The Tobacco Act of 1730 provided for the erection of public tobacco
warehouses, and Marlborough was selected as one of the sites.[70] In
1731 Mercer's account with John Waugh included "Timber for 2500 boards
@25/.£3.2.6" and "Posts & Ceils for two Warehouses, 12 shillings." In
April 1732 he settled accounts with Captain Henry Fitzhugh for "building
a Warehouse & Wharf & 6 prizes" at 3000 pounds of tobacco, or £15. The
prizes probably were "incentive awards" for the workmen. Included in
Fitzhugh's account were "3 days work of Caesar & Will," ten shillings,
and "4319 very bad Clapboards at 1/2^d y^e board." On March 25 he paid
Anthony Linton for 1820 clapboards, allowing him eight shillings for
"sawing of Boards." The warehouses were in operation in 1732, as we
learn from Mercer's "Account of Inspectors," but they suffered the fate
of all official enterprises at Marlborough, for in 1734 "the same were
put down, as being found very inconvenient."[71] The actual date of
their termination was November 16, 1735, when a new warehouse was
scheduled for completion at the mouth of Aquia Creek.[72] The expression
"put down" does not seem to mean that the warehouses were torn down, but
that they were officially discontinued. He apparently, however,
continued to use them for his own purposes.