Historic Shrines of America Part 33

_Photo by H. P. Cook_ See page 314]

LXXI

MOUNT AIRY, RICHMOND COUNTY, VIRGINIA

THE PLANTATION HOME OF COLONEL JOHN TAYLOE

The purchase for 500 of three thousand acres of productive land in Charles County, on the Potomac, gave a big boost to the fortunes of the Tayloe family of Virginia. This shrewd purchase was made by Colonel John Tayloe, the son of William Tayloe (or Taylor) who came from England in the seventeenth century. William Tayloe was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1710. His son John became a member of the Colonial Council in 1732, while his son John, who was born in 1721, also had the honor of serving in the Council under Lord Dunmore, as well as in the first Republican Council, during the administration of Patrick Henry. He married the sister of Governor George Plater of Maryland. Of his eight daughters one married Richard Lightfoot Lee, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, while another married Colonel William Augustine Washington, a nephew of George Washington, by whom he was educated.

Colonel John Tayloe, the father of three daughters, was the builder of Mount Airy, which was for many years the most superb mansion in Virginia, and was so different from all other mansions that it attracted many visitors, even in the days when transit was difficult.

Its twenty-five s.p.a.cious rooms afforded generous accommodation for the guests who were eager to accept the invitations of Colonel and Mrs.

Tayloe. Among the entertainments provided for these guests by the thoughtful hosts were concerts by a band made up entirely of slaves who had been instructed by their master. On occasion this band was taken to the town house at Williamsburg, the capital of the State.

The letters of Washington show that the builder of Mount Airy was an ardent patriot, and his friend and a.s.sociate. These two men were joint executors of the estate of one of the Lees. From his headquarters in the Craigie House at Cambridge the General wrote to Mount Airy a letter about the estate, asking Tayloe to become sole executor.

The varied interests of Colonel Tayloe were indicated by his remarkable will, which asked, among other things, that one part of his estate in Prince William County, Virginia, and Baltimore County, Maryland, be kept intact and worked for the making of pig iron. Not only did he own a number of other plantations, but he was a large shipowner, and reaped unusual profits from trade.

Perhaps the best known owner of Mount Airy was John Tayloe, III, who was born in 1771, and was the only son in a family of twelve. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge, England. Before going abroad he had learned patriotism from his father, and on his return he was ready to administer his estate for the benefit of the country as well as his own family. When his inheritance was turned over to him the income was sixty thousand dollars. Within a few years he increased this to seventy-five thousand dollars. His father's iron- and ship-building interests were conserved and enlarged. His master ship-builder at Occoquon was his slave Reuben.

During his residence at Mount Airy the splendor of the mansion was increased. Among his guests were men who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Washington during the Revolution, and those who later became prominent as a.s.sociates of Hamilton, Jay, Marshall, and Pinckney. He married the daughter of Governor Ogle of Maryland, and had fifteen children.

The memorial by one of his sons, Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, says that "his manners were refined and elegant. He was distinguished for his nice sense of honor, and a scrupulous regard to his word at all times. His wife was esteemed for sincerity and kindness of heart, graceful and dignified manners, and true and unaffected piety."

He took time for the services of his country. As Captain of Dragoons he went to Western Pennsylvania, to help put down the whiskey insurrection. When President Adams made him a Major of Dragoons, General Washington wrote to him a warm letter of congratulation, but Tayloe hesitated to accept the commission. He had just been elected as a Federalist to the Virginia Senate, and he feared, as he wrote to Washington, that if he resigned his seat the place would be filled by an opponent of the administration. On February 12, 1799, Washington replied that he was inclined to believe his civil service would be more important than military service, but he asked that decision be delayed until they could have a personal interview. Later, on the breaking out of the War of 1812, he was made commander of the cavalry of the District of Columbia, and saw active service.

