The Michael Swope House
[210 Prince Street. Owners: Mr. and Mrs. Hugh B. Cox.]
There is an ancient house in Alexandria whose rusty rose brick facade
and beautifully hand-carved eighteenth century doorway add ornament and
distinction to the 