_Foundation of small brick structure unearthed in 1936. Use of structure
unknown._
_30'x58' Foundation of old structure known as building "_X_." Uncovered
by National Park Service in 1930. Re-excavated 1936._
[Illustration: _Drawn by George Washington in 1750 (copy)_]
It is not known when George left the Popes Creek plantation for the last
time as a youth, but he must have departed with a touch of sadness. The
joys and pleasures of life on such a busy and beautiful tidewater
plantation must have been unforgettable to the tall, teenage boy.
_The Disastrous Fire_
George's elder half brother, Augustine Washington, Jr., the second owner
of the Popes Creek home, died in 1762. The plantation passed to his son,
William Augustine Washington, George's eldest nephew. William Augustine
took title in full in 1774 when his mother, Ann Washington (who had a
dower life interest in the estate), died. About this time the Popes
Creek plantation, for the first time, was called "Wakefield," a name
said to have been inspired by Oliver Goldsmith's _Vicar of Wakefield_,
and which has endured.
During the latter part of the American Revolution, when General
Washington was leading the Continental Army in the north, his birth home
in faraway Virginia caught fire and burned to the ground. Indirect
evidence and tradition indicate that the house was destroyed Christmas
Day, 1779. At the time of the fire the structure was owned by its third
and last owner, William Augustine Washington. According to his daughter,
Sarah Tayloe Washington, her father noticed the roof burning while
returning from a ride. It is believed that a spark from the chimney blew
through the small garret window and set fire to the house. The home
which had sheltered three generations of Washingtons for half a century
was never rebuilt by them.
_A Century of Neglect_
After the disastrous fire at Wakefield, 36 years passed before the
birthsite was marked. Finally, in 1815, George Washington Parke Custis
(a grandson of Martha Washington and a ward of George Washington)
visited Popes Creek and, in an imposing ceremony, marked what he
considered to be the spot. Custis, in a letter to the editor of the
Alexandria _Gazette_, described his visit in the following language:
In June, 1815, I sailed on my vessel, the "Lady of the Lake", a fine
topsail schooner of ninety tons, accompanied by two gentlemen, Messrs.
Lewis and Grimes, bound to Popes Creek in the County of Westmoreland,
carrying with us a slab of freestone, having the following
inscription:
"Here
The 11th of February, 1732, (Old Style)
George Washington
Was Born."
We anchored some distance from the land, and taking to our boats, we
soon reached the mouth of Pope's or Bridge's Creek, and proceeding
upwards we fell in with McKenzie Beverly, Esq., and several gentlemen
composing a fishing party, and also with the overseer of the property
that formed the object of our visit. We were kindly received by these
individuals, and escorted to the spot, where a few scattered bricks
alone marked the birthplace of the chief.
Desirous of making the ceremonial of depositing the stone as imposing
as circumstances would permit, we enveloped it in the "star spangled
banner" of our country, and it was borne to its resting place in the
arms of the descendants of four revolutionary patriots and soldiers.
We gathered together the bricks of an ancient chimney that once formed
the hearth around which Washington in his infancy had played, and
constructed a rude kind of pedestal, on which we reverently placed the
FIRST STONE commending it to the respect and protection of the
American people in general, and the citizens of Westmoreland County in
particular.
Bidding adieu to those who had received us so kindly, we re-embarked,
and hoisted our colors, and being provided with a piece of cannon and
suitable ammunition, we fired a salute, awakening the echoes that had
slept for ages around the hallowed spot.
Custis' visit to Washington's birthplace is important for two reasons.
First, the freestone slab which he placed at the birthsite was one of
the earliest monuments erected in the United States as a memorial to
George Washington. Secondly, Custis describes the site as it appeared in
1815 as a "spot where a few scattered bricks alone marked the birthplace
of the chief."
In 1832, the 100th anniversary of Washington's birth, the Alexandria
_Gazette_ noted how the nation had forgotten the ancient Popes Creek
farm: "It is surprising that it [Wakefield] should be so little known
and visited. Not one in a thousand of the passengers in Steamboats had
any knowledge that this 'solum natale,' of him whom the whole world
honors, is remote but a mile over the waters surface; and hid from his
view only by a fringe of wild shrubbery. Will not Wakefield like Mt.
