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[Illustration: MAP _of_ GEORGE TOWN]
_A PORTRAIT_
_OF_
_OLD GEORGE TOWN_
[Illustration: EARLY GEORGE TOWN]
A Portrait of
Old George Town
BY
GRACE DUNLOP ECKER
[Illustration]
_1951_
THE DIETZ PRESS, INCORPORATED
_Richmond, Virginia_
COPYRIGHT, 1951
BY
GRACE G. D. PETER
SECOND EDITION
Revised and Enlarged
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF
MY FATHER AND MOTHER
GEORGE THOMAS AND EMILY REDIN DUNLOP
AND
MY AUNT, ELLEN DUNLOP
ALL THREE OF WHOM LIVED LONG, USEFUL
AND UNSELFISH LIVES
IN GEORGETOWN
GEORGE TOWN GHOSTS
_By_ WILLIAM TIPTON TABLOTT
_The ghosts of Georgetown when they meet
In haunted house or moonlit street
With pride recall the functions gay
When down the Philadelphia way
The Federal City overnight
Moved to its bare and swampy site,
For Georgetown then a busy mart,
A growing seaport from the start,
Where a whole-hearted spirit reigned,
Threw wide its doors, and entertained
With wines and viands of the best--
The Federal City was its guest._
_In memory of the good old days,
Whose ways to them were modern ways,
Congenial ghosts across Rock Creek,
With formal bows and steps antique,
Rehearse a spectral minuet
Where once in bright assemblies met--
Beruffled belles looked love to beaus
In powdered wigs and faultless hose;
Or merchant ghosts survey the skies
And venture guesses weatherwise
Regarding winds that will prevail
To speed their ships about to sail._
_Still in the shaded hillside streets
A trace of old-time welcome greets
The passer-by who has a flare
For scenes of old. No longer there
A buoyant Georgetown stands alone,
The Federal City having grown
Until their boundaries overlap;
So that, deleted from the map,
Though once the Federal City's host,
Georgetown itself is now a ghost._
_Foreword_
It is not at all in my mind to write a history of Georgetown. Several
have been written, but I do want, very, very much, to paint a portrait
of this dear old town of my birth where my parents, my grandparents,
great-grandfathers and one great-great-grandfather lived, and which I
love so dearly.
A portrait, partly of its physical features, its streets, its houses and
gardens, some of which still exist in their pristine glory but, alas,
many of which have gone the way of so-called progress. In place of the
dignified houses of yore, of real architectural beauty, stand rows of
cheap dwellings or stores, erected mostly in the seventies and eighties
when architecture was at its worst. In 1895 it was that the old names of
the streets were taken away and from then on we've been just an adjunct
of Washington.
Not only of its physical side do I wish to tell, but I want to paint a
picture of the kind of people who lived here, from the beginning up
through the gay nineties--nearly one hundred and fifty years. Of the
kind of things they did, their work, their play, their thoughts and
their beliefs, for the character of the town, like human beings, was
formed largely by their beliefs, and these old Scotsmen--for they were
greatly in the majority--laid a great deal of stress on their
Presbyterian form of Christianity. Witness the oath that had to be taken
by the Flour Inspector on February 24, 1772: "I, Thomas Brannan, do
declare that I do believe that there is not any trnsubstantiation in
the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper or in the elements of bread and
wine, at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever."
And yet, with this strong prejudice, they cooperated and lived on
friendly terms with the Roman Catholics who, very soon after the taking
of this particular oath, founded their college and established their
convent for teaching young girls.
Dr. Balch counselled well when he besought his people: "Let us resolve
to be social rather than fashionable, and generous instead of
extravagant."
All down through the years and to this day I think that has been the
hall-mark of the real Georgetonian. A great deal of fashion has come to
Georgetown, as in the early days of the bringing of the government when
Washington City was a waste and almost entirely one big mud puddle, and
the foreign ministers and many high in our government sought the comfort
and dignity of this town, which was then far from young.
Again in later years there has been an exodus across Rock Creek of men
and women high in the government; in the diplomatic corps; in industry;
in literature and the arts; lured hither by the quiet dignity of the
old-time atmosphere.
There are today living in Georgetown descendants of nearly every one of
the original makers of the town, and all through these years the old
friendships still persist and flourish.
