village in a very rich agricultural country, ou
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the main road from Winchester to Alexandria. It contains 1 Met., 1 Epis., and 1 Baptist church, and a population of about 500. Paris
Central View in Warrenton.
and Somerville contain each about 40, and New Baltimore 20 dwellings.
The Fauquier White Sulphur Springs are 6 miles sw. of War- renton. The improvements are very extensive, and the grounds beautifully adorned with shrubbery. These springs are very popu- lar, and of easy access from the eastern cities.
JOHN MARSHALL, late Manhace Chief Justice . of the United States, was born at a locality called Ger- mantown, in this coun- ty, 9 miles below War- renton. The house in which he was born is not in existence. When he was quite young, the family moved ta Goose's Creek, under Manassa's Gap, near the Blue Ridge, and still later to Oak Il'. where the family lived at the commencement of the revolution. His father, Tiennes Marshall, was a planter of limited means and education, but of strong natural powers. which, cultivated by observation and reflection, gave him the reputation of extraordinary ability. He served with distinction in the revolution. as a colonel in the continental army. John was the eldest of fifteen children. The narrow fortune of Col. Marshall, and the sparsely inhabited condition of Fauquier, compelled him to be almost exclu- sively the teacher of his children, and to his instructions the Chief-Justice said, " he owed the solid foundation of all his success in life." He early implanted in his eldest son a taste for English literature, especially for poetry and history. At the age of twelve. John had transcribed the whole of Pope's Essay on Man, and some of his Moral Es- says ; and had committed to memory many of the most interesting passages of that dis- tinguished poet.
At the age of It he was placed with the Rev. Mr. Campbell, in Westmoreland, where, for a year. he was instructed in Latin, and had for a fellow-student James Monrer. Tha succeeding year was passed at his father's, where he continued the study under the Rev. Mr. Thompson, a Scotch gentleman, which "was the whole of the classical tuition he ever obtinned. By the assistance of los father, however, and the persevering efforts of his own mind, he continued to enlarge his knowledge. while he strengthened his body by ' hardy, athletic exercises in the open air. Hle engaged in field sports; he indulged bis
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solitary meditations amidst the wildest scenery of nature; he delighted to brush away the earliest dews of the morning.' " To these early habits in a mountain region he owed a vigorous constitution. The simple manner of living among the people of those regions of that curly day, doubtless contributed its share. He ever recurred with fond- ness to that primitive mode of life, when he partook with a keen relish balm tea and mush ; and when the females used thorns for pins.
In the screamer of 1:15 he was appointed Lieut. in the " Minute Battalion." and had an honorable share in the battle of Great Bridge. In July, 1776, he was appointed Ist Liegt in the 11th Virginia regiment, on the continental establishment, which marched to the north in the ensuing winter ; and in May, 1777, he was promoted to a captainicy. He was in the skirmish at ron Hill, and at the battles of Brandywine, Germantown. and Monmouth. He was one of that body of men. never surpassed in the history of the world, who, unpaid, unclothed, unfed, tracked the snows of Valley Forge with the . blood of their footsteps in the rigorous winter of 1778, and yet turned not their faces from their country in resentment, or from their enemies in fear.
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