Vernon, in after time, be the resort of Patriotic Pilgrims?"
In the July 1833 issue of _The North American Magazine_ an unknown
contributor gives a bit of important information about the birth home:
"The old house of his [Washington's] birth has long since mouldered. The
cellar over which it stood, now mostly filled up, is about fifty feet in
length from east to west, having what seems to be a wine vault in the
corner. An orchard of apple trees of modern growth interspersed with
other fruit trees, surrounds the old cellar; westerly of which are
scattered some apple trees of a very ancient growth, with fruit of a
delicious flavour. These trees are monuments of olden times;
contemporaries probably with the childhood of the Great Statesman."
As the years passed during the 19th century, others who visited
Washington's birthplace commented on the neglected condition of the
site. James K. Paulding of New York, a friend of Washington Irving and
author of _A Life of Washington_, described Wakefield in 1835 as a place
where "A few scanty relics alone remain to mark the spot.... A clump of
old decayed fig trees, probably coeval with the mansion, yet exists; a
number of vines, and shrubs, and flowers still reproduce themselves
every year as if to mark the spot."
In 1851 the Richmond _Whig and Public Advertiser_ observed: "The
birthplace of George Washington is ... marked only by an old brick
chimney, a mammoth fig tree, and a freestone slab.... The slab is broken
in two.... The neglected condition of the spot bears shame against his
country for neglecting to lift up a monument there, to his memory."
Five years later, in 1856, Bishop William Meade visited Wakefield and
found Custis' freestone slab broken into fragments. The Bishop wrote: "I
recently paid a visit to the old family seat of the Washingtons.... The
brick chimney is all that remains of the Washington mansion ... except
the broken bricks which are scattered about over the spot where it was
built. The grandson of Mrs. General Washington, Mr. Custis, of
Arlington, some years since placed a slab with a brief inscription on
the spot, but it is now in fragments." The same year Bishop Meade
visited Wakefield, Lewis W. Washington offered to the State of Virginia
"sixty feet square of ground on which the house stood in which General
Washington was born" together with the family burying ground, provided
"that the State shall cause the premises to be permanently enclosed by
an iron fence, based on a stone foundation, and shall mark the same by
suitable, and modest, though substantial tablets, to commemorate for the
rising generation these notable spots."
[Illustration: _The old kitchen chimney at Wakefield in 1872, the
last surviving structure. It fell the next year._ From a painting
made by Sarah Pierrpont Barnard in 1872.]
Gov. Henry A. Wise was greatly interested in the offer, and visited
Westmoreland County on April 27, 1858, for the purpose of inspecting the
birthplace site and the Washington family burying ground. As a result of
his visit and consequent recommendations, the Commonwealth of Virginia
accepted the donation and appropriated $5,000 to carry out the wishes of
Lewis W. Washington. Before the protective steps could be carried out,
however, the drumbeats of war were echoing across the land, and only the
ancient fig trees and wild shrubbery continued to mark the venerable
spot.
Five years after the Civil War, a visitor to Wakefield observed that the
freestone slab which George Washington Parke Custis had placed over the
presumed birthsite with such loving care had disappeared. It had
remained there only about 55 years before falling a victim to the
vandalism of that time.
Some time in 1873 the old kitchen chimney, which had withstood the
ravages of the elements for a century and a half, finally collapsed and
fell to the ground. It had stood above ground longer than any other part
of Augustine Washington's plantation buildings which he had built in the
1720's on Popes Creek.
[Illustration: _Ruins of the old kitchen chimney at Wakefield._ From
a sketch made by Charles C. Perkins in 1879.]
_The Saving of Washington's Birthplace_
The saving of Washington's Birthplace was the work of many individuals
and organizations, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Wakefield National
Memorial Association, and the United States Government.
In 1859 John E. Wilson, owner of most of the Popes Creek-Bridges Creek
land, deeded to the Commonwealth of Virginia a right-of-way through his
farm to the birthsite and the Washington family burying ground, together
with one-half acre of land near the latter place and about 1 acre near
the birthsite.
