The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia Part 31

The development of the area in the southwest portion of the plantation probably sustained--or established for the first time--the character originally intended for Marlborough Town. The situation of the mansion was undoubtedly affected by this, as indeed must have been the whole plantation plan. The archeological evidence alone shows that the plan was abnormal in terms of the typical 18th-century Virginia plantation.

The rectangular enclosure formed by the brick walls east of the mansion doubtless framed the formal garden over which the imported English gardener, William Black, presided. It connected at the northwest with the kitchen in such a way that the kitchen formed a corner of the enclosure, becoming in effect a gatehouse, protecting the mansion's privacy at the northwest from the utilitarian slave quarter and agricultural precincts beyond. Walls A-I and A-II, however, related the mansion directly to this plantation-business area and caused it to serve also as a gate to the enclosure.

The position of the kitchen dependency northwest of the house is the only suggestion of Palladian layout, other than the garden. The southern aspect of the house and the rigid boundary to domestic activity imposed by Walls A-I and A-II probably prevented construction of a balancing unit to the southwest. Slave quarters, stables, and perhaps the barn apparently were located to the north.

Since it was not until 1755 that Mercer came into full t.i.tle to the town, the town plan and its legal restrictions were influential in determining the way in which the plantation was to grow. The house and the surrounding layout were, therefore, wholly peculiar to the special circ.u.mstances of Marlborough and probably also to the individuality of its owner. The approach to the house from the waterside was to the south end of the building, leading up to it by the still-existing road from the creek and along the old "Broad Street across the Town," which probably bordered Walls A-I and B-I. The mansion thus had a little of the character of a feudal manor house, as well as some of the appearance of an English townhouse that abuts the street, with the seclusion of its yards and gardens defended by walls. In many respects it only slightly resembled, in its relationship to surrounding structures, the more representative plantations of its period.

The house was well oriented to view, ventilation, and dominant location.

The veranda, which afforded communication from one part to another out-of-doors, as well as a place to sit, was exposed to the prevailing southwesterly summer winds. In the winter it was equally well placed so as to be in the lee of northeast storms sweeping down the Potomac. The view, hidden today by trees, included Acc.o.keek Creek and a lengthy vista up Potomac Creek. Presumably, a road or driveway skirted the kitchen at the west and perhaps ended in a driveway in front of the house. The gate in Wall E south of the kitchen would have been a normal entrance for horses and vehicles.

Within the garden was the summerhouse built by Mercer in 1765. From the east windows and steps of the house and from the garden could be seen the Potomac, curving towards the bay, and the flailing "drivers" of the windmill near the Potomac sh.o.r.e.

The excavated and written records of Marlborough are a microcosm of Virginia colonial history. They depict the emergence of central authority in the 17th century in the establishment of the port town as a device to diversify the economy and control the collecting of duties.

In the failure of the town, they demonstrate also the failure of colonial government to overcome the tyranny of tobacco and the restrictive policies of the mother country. They go on to show in great detail the emergence in the 18th century of a familiar American theme--the self-directed rise of an individual from obscure beginnings to high professional rank, social leadership, personal wealth, and cultural influence. They demonstrate in Mercer's career the inherent defects of the tobacco economy as indebtedness mounted and economic strains stiffened. In Mercer's concern with the Ohio Company and westward expansion they reflect a colony-wide trend as population increased and the need grew for more arable land and areas in which to invest and escape from economic limitations. They show that the war with the French inevitably ensued, with its demands on income and manpower, while following this came the enforcement of trade laws and the immediate irritants which led to rebellion. So Marlborough gives a sharp reflection of Virginia's history prior to the Revolution. It was touched by most of what was typical and significant in the period, yet in its own details it was unique and individual. In this seeming anomaly Marlborough is a true ill.u.s.tration of its age, when men like Mercer were strong individuals but at the same time typifying and expressing the milieu in which they lived.

Mercer's rise to wealth and leadership occurred at a time when favorable laws held out the promise of prosperity, while boundless lands offered unparalleled opportunities for investment. It remained for those best able to take advantage of the situation; Mercer's self-training in the law, his driving energy, and his ability to organize placed him among these. The importance of his position is signified by the justice-ship that he held for so many years in Stafford County court; the brick courthouse on the hill overlooking the upper reaches of Potomac Creek was the architectural symbol of this position. Although most of his income was derived from legal practice, it was his plantation that was the princ.i.p.al expression of his interests and his energies. Mercer was in this respect typical of his peers, whose intellectual and professional leadership, on the one hand, and agricultural and business enterprise, on the other, formed a partnership within the individual.

The great plantation house with its sophisticated elegancies, its outward formalities, and its rich resort for the intellect in the form of a varied library, was the center and spirit of the society of which men like Mercer were leaders. With the death of the system came the death of the great house, and the rise and fall of Marlborough symbolizes, as well as anything can, the life cycle of Virginia's colonial plantation order.

