Historic Fredericksburg Part 21

Not far away are two frame structures. The style of each bears the unmistakable mark of age, though the date of construction is undetermined.

Both are still private residences, with attractive grounds. From the continuity of the terraces, it is supposed that in other days only one s.p.a.cious and beautiful terraced lawn was here. It is still beautiful with its carefully kept gra.s.sy sward, from which at irregular intervals, spring the majestic Norway maples, the black walnuts, the apple trees, and lilacs, the flowering almond, and other climbing and flowering shrubs, thick with picturesque bird homes, tenanted year after year by possibly the same line of robin, wren and oriole. In this magnetic atmosphere was born in 1781, the future governor of Georgia, John Forsythe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN KENMORE HALL

_The Remarkable Work About the Mantle and Ceilings Was Done by Hessian Prisoners, at Washington's Request_]

Can it be that some subtle and indefinable influence lurked in these magic surroundings, and left an ineffaceable impress for good upon the boy?

[Sidenote: _Old Main Street Homes_]

A delightful old colonial home is the brick structure on the east side of lower Main Street. It was built in 1764, and its present attractive appearance attests the quality of material in its construction, and also the discerning care with which the old home has ever been maintained. In Revolutionary times it was the residence of Dr. Charles Mortimer, the loved physician of Mary Washington. From the east window can be seen the graceful curves of the river, and the Stafford hills and dales still form a pretty picture in their verdant beauty and symmetry. Within the solid ivy covered brick wall encircling the premises two of the most magnificent trees of this section are noted, a Norway fir and a southern magnolia which, with other ornamental trees and shrubbery, and a charming rose garden, are such splendidly beautiful color schemes that one is constrained to linger in the presence of their beauty and age.

Across the street stands another solid brick residence, which, though of a later period in history, is equally beautiful. It is the one-time home of Matthew Fontaine Maury, one of America's greatest men. Its architecture, its interior decoration, its moss-covered, serpentine, brick walk leading to the old kitchen, and the fascinating flower garden, still radiant with old-time favorites, attest the age of this old home. Nowhere does the trumpet vine attain such luxuriant and graceful growth, and many other varieties of flowering shrubs and vines linger in the sun or throw their fragrance out on silent nights.

Two other landmarks in the list of charming homes built in bygone days--the latter part of the 18th century--each with enchanting grounds, are located one on Hanover, and one on upper Main Street. These are the old homes of Dr. James Carmichael, and Dr. Robert Welford. Lineal descendants occupy both of these premises today, and with the same loving care the bewildering tangles of beauty in leaf, bud, and blossom, which characterize these alluring old garden spots, with their accompanying moss-grown brick walks, is continued. The Rappahannock river laves the east slope of the Welford garden. The picturesque windings of this river, and its wooded sh.o.r.es, together with glimpses of the ancient and interesting little village of Falmouth with "the decent Church that tops the neighboring hill," form a pleasing panorama. At the old Carmichael home, oak, walnut, apple, and mimosa trees, with a pretty arrangement of j.a.ponica, crepe myrtle, dogwood, lilac, English ivy, and other climbing and flowering shrubs, combine to make a setting of alluring beauty.

[Sidenote: _Federal, and Hazel, Hill_]

Nearby, and still on Hanover Street, is the old colonial residence known now as Federal Hill, the one time home of the distinguished attorney, Thomas Reade Rootes. Its white enamelled wainscoting, panelling, and other interior decorations; its colonial doorways, dormer windows, and s.p.a.cious grounds where old-time favorites, both radiant and redolent are enclosed within its boxwood hedges and honeysuckle glen, all bear witness to a carefully preserved and graceful old age. Here too is the sun dial, its pedestal half concealed by luxuriant tangles.

Beautiful Hazel Hill, with its spreading grounds, the old-time residence of General John Minor; and the unusually attractive home on Princess Anne Street, the pre-revolution home of Charles d.i.c.k, supposed with every proof of accuracy to be the oldest house in town; Kenmore, with its storied frescoes, always a.s.sociated with Betty Washington, sister of George, where graceful wood carving was done by Hessian prisoners, is magnificently beautiful; "the Sentry Box," on lower Main Street, the old home of General Hugh Mercer, though altered and modernized, has still the same attractive grounds, and because it was here that the country doctor, who was to be "General" Hugh Mercer and the tavern keeper who was to be "General" George Weedon gained the hearts and hands of pretty Isabella and Catherine Gordon, one infers that this was once the trysting place for many a gallant cavalier. All these historic spots deserve front rank in the realm of beautiful and interesting old age.

[Sidenote: _Beautiful Old "Chatham"_]

Among the pleasant places worthy of consideration, from an historic, and artistic viewpoint, none is more interesting than old Chatham, on Stafford Heights, directly across the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg. Situated on an eminence commanding an extended view up and down the picturesque river, and with glimpses of the church spires, and quaint roof tops of the old town, gleaming through the splendid shade trees dotting the grounds, it has stood for almost 200 years, a typical colonial Manor house, with characteristically beautiful proportions, an example of English material and English workmanship.

It was built in the year 1728 by that sterling patriot, William Fitzhugh.

"Fitzhugh of Chatham," as he was known, was the descendant of the old Norman of the same name, progenitor of all of the race of Fitzhugh in Virginia. He was the intimate friend and cla.s.smate of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and the plans for the mansion on his large Virginia estate, which he named for the earl, are said, with every proof of accuracy, to have been drawn by Sir Christopher Wrenn.

Writers of long ago tell of the beautiful box-bordered garden at Chatham, and of the wonderful terraces, built by numberless slaves, "stepping down to the river like a giant's stairway." These latter still exist in their beauty, and form one of the chief attractions of the place, which has ever been famous, and whose most recent owner was the brilliant journalist, Mark Sullivan, and Mrs. Sullivan, who made their home there until recently.

William Fitzhugh, Esq., married Ann Bolling Randolph, and their daughter Mary, who married George Washington Parke Custis, of Arlington, was the mother of Mary Custis, the wife of General Robert E. Lee. A conversation between General Lee and Major J. Horace Lacy, (who with his family owned and occupied Chatham until the War Between the States) is ill.u.s.trative of the devotion of both of these men for the old colonial homestead.

[Sidenote: _General Lee Spares Chatham_]

On the day before the battle of Fredericksburg, Major Lacy was at the headquarters battery of General Lee. By the aid of field gla.s.ses he saw across the river the white porches of his home filled with Federal officers, and simultaneously there was wafted on the breeze the strains of "Yankee Doodle" and "Hail Columbia." He requested General Lee to authorize the fire of the heavy guns, which would have laid Chatham in the dust.

With a sad smile, General Lee refused to do so, and taking his seat on the trunk of an old tree, he said, "Major, I never permit the unnecessary effusion of blood. War is terrible enough at best to a Christian man; I hope yet to see you and your dear family happy in your old home. Do you know I love Chatham better than any place in the world except Arlington! I courted and won my dear wife under the shade of those trees."

s.p.a.ce does not permit a recital of the accomplishments of those who followed Mr. Fitzhugh, of Major Churchill Jones, of William Jones, his brother, or of Judge John Coalter.

The Lacys returned to Chatham after the war and occupied it until 1872.

The attractive interior with its hand-carved panels and corners is well worthy of detailed description, particularly the west bedchamber, with its alluring old fireplace and its high mantel, and is said to have been the room occupied by George and Martha Washington, who spent a day or two here during their honeymoon. Not alone have distinguished men of the Revolution reposed in this room, but John Randolph of Roanoke was also here, and later General Lee, and still later President Lincoln when he came to review the Union Army. Clara Barton, to whom suffering humanity owes such a debt of grat.i.tude, was also here, a day or so previous to the battle of Fredericksburg, and Washington Irving and other notable men visited Major Lacy at the old mansion after the war.

[Sidenote: _The Fall Hill Estate_]

The interesting and historic old estate, Fall Hill, which is now the attractive home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred H. Robinson, commands a view surpa.s.sing almost any near Fredericksburg. The house, built in 1738, is of the Georgian type of architecture, and its white panelling, its mantel pieces, and other decorations bear the impress of the care and taste with which the solid old brick structure was planned. In close proximity to the Falls Plantation, and the Falls of the Rappahannock river, this homestead well sustains its reputation as having had an artistic and romantic past, which is inseparably intertwined with the present.

Situated on a high eminence in Spotsylvania County, about two miles from Fredericksburg, it commands an entrancing view, for miles, of the glistening waters of the river, and the hills and dales of the Rappahannock Valley, with its smiling cornfields, and its cheerful apple orchards, and of the white pillared porches of Snowden, the charming seat adjacent.

It is a wonderful panorama. At the Falls are numberless moss-covered, age-old rocks, over which the waters flash and sparkle in the sunlight, fresh, soft, green, ma.s.ses of gra.s.sy sward are here, dotted with the stately poplar, sycamore, and cedar trees; over there the gnarled old oak spreads its h.o.a.ry branches, and honey locusts and elms are near, and climbing honeysuckle everywhere. Under the cedar tree, hollowed out of the flinty bosom of the big boulder, is Francis Thornton's punch-bowl, with "1720" and "F. T." engraved on the circle. All of this is close to the great house at Snowden.