In 1882 the Commonwealth of Virginia vested title in the United States
of America to its holdings at the birthsite and burying ground. By an
act of Congress approved in 1879, and amended in 1881, the construction
of a monument to mark the birthsite and the acquisition of the necessary
ground and right-of-way had been authorized. In 1883 Mr. and Mrs. John.
E. Wilson sold to the United States nearly 12 acres of land surrounding
the birthsite and 9.85 acres constituting a right-of-way 50 feet wide
and 1.6 miles long, connecting the birthsite, the family burying ground,
and the Potomac River near the mouth of Bridges Creek.
Although Congress had authorized the construction of a monument to mark
the birthsite in 1881, 15 years passed before the shaft of Vermont
granite was erected. It was a time in our Nation's history when
historical conservation was crowded into the background in favor of more
materialistic aims.
In the 1920's a group of public-spirited women became interested in the
old Washington family plantation. They wanted more than a granite
monument to memorialize the site where our first President was born, and
dreamed of a restored tidewater plantation. On February 23, 1923, under
the able leadership of Mrs. Josephine Wheelright Rust, they organized
the Wakefield National Memorial Association. Their main objective was to
restore the Wakefield plantation and make it a shrine for all people,
the date set for completion of the task was 1932--the 200th anniversary
of Washington's birth.
Shortly after the Wakefield National Memorial Association was
incorporated in 1924, its members raised funds for acquiring land
between the birthsite and the Washington family burying ground, and
induced John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to purchase 273 acres of the old
Wakefield plantation and transfer it to the United States Government. By
an act of Congress, approved June 7, 1926, the association was given
authority to construct a house at Wakefield as nearly as possible like
the one built by Augustine Washington. In 1929 the association acquired
additional land, and 2 years later donated its holding at Wakefield
(about 100 acres) to the United States.
[Illustration: _The walk from the colonial-style garden to the
memorial house._]
By an act of Congress on January 23, 1930, the 394.47 acres owned by the
Federal Government was designated as George Washington Birthplace
National Monument, to be administered by the National Park Service of
the United States Department of the Interior.
In 1930-31 the Wakefield National Memorial Association, under its
authority from Congress, built an early 18th-century style brick home as
a memorial to mark the approximate site of the home in which George
Washington was born. (The granite shaft which had marked the site since
1896 was moved to a new location.) As intensive research had produced
very little reliable evidence concerning the appearance of the original
Popes Creek home, the memorial house erected could not be a replica. It
is, however, in keeping with the Virginia plantation scene at the time
of Washington's association with the place.
The new memorial house was opened to the public in July 1931, and a
special open house was held on February 22, 1932, the 200th anniversary
of George Washington's birth. Since then the Wakefield National Memorial
Association has been active in furnishing the home with suitable pieces
of the 1700-50 period. In many instances 18th-century artifacts
unearthed near the site of the original home have served as guides in
selecting certain items. The objects excavated were surprisingly varied
and revealed the nature of many furnishings which were in the original
home between the time it was completed in 1726 and the time of the
disastrous fire in 1779. Only a few types of the more important
artifacts unearthed can be described:
[Illustration: _Wine bottles, glasses, seals, and bronze spigot of
1700-80 period found at Wakefield._]
[Illustration: _Fragments of kettle and spoons unearthed at
Wakefield._]
Glass.
Hundreds of pieces of broken wine bottles were found, including 11 wine
bottle seals bearing the initials of George's father, "AW". During the
18th century only well-to-do planters imported wine bottles from England
with their names or monograms stamped on the necks of the containers.
Many wine-glass stems were also found, revealing the fine assortment of
drinking glasses used by the Washingtons. Numerous windowpane fragments
were unearthed.
Tableware.
Many bonehandled knives and forks of excellent quality were excavated,
together with several types of pewter and latten metal spoons. A few of
the knife and fork handles found were dyed green, described in the 1762
inventory as "green Ivory handled knives & forks."
Furniture hardware.