Appendixes

APPENDIX A

Inventory of George Andrews, Ordinary Keeper

[Stafford County Will Book--Liber Z--1699-1709--p. 168 ff.]

An Inventory of the Estate of George Andrews taken the (six) October 1698. 6 small feather beads with Bolsters 5 Ruggs 1 Turkey Work 1 Carpet 1 old small Flock Bed boulster Rugg 4 pair Canvis Shooks 2 pair Curtains and valleins 4 Chests 1 old Table 1 Couch 1 Great Trunk 1 small ditto 1 Cupboard 2 Bra.s.s Kettles 1 pieis Dowlas 2 spits 1 Driping pan & fender 6 Iron Pots 5 pair Pot-hooks 6 dishes 1 bason 2 dozen of plates 4 old chairs made of kain 9 head horses + mares 3 Colts of 1 year old each 4 head Oxen 2 Chaine Staples 8 Yoaks 7 Cows + calves 1 Bull 2 barron cows 2 five year old stears 6 Beasts of a year old each 30 head of sheep being yews and lambs 4 Silver spoons 1 Silver dram cup 1 Lignum vitae punch Bowl 1 Chaffing Dish 1 Bra.s.s Mortar & Iron Pestle 2 ditto & 1 great iron pestle 1 broad ax 2 narrow D^o 1 Tennant Saw 1 Whipsaw 1 drawing knife 2 augurs 1 Frow 1 pair Stilliards & too with Canhooks 1 Saddle & Curb bridle 3 servants 2 Men 1 Woman 3 years + 6 months to serve 1 Welshman 4 years to serve the other servant named Garrard Moore 13 months to serve 1 old Chest drawers 1 old plow 1 old pair Cart wheels w^{th} a Cart 2 old Course Table Cloths & 8 Napkins 4 Towels 1 Gall^n Pott 1 Paile Pott 2 Chamber Potts 2 tankards a parsil of old Bottles 1 old Looking Gla.s.s 1 Grid Iron 1 Flesh fork & Skimmer 1 pair Spit hooks Iron square 3 pair Iron tongs 2 Nutmeg graters 3 Candlesticks 1 old Great Boat old Sails Hawsers Graplin 1 Box Iron 1 Warming pan 2 pair Pot racks

Jurat in Curia

Returned by John Waugh Jun^r

APPENDIX B

Inventory of Peter Beach

[Stafford County Will Book--Liber Z--1699-1709--p. 158-159.]

Estate of Peter Beach. Inventory taken by William Downham, Edward Mountjoy, W^m Allen "having mett together at the house of Mr.

Peter Beach."

"Dan'l Beach Alex and Mary Waugh executors Nov. 20, 1702"

To 4 three year old heifers. at 350 Tob^o p 1400

To 1 stear 6 years old at 600 To 5 D^o 4 year old at 2000 2600

To the 2 yr old at 2800 To 2 Bulls at 600 3400

To 8 Cows & Calves at 4000 To 2 Barron Cows 900 4900

To 1 Mare & Mare Filly at 1200 To 1 two year old horse 400 1600

To 1 D^o 5 years old at 1000 To 1 very old D^o at 150 1150

To 1 Feather bedd + Bedstead + furniture 1500 To 1 do at 1200 2700

To 2 D^o at 2000 To 1 Old Flock Bed + Feather pillow at 300 2300

To one servant Bot 9 years to serve 3000 to 4 stoolth 8 Chairs @ 160- 3160

To 9 old flagg & boarded Chairs 130 To 1 small old table & stool 100 230

To 1 old Standing Cupboard 150 To Looking Gla.s.s at 30 100

To 1 pair small Stilliards at 60 to 1 Iron Spit+Dripping pan at 80 140

To 1 pair old Tongs and fire shovel at 30 To 2 Ladles+Chafing Dish 50 80

To 1 old Narrow Ax + frow at 30 To 1 Box Iron & Heaters at 25 55

To a pa.s.sel of Gla.s.s Bottles at 40 To a Parcel of old Iron at 50 90

To 8 old Pewter Dishes and three Basons Ditto at 228

To 1 small Table Cloth + 6 Napkins at 50 to 4 Tinpanns 1 Copper Sawspan at 150 100

To 2 2 quart Potts 1 Pewter Tankard Old 20

To 1 old Warming Pan 20 To 1 Bra.s.s candlestick 1 Skimmer Old 15 35

To pasl of Earthen Ware 50 To 3 Iron Potts 2 p^r potthooks 250 To 1 Bra.s.s Kettle at 300 600

To 1 Bra.s.s kettle at 60 To 23 pewter plates old 110 To 4 old Chests 250 420

To 1 Frying Pan 1 Meal Sifter 15 To a parcel of old Tables and Cyder Cask 350 365

To 1 Pewter Sheaf[214] 50 To 1 old Gun 100 To 2 Bibles at 40 190

To 1 Pewter Chamber Pott 10 To 3 Pewter Salts 1 Dram Cup 15 25