* * * * *
It is impossible for me to express my thanks to all the people who have
helped me and made it possible to write this book. I want to mention
Mrs. Gilbert Grosvenor; Miss Williams of the Peabody Room of the
Georgetown Branch of the Public Library; Miss McPherson and Mr. John
Beverley Riggs of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress;
Mr. Meredith Colket and Mr. O. W. Holmes of the National Archives; Dr.
H. Paul Caemmerer, Secretary of the Commission of Fine Arts; Miss
Pennybaker, of the Real Estate and Columbia Title Insurance Company; the
Mount Vernon Ladies' Association and Mr. C. C. Wall, Superintendent of
Mount Vernon. Also the various people who did the typing and helped
secure the photographs.
And last but not least the friends of the old regime who have given to
me freely of the history and traditions of their ancestors. They are too
many to name, but to each one I owe a real debt of gratitude. Especially
to one, my life-long friend, am I indebted. Without her unceasing
interest and encouragement this Portrait might never have been done.
GRACE GLASGOW DUNLOP ECKER.
CONTENTS
_Page_
DEDICATION v
GEORGE TOWN GHOSTS vii
FOREWORD ix
_Chapter_
I. BEGINNINGS OF A TOWN 3
II. THE ORIGINAL TOWN AND ITS PEOPLE 13
III. THE TAVERNS, SHOPS, AND SCHOOLS 24
IV. THE STREETS OF GEORGE TOWN AND SOME OF THE
HAPPENINGS 40
V. WASHINGTON AND L'ENFANT IN GEORGE TOWN 51
VI. BELOW BRIDGE STREET 65
VII. ALONG BRIDGE (M) STREET 80
VIII. HIGH STREET, PROSPECT AVENUE, THE COLLEGE, THE
CONVENT, AND THE THRELKELDS 104
IX. ALONG FIRST STREET (N) FROM COX'S ROW TO HIGH
STREET (WISCONSIN AVE.) 125
X. GAY (N) STREET--EAST TO ROCK CREEK 135
XI. THE THREE PHILANTHROPISTS 161
XII. THE SEMINARY, WASHINGTON (30TH) STREET AND
DUMBARTON AVENUE 179
XIII. THIRD STREET, BEALL (O) STREET, WEST (P) STREET 208
XIV. STODDERT (Q) STREET 224
XV. TUDOR PLACE AND CONGRESS (31ST) STREET 261
XVI. EVERMAY, THE HEIGHTS AND OAK HILL 281
BIBLIOGRAPHY 311
INDEX 313
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Early George Town _Frontispiece_
PAGE
Rev. James McVean 6
Henry Foxall 73
Home of Henry Foxall 75
Old Presbyterian Church 84
General James Maccubbin Lingan }
}
Benjamin Stoddert } 88
}
Uriah Forrest }
William Marbury 94
Philip Barton Key }
} 96
Mrs. Philip Barton Key (Elizabeth Plater) }
Home of Francis Scott Key 100
Francis Scott Key 102
Benjamin Stoddert's House 110
Home of Dr. Charles Worthington 114
John Threlkeld 122
Colonel John Cox 124
Old Dr. Riley's House 139
3017 N Street. The House that Thomas Beall Built 145
John Laird }
} 147
James Dunlop, Senior }
Major George Peter }
}
Judge James Dunlop } 152
}
William Redin }
Edward Magruder Linthicum 162
William Wilson Corcoran 164
George Peabody 175
Miss Lydia English 184
Dr. Grafton Tyler 188
Home of Judge Henry Henley Chapman 193
Old McKenney House 195
St. John's Church 198
Bodisco House 203
Christ Church 211
Washington Bowie 223
The Sevier House (Built by Washington Bowie) 225
The George T. Dunlop House 228
Home of Francis Dodge 231
Francis Dodge, Senior 233
The Sons of Francis Dodge, 1878 238
William A. Gordon 249
Dumbarton House 255
Tudor Place 260
Thomas Peter 262
Mrs. Thomas Peter (Martha Parke Custis) 264
Lloyd Beall 278
The Old Mackall House 285
Home of Brooke Williams 290
Madame Bodisco 294
Mount Hope. The William Robinson House 296
The Oaks (Now Dumbarton Oaks) }
} 300
Montrose }
William Hammond Dorsey 302
_A PORTRAIT_
_OF_
_OLD GEORGE TOWN_
Chapter I
_Beginnings of a Town_
There are many Georgetowns up and down the Atlantic seaboard in the
original thirteen colonies, and even one in Kentucky, much like the
Jamestowns and Charlestowns and Williamsburgs named for the sovereign of
the time, but this George Town of which I write was in Maryland on the
Potomac River, and because it was situated at the head of tidewater of
that great river, it became important on account of the great amount of
tobacco grown in that area and brought to this point to be carried
across the seas.
The earliest knowledge we have of this region, which has become The
Capital City of the great United States of America, concerns the Indians
who were living here when the white explorers came.
The first of these we know of was the redoubtable Captain John Smith,
who, in 1608, came up the Potomac River and made a map of his travels.
He tells us in his _Historie of Virginie_ of "the mildness of the aire,
the fertilitie of the soil, and the situation of the rivers to the
nature and use of man as no place more convenient for pleasure, profit
and man's sustenance." He was referring to the confluence of the Potomac
with its Eastern Branch and the then good-sized Rock Creek.
In 1634 another Englishman, Henry Fleete, sailed up the river as far as
the Little Falls, trading furs with the Indians. Thus he wrote of the
site of George Town:
"Monday, the 25th of June, we set sail for the Town of Tohoga,
where we came to anchor two leagues short of the falls: this place
is without question the most pleasant in all this country and most
convenient for habitation; the air temperate in summer and not
violent in winter. The river aboundeth in all manner of fish, and
for deer, buffalos, bears and turkeys, the woods do swarm with them
and the soil is exceedingly fertile."
Henry Fleete remained with the Indians about twelve years, whether of
his own free will or as a captive is not quite certain, but evidently
this writing of his was to good purpose, for, in the next decade, small
parties of Scots and Irish began settling on the Potomac at the mouth of
Rock Creek.
The Indians whom these white men found here belonged to the Algonquin
Nation, which included many tribes. Thomas Jefferson says there were
probably forty of these tribes between the Atlantic Ocean and the
Potomac River. The tribe living within the limits of the present
District of Columbia was the Nacotchankes or Anacostians, as the British
called them, hence, the name given to the Eastern branch of the Potomac,
where the largest village was situated, near what is now called Benning.
West of Rock Creek was the village of Tohoga, on the site of what became
George Town.
The Indian families lived on cultivated farms of a few acres, each
strung out along the river. From it came a large part of their food,
and, of course, it was their best mode of communication by canoe.
The most interesting activity of these Indians was the manufacture of
all manner of tools from the stones which they found in the surrounding
hills. These cobblestones had been washed down by the river ages before.
In later years they paved the streets of Georgetown, but these Indians
used them to form arrow-darts, knives, spear points, scrapers, and
drills of all sizes. Traces of these quarries were found as late as
1900; the largest of them seems to have been on Piney Branch, where it
is crossed by 16th Street. It is now obliterated.
There was, also, in this region, soapstone, and from it and from clay,
the Indians made pots and vessels for household use.
Scientists think that other tribes came from far away to barter their
goods for these implements, and so, over three hundred years ago, this
place was a sort of metropolis for the Indians.
It was, of course, by way of the river that the settlers came to this
region after the grant of the Colony of Maryland to Lord Baltimore as
Lord Proprietor. This colony of Maryland differed from the other
colonies in the fact that all the land was the property of Lord
Baltimore, to give or sell as he pleased. Another difference was the
establishment of the Manorial System, by which the owner of one thousand
acres or more became Lord of his Manor. (It was almost like the Feudal
System.)
In 1703 a grant of 795 acres was made to Ninian Beall, beginning thus:
"Charles, Absolute Lord and Proprietor of the Province of
Maryland....
Know yee that for and in consideration that Ninian Beall of Prince
Georges County had due unto him 795 acres of land within our
Province....
[Illustration: REV. JAMES McVEAN (See Chapter XI)]
We do therefore grant unto him the said Ninian Beall all that tract
or parcell of land called Rock of Dunbarton, lying in the said
County, beginning at the Southwest corner Tree, of a tract of land
taken for Robert Mason standing by Potomack River side at the mouth
of Rock Creek....
To have and to hold the same unto him the said Ninian Beall, his
heirs and assignees forever to be holden of us and our heirs as of
our manor of Calverton in free and Common Soccage by fealty only
for all manner of services yielding and paying therefor yearly unto
us and our heirs at our receipt at the City of St. Maries at the
two most usual feasts in the year--at the feast of Annunciacion
of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Michael the Archangell by even
and equal porcions the rent of one pound eleven shillings and nine
pence half penny sterling silver or gold....
Given under our Greater Seal of Armes, this eighteenth day of
November, one thousand seven hundred and three, witness our trusty
and well beloved Colonel Henry Darnell, keeper of our said Greater
Seale in our said Province of Maryland."
Colonel Ninian Beall lived a long and interesting life. He had been born
in Largo, Fifes Shire, Scotland, in 1625. There he had been an officer
in the Scottish-English Army, which fought for the Stuarts' Army against
Cromwell; he was made a prisoner at the battle of Dunbar, September 3,
1650, and sentenced to five years servitude in the Barbadoes, West
Indies. Many gentlemen were so sentenced as political prisoners and sent
out as industrial servants at that time. He was eventually sent to
Maryland, where, after completing his term of servitude, he proved his
right to 50 acres of land and received many hundreds more for bringing
out immigrants and settling there.
He held many notable and honorable offices in the colony, and, in 1699,
the General Assembly passed an Act of Gratitude for the distinguished
Indian services of Colonel Ninian Beall.
As he was Commander in Chief of the Provincial Forces in Maryland, he
probably visited the garrison at the Falls and so knew this region long
before he was granted this tract of the Rock of Dunbarton. He previously
had procured 225 acres on the east side of Rock Creek just opposite,
called Beall's Levels.
Ninian Beall died in 1717 at his home, Fifer Largo, near Upper Marlboro,
Maryland. From a description of him in the Records of the Columbia
Historical Society:
... "He had a complexion characteristic of his nationality, with an
unusually heavy growth of long red hair, and was over six feet in
height, powerful in brawn and muscle and phenomenal in physical
endurance."
He had twelve children, six sons and six daughters. In his will is
recorded:
"I do give and bequeath unto my son George, my plantation and tract
of land called the Rock of Dunbarton, lying and being at Rock
Creek, containing four hundred and eight acres, with all the stock
thereon, both cattle and hogs, them and their increase, unto my
said son, George, and unto his heirs forever.
"I do also give and bequeath, unto my said son, George Beall, his
choice of one of my feather beds, bolster and pillow and other
furniture thereunto belonging, with two cows and calves and half my
sheep from off this plantation I now live on, unto him and his
heirs forever."
This son, George, was the eighth child of Ninian Beall. He had a son,
Thomas, who always styled himself Thomas Beall of George; of him we
shall hear more later on. The family was not limited to these, for many
other Bealls, men and women, appear in the annals of George Town.
George Gordon, the other of the two original proprietors of the lands
which became George Town, was also a Scotsman and had a share in a
manufacture at Leith, near Edinburgh, so it is evident that, when he
came to this country, he had means which he invested in Prince Georges
County and Frederick County, Maryland. He held the office of Sheriff of
Frederick County and was a judge of the first County Court.
A deed to Gordon from James Smith, "planter," is dated November 13,
1734. In it, George Gordon is described as "merchant." The tract
conveyed was one hundred acres, known as "Knaves' Disappointment," a
part of three hundred acres called his Rock Creek Plantation. The
consideration was one hundred pounds sterling or about five hundred
dollars.
It is thought that the original Inspection House of George Gordon was
built of logs not far from the mouth of Rock Creek, fronting on the
Potomac, somewhere between 1734 and 1748. The main inspection house was
built later on "the warehouse lot," an acre close to the southwest
intersection of Falls and Water Streets (M Street and Wisconsin Avenue).
He resided nearby at the site of 3206 M. Street. Later on, in 1745,
George Gordon bought an estate for a permanent home; it is thought to
have been near Holy Rood Cemetery or near the Industrial Home School on
Wisconsin Avenue. After the death of his wife, George Gordon left his
Rock Creek Plantation, and went to live at "Woodyard" with Stephen West.
The will of George Gordon is dated May 10, 1766. At the time of his
death he had a son, John, and a daughter, who had married Tobias Belt.
To his son, John, "mariner," who was in the East India service, he
devised the dwelling house at Rock Creek Plantation on Goose Creek and
the waterside lot in Georgetown numbered 75.
In those days tobacco was, of course, the big crop, and an English
writer called it "the meat, drink, clothing, and money of the
colonists." Regulations were very strict in regard to the exportation of
tobacco.
Inspection houses for tobacco such as that of George Gordon were also
called Rolling Houses, from the fact that the hogsheads of tobacco had a
hole bored in each head and an axle run through from one end to another.
To this axle a shaft was attached, and drawn by a horse or an ox, so
rolled along over the rough roads of that time to their destinations.
Here was the one place in Frederick County for inspection; here was a
natural site for a town, and so came the demand for one.
On June 8, 1751 the Assembly of the Province of Maryland appointed
commissioners to lay out a town here in the county of Frederick, which
had been formed in 1748 from Prince Georges County. The first appointed
were: Captain Henry Wright Crabb, Masters John Needham, James Perrie,
Samuel Magruder III, Josiah Beall, David Lynn. Appointed as their
successors from time to time as vacancies occurred, were: Andrew Heugh,
1754; Robert Peter, 1757; John Murdock, 1766; Thomas Richardson, 1772;
William Deakins, Jr., 1772; Bernard O'Neill, 1782; Thomas Beall, of
George, 1782; Benj. Stoddert, Samuel Davidson, 1785; John Peter, 1789,
and Adam Steuart. The last named gave up his American citizenship and
went to Europe to live, as he was not in sympathy with the Revolution.
His land was confiscated by the State of Maryland. The Surveyors and
Clerks of the Commissioners were:
Alexander Beall, 1751-1757; Josiah Beall, 1757-1774; Robert
Ferguson, 1774, and Daniel Reintzel, 1774-1782.
Meetings were held in private houses through all the years until 1789,
when, at last, George Town was incorporated.
To return to the year 1752, when the first survey of ground for the town
was made, among the tracts surveyed were the following with their names:
Conjurer's Disappointment (Deakins)
Frogland (Thomas Beatty)
Knave's Disappointment (George Gordon)
Discovery (Robert Peter)
Resurvey on Salop (John Threlkeld)
Pretty Prospect (Benjamin Stoddert)
Beall's Levels and Rock of Dumbarton (George Beall)
The survey was completed on February 28, 1752 and Beall's and Gordon's
land found "most convenient." Each gentleman was offered two town lots
besides the price of condemnation. George Gordon chose numbers 48 and
52. George Beall had refused to recognize the proceedings of the
commissioners in any way, so he was notified that "if he did not make
his choice of lots within 10 days from February 28th, he could only
blame himself for the consequences." After reflecting for a week he sent
the following answer:
If I must part with my property by force, I had better save a
little than be totally demolished. Rather than none, I accept these
lots, numbers 72 and 79, said to be Mr. Henderson's and Mr.
Edmonston's. But I do hereby protest and declare that my acceptance
of the said lots, which is by force, shall not debar me from
future redress from the Commissions or others, if I can have the
rights of a British subject. God save the King.
GEORGE BEALL.
March 7, 1752.
Can't you see how difficult it was for the old gentleman (he must then,
by the records, have been about sixty years of age or more) to cooperate
with the changes that were coming to ruin, as he thought, his
comfortable and profitable plantation life?
Two hundred and eighty pounds were paid for the sixty acres of the
original town. The southern boundary was the river, the western about
where the college now stands, the eastern a few feet west of the present
30th Street, and the northern boundary was a few feet south of the
present N Street. The only boundary stone still existing is the one that
was No. 2 in the survey, the northeastern corner of the town, and is now
in the garden of number 3014 N. Street. There were eighty lots in the
original town.
The name has been variously attributed to George II, the King then
reigning; to the two Georges from whom the land was taken, and to George
Washington, which last is, of course, absurd, as he was then a young man
of twenty, engaged in surveying the properties of Lord Fairfax.