Many brass upholstering tacks, knobs, drawer pulls, and keyhole
escutcheons, which at one time embellished high quality English
furniture of the 1725-75 period, were unearthed.
Clay pipes.
Hundreds of fragments of English white clay pipes were found in the
vicinity of the birthsite.
Lighting devices and fireplace equipment.
Brass candlesticks, candlesnuffers, and brasshandled fireplace tools
excavated revealed that the Washingtons imported fine metalware from the
mother country.
Pottery and porcelain.
Countless fragments of colorful earthenware and stoneware pottery were
found, together with a fine assortment of oriental porcelain. Much of
the pottery (including slip-decorated earthenware, Delftware, white
salt-glazed stoneware, "Whieldon" ware, hand-decorated Staffordshire,
and creamware) was made in England; some was imported from Holland
(tin-glazed Delftware) and Germany (stoneware), whereas most of the
porcelain came from China.
[Illustration: _Tools unearthed near the site of the home in which
George Washington was born--iron hoes, an iron pestle, small ax, and
fragment of an ice saw. All tools shown date from 1690 to 1775._]
[Illustration: _Sgraffito (scratched) earthenware bowl._]
All pieces of furniture acquired by the association for the memorial
house are of the early 18th-century English styles, having been made
between 1700 and 1750. Only one item in the house, a tilt-top tea table,
is said to have been in the original home. The last owner of the house,
William Augustine Washington (George's eldest nephew), saved it at the
time of the fire in 1779.
The Wakefield National Memorial Association has also acquired
appropriate cooking utensils of the early 18th-century period for the
colonial-style kitchen. Once again, excavated artifacts--including
pot-hooks, kettle fragments, skewers, ladles, and numerous other cooking
accessories--were used as guides in locating suitable kitchen equipage.
Since 1932 over a million people from all parts of the world have
visited Wakefield and enjoyed its natural beauties and historical
associations. The serenity of the restored plantation with its
cultivated fields and oldtime flower garden, its fragrant boxwood and
sweet-scented herbs, and the lovely water views afforded by Popes Creek
and the Potomac River, make unforgettable impressions. The memorial
house furnished with beautiful and appropriate pieces from a bygone day,
the early 18th-century style kitchen with its huge fireplace and ancient
cooking equipment, and the family burying ground at Bridges Creek,
almost 300 years old, are integral parts of the scene. In addition to
these glimpses of colonial life are the well-kept grounds, the carefully
tended flower beds, and the grove of native cedar trees which stand like
venerable sentinels on Burnt House Point.
Such enchanting scenes which impress the senses and mind are taken for
granted today, as few pilgrims realize that not so many years ago the
birthplace of our Nation's First Citizen was all but forgotten. Without
the dedicated labor of many people and organizations there would be no
Wakefield plantation today, and to these individuals our Nation will
forever owe a debt of gratitude.
But the restored plantation is more than a monument to the people who
saved it. It is a memorial to the boy who played in the red brick house
by the tidal creek, in the stables, barns, tobacco sheds, and other
outbuildings; in the smokehouse and summer kitchen; in the spinning and
weaving house and buttery; and near the forge where the blacksmith beat
red-hot iron rods into tools and hardware and farm implements. The
restored plantation is a shrine to the young boy with reddish-brown hair
and blue eyes who romped through the green meadows and fields of corn,
and watched the growing wheat, rye, and tobacco; the youth who picked
luscious figs, climbed the gnarled apple trees, and played games in the
cedar grove of that day.
Countless times he must have walked along the high banks of Popes Creek
and the sandy shore of the Potomac River, and stalked game in the nearby
forest. Wakefield is a monument to the growing boy who returned to the
place of his birth when he was 11 years old and learned his first
lessons in surveying. The impressions which the peaceful farm made on
his mind were lasting ones, and as he grew from youth into manhood and
assumed greater responsibilities, the happy memories of days spent on
his father's plantation were never forgotten.
[Illustration: _The memorial house._]
_Guide To The Area_
The information which follows, supplements that contained in the
narrative of this handbook. It has been arranged to enable you to make
your own tour of the area. The numbers given correspond to the numbers
on the map of the national monument on pages 34-35.