Though not so old, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Baldwin at "Snowden,"

has long pa.s.sed the century mark, and the substantial brick structure, with its ma.s.sive white pillared portico, its wealth of English ivy, wistaria, and other shrubs, its magnificent shade trees, planted irregularly on the extensive lawn, its flower garden on the west, in which peonies, hollyhocks, crepe myrtle, and other gay perennials vie with each other in glowing color and beauty, all unite to form a lovely spot. Nor can one forget that here General Lee and his staff, and citizens of Fredericksburg, sat in the old parlor twice before they decided that though the Federals carried out their threat to devastate Fredericksburg, they would not submit to an unjust demand, and for the only time in the war save at Appomatox and where Jackson died, tears gleamed in General Lee's eyes as he stepped in boots and gauntlets from "Snowden's" front porch to mount Traveler on the driveway.

[Sidenote: _"Brompton" and "Mannsfield Hall"_]

The old Marye home, Brompton, on far-famed Marye's Heights, is today a handsome and imposing brick structure, with its white columned portico, and its impressive and enticing doorway, so suggestive of good cheer and hospitality. Each of these spots will appeal to all who see them, and each will bring back from the rich past a memory of its own.

Mannsfield Hall, a beautiful home below Fredericksburg, owned by Capt. R.

Conroy Vance is part of the original grant by the Virginia Company to Major Thomas Lawrence Smith in 1671, his duty under the grant being to keep at the mouth of the Ma.s.saponax a troop of 150 sharpshooters and to erect a fort as protection against Indians. For this he was granted land two miles north and two miles south of the Ma.s.saponax.

The estate was known as Smithfield and the original house was of stone and two dwellings still standing are now being used. The present house built in 1805 was added to in 1906, and Smithfield was joined to Mannsfield, one of the Page family estates. Mann Page in 1749 built the beautiful old mansion of stone as a replica of the home of his second wife Judith Tayloe, of Mount Airy, in Richmond County. This house was burned at the close of the Civil War by accident, by the North Carolina soldiers returning home.

The Mannsfield Hall estate of today practically marks the right and left of the contending armies during the battle of Fredericksburg, being bounded on the south by the old Mine Road to Hamilton's Crossing which is on the property. It was at Mannsfield that the great Virginia jurist, Judge Brooke was born, the property being owned by that family until sold in 1805 to the Pratts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SENTRY BOX

_Below, Where Gen. Mercer Lived. Above, Mansfield Hall, a Splendid Old Home_]

_Church and School_

_How They Grew in the New World; Pathways to the Light._

In the spring of 1877, during the rectorate of Reverend E. C. Murdaugh at St. George's Church, questions arose as to certain forms of the Episcopal ritual. Some of the members of the congregation approving Dr. Murdaugh's views, believed them to be in perfect accord with the doctrines of the church, but others felt that the introduction of these debated minor forms was an innovation and tended towards a High Church ritual. These discussions were followed by the resignation of Dr. Murdaugh, and his followers a.s.sembled in old Citizen's Hall on the 7th day of August, 1877, and steps were there taken to organize Trinity Church.

Reverend Dr. Murdaugh was promptly called to the rectorship of the new church, and Reverend Robert J. McBryde was called from the chaplaincy of the University of Virginia, to fill the vacancy at St. George's. With the kindly good fellowship, the tact, and the piety characteristic of his Scotch ancestry, "he lived in accord with men of all persuasions" both in the Mother Church and the youthful Trinity.

This congregation first worshiped in the unoccupied Methodist Church on Hanover Street, but on Christmas Day, 1881, they a.s.sembled in their own attractive edifice, which had just been completed on the corner of Hanover and Prince Edward Streets. Through the efforts of the Reverend J. Green Shackelford, (who succeeded Dr. Murdaugh,) and the congregation, the debt was finally paid, and on February 12, 1890, the church was consecrated by Rt. Reverend Francis M. Whittle.

One of the prominent characteristics of this congregation has ever been the energy and perseverance with which they grapple discouraging problems, and the unfailing and stubborn optimism of its women, out of which is born that success which almost invariably crowns their oftentimes unpromising efforts. Reverend John F. W. Feild, the present rector, is a young man of unusual attainments, and under his able leadership the church is a vigorous organization. A handsome parish house has been built.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH

Very little credence has been put in the old superst.i.tion that an inauspicious beginning implies the promise of a good ending, but the Baptist Church here is a conspicuous example of the truth of the old saying.

In 1768 three Baptist zealots were imprisoned here on two charges: "for preaching the gospel contrary to law," and, to use the words of the attorney bringing the second charge, "May it please your worships, these men cannot meet a man upon the road, but they must ram a text of scripture down his throat." But this intrepid trio continued to preach their doctrine, and to sing their hymns from the grated doors and windows of their prison cells, and each day drew crowds of awed and interested listeners.

To the Rev. Andrew Broaddus, who organized the Church here in 1804, to Reverend Thomas S. Dunaway, whose pastorate covered a period of thirty-two years, to Reverend Emerson L. Swift, the present efficient pastor, and many other able and faithful men, is the church indebted for the largest membership in church and Sunday School in the city, the communion roll numbering twelve hundred and eighty-nine members, and eight hundred and twenty-eight officers, teachers, and pupils of the Sunday School.