_Summary of Findings_
Marlborough's beginnings as a town in 1691 cast the shape that has
endured in a few vestiges even until today. The original survey of Bland
and Buckner remains as evidence, and by it we are led to believe that
the courthouse was located near the "Gutt" to the west of the town, near
a change of course that affected the western boundary and all the
north-south streets west of George Andrews' lots. Archeological
excavation in the area disclosed Structure B, which subsequent evidence
proved to be the foundation of Mercer's mansion, built at the pinnacle
of his career between 1746 and 1750. No evidence exists that this
foundation was associated earlier with the courthouse.
Two years after the second Act for Ports was passed in 1705, the second
survey was made and was lost soon thereafter. There is evidence that the
house built by William Ballard in 1708, on a lot "ditched in" according
to this plat, was also in the vicinity of the courthouse. After Mercer
moved into this house in 1726, it became clear that the two surveys were
at odds, and a new survey was ordered and made in 1731. The maneuvers
which followed make it fairly clear that Mercer's residence was
encroaching upon the two acres that had been set aside for the
courthouse, which by Act of Assembly had reverted to the heirs of Giles
Brent after the courthouse had burned and been abandoned about 1718. The
1731 plat provided a whole new row of lots along the western boundary of
the town, while pushing the original lots slightly to the east. This
device would have assured the integrity of the courthouse land, while
relieving Mercer of the uncertainty of his title. When Mercer's
petition to acquire Marlborough was submitted in 1747 (the 1731 plat
still remained unaccepted), he offered to buy the courthouse land for
three times its worth. Since Mercer was guardian of the heir, "Mr.
William Brent, the Infant," he was called upon to testify in this
capacity at the hearings on his petition. Thus the courthouse, Ballard's
house, and Mercer's mansion all appear to have been involved in a
boundary difficulty, and we may assume, therefore, that the courthouse
during its brief career stood close to the spot where Mercer later built
his mansion.
This difficulty, in particular, was influential in determining the shape
of the town, the manner in which Mercer developed the property and the
peculiarities that made Marlborough unique. It was not until 1755 that
he was permitted to acquire all the town and by that time Marlborough's
character had already been fixed. We have seen that its outstanding
feature, the mansion, was architecturally sophisticated, that leading
craftsmen worked on it, and that it was as highly individualistic as its
master. It was lavishly furnished not only with material elegancies but
with a library embracing more than a thousand volumes.
Aside from the mansion, the area most actively developed by Mercer lay
between it and Potomac Creek, with some construction to the north and
the east. In 1731, Mercer built two warehouses which probably stood near
the waterside at Potomac Creek where his sloop and schooner and visiting
vessels found sheltered anchorage. These burned in 1746, but must
subsequently have been rebuilt, since Thomas Oliver in his 1771 report
to James Mercer commented that the "tobacco houses" must be repaired as
soon as possible. They were probably among the buildings that Mercer had
constructed up to 1747, when he reported that he had "saved" 17 of the
town's lots by building on them. These lots comprised 8-1/2 acres in the
southwest portion of the town.
The windmill was built on land near the river shore, east of the
mansion. It was probably located a considerable distance from the shore,
although erosion in recent times has eaten back the cliff. In the fall
of 1958, half of the stone foundations collapsed, leaving a well-defined
profile of the stone construction. Fragments of mid-century-type wine
bottles found in the lower course of the stones support other evidence
that the mill was built in 1746.
Mercer mentioned his "office" in 1766. This may have been a detached
building used for a law office. Oliver in 1771 listed a barn, a cider
mill, two "grainerys," three cornhouses, five stables, and tobacco
houses. He mentioned also that "the East Green House wants repairing,
the west d^o wants buttments as a security to the wall on the south
side."
Besides the malthouse and brewhouse built in 1765 (which may have been
situated at Structure H and the 100-foot-long stone-wall enclosure
attached to Wall A), John Mercer in his 1768 letter mentioned "Cellars,
Cooper's house and all the buildings, copper & utensil whatever used
about the brewery," as well as the "neat warm" house built for the
brewer. When the property was advertised in 1791, "Overseers houses,"
"Negroe quarters," and "Corn houses" also were mentioned.
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 title 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
circumstances 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 Accokeek 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 shore.
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 illustration 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 principal 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.