Washington's friendship led him to make his winter home in the District of Columbia. In 1801 he occupied the Octagon House, then the finest private residence in the city. When the British burned the White House he was at Mount Airy. At once he sent a mounted messenger to President Madison, offering the use of the Octagon as the temporary Executive Mansion.

His establishment at Mount Airy was maintained in remarkable splendor.

His household and equipages were the talk of the neighborhood. A lover of fine horseflesh, he was the owner of some of the swiftest animals of his day.

The eldest son, John Tayloe, inherited his father's ardor for public service. He was engaged brilliantly in the battles of the _Const.i.tution_ with the _Guerriere_, and with the _Cyano_ and the _Levant_. After the action his native State gave him a sword, and he was promoted to a lieutenancy. Though he was captured by the British, he lived to return to Mount Airy, where he died in 1824. His father died four years later, while his mother lived until 1855.

Mount Airy has always been in the hands of a Tayloe. It is now in possession of the family of the late Henry Tayloe.

LXXII

TWO OF VIRGINIA'S OLDEST CHURCH BUILDINGS

ST. LUKE'S, IN SMITHFIELD, AND ST. PETER'S, IN NEW KENT COUNTY

Captain Smith in 1607 wrote of his discovery of the Indian kingdom of Warrosquoyacke. Soon settlers were attracted to its fertile lands.

Twenty-seven years later the more than five hundred residents were organized into Isle of Wight County.

In 1632, the ancient brick church near Smithfield was built. The tradition fixing this date was established in 1887, when the date 1632 was read in some bricks that fell from the walls.

The builder of the staunch church was Joseph Bridger, who was Counsellor of State to Charles II. He is buried not far from the church, and on his tomb is the inscription: "He dyed April 15 Anno Domini 1688 Aged 58 years. Mournfully leaving his wife, three sons and four daughters."

The oldest vestry book dates from 1727, for the first book was destroyed at the time of General Arnold's expedition made to Isle of Wight County, in the effort to capture General Parker, of the Continental Army. Fortunately, however, a few other records were saved. An entry in 1727 spoke of "The Old Brick Church"; evidently the name St. Luke's was of later origin.

The architectural beauty of the old building is described in a pleasing manner by Aymar Embury, II, the well-known New York architect, in his "Early American Churches":

"The building is an extremely picturesque brick church, reminiscent not of the Renaissance work then becoming dominant in England, but of the older Gothic; it is not at all unlike many of the small English parish churches of the sixteenth century, when the Gothic style was really extinct, although its superficial characteristics, the b.u.t.tresses and the pointed arch, still obtained. The stepped gable at the chancel end of the church is an unusual feature in English architecture.... The tower is the only part of the building which shows the Renaissance influence."

When the building was some two hundred years old it began to fall into disrepair; the people preferred to attend the church in Smithfield.

Bishop Meade wrote his "Old Churches and Families of Virginia" at the time when the old church was most dilapidated. He said:

"Its thick walls and high tower, like that of some English castle, are still firm, and promise to be for a long time to come. The windows, doors, and all the interior, are gone. It is said that the eastern window--twenty-five feet high--was of stained gla.s.s. This venerable building stands not far from the main road leading from Smithfield to Suffolk, in an open tract of woodland. The trees for some distance round it are large and tall and the foliage dense, so that but little of the light of the sun is thrown upon it. The pillars which strengthen the walls, and which are wide at the base, tapering toward the eaves of the house by stair-steps, have somewhat mouldered, so as to allow various shrubs and small trees to root themselves therein."

For nearly fifty years the church was closed. But in 1884 Rev. David Barr, who was in charge of a church nearby, began to raise funds for the reconstruction of the building. He persisted in spite of many discouragements. When matters looked darkest a man who signed himself "A Virginian" made the following appeal:

"There is still some plastering to be done in the tower, and the pews are to be made or bought. The church cannot be completed until the money is raised. Can no generous giver be found who will contribute the money necessary to bring the east window from London?... For sixty odd years the church has stood there silent, without a service, facing and defying storms and decay, appealing in its desolation to every sentiment of the State, of the Church and of the Nation against abandonment and desertion, and now in its half completed condition, feeling the touch of revival and restoration, it pleads more imploringly still for just enough money to complete the repairs and to enable it once more to enter upon its life of activity, and to utter again with renewed joyousness the ancient but long suppressed voice of prayer and of thanksgiving. Shall it appeal in vain?"

The appeal was not in vain. The church was completed. Twelve beautiful memorial windows were put in place. These bore the names of George Washington, Joseph Bridger, the architect of the church, Robert E.

Lee, Rev. William Hubbard, the first rector, Sir Walter Raleigh, John Rolfe, Captain John Smith, Bishops Madison, Moore, Meade, and Johns, and Dr. Blair, whose connection with Bruton Church and William and Mary College is told in another chapter of this volume.

A building that is similar and yet in many respects quite different is in New Kent County, about as far above Williamsburg as Smithfield is below that university town. This is St. Peter's Church. It is thought that the parish dates from 1654, though the present building was not begun until 1701. The minute which tells of the first plan for the structure is dated August 13, 1700:

"Whereas, the Lower Church of this Parish is very much out of Repair and Standeth very inconvenient for most of the inhabitants of the said parish; Therefore ordered that as soon as conveniently may be a new Church of Brick Sixty feet long and twenty fower feet wide in the clear and fourteen feet pitch with a Gallery Sixteen feet long be built and Erected upon the Main Roade, by the School House near Thomas Jackson's; and the Clerk is ordered to give a copy of this order to Capt. Nich. Merewether who is Requested to show the same to Will Hughes and desire him to draw a Draft of said Church and to bee at the next vestry."

The cost of the new church was one hundred and forty-six thousand pounds of tobacco. This included the main building only, for the belfry was not built until 1722.

Rev. David Mossom, who was rector of the church from 1727 to 1767, was the minister who married General Washington, at the White House, as the home of his bride was called, a few miles from St. Peter's Church.

The story is told of this eccentric minister that on one occasion, having quarrelled with his clerk, he rebuked him from the pulpit. The latter avenged himself by giving out to the congregation the psalm in which were these lines:

"With restless and ungovern'd rage Why do the heathen storm?

Why in such rash attempts engage As they can ne'er perform?"

The epitaph on the tomb of Mr. Mossom in St. Peter's churchyard states that he was the first native American admitted to the office of Presbyter in the Church of England.

LXXIII

MONTICELLO, NEAR CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA

THE HOME OF THOMAS JEFFERSON

"Oh, my young master, they were all burnt, but ah! we saved your fiddle!"

So the negro servant replied to Thomas Jefferson who, on returning from a trip, learning that his home at Shadwell had been burned, asked after his books. To the negro's mind the fiddle was the most important thing in the house.

Fortunately the new mansion, Monticello, near Charlotte, which he had designed, was so nearly completed that he was able to take up his residence there. Two years later he led into the new house his bride, Martha Skelton, a widow of twenty-three.

Before the marriage Jefferson, in accordance with the Virginia law, in company with Francis Eppes, entered into a license bond, of which the following is a copy:

"Know all men by these presents that we Thomas Jefferson and Francis Eppes are held and firmly bound to the sovereign lord the king his heirs and successors in the sum of fifty pounds current money of Virginia, to the paiment of which well and truly to be made we bind ourselves jointly and severally, our joint and several heirs, executors and administrators, in witness whereof we have hereto set our hands and seals this twenty-third day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy one. The condition of the above obligation is such that if there be no lawful cause to obstruct a marriage intended to be had and solemnized between the above bound Thomas Jefferson and Martha Skelton of the County of Charles County, widow, for which a license is desired, then this obligation is to be null and void, otherwise the same is in full force."

Edward Bacon, who was overseer at Monticello for twenty years, described the estate in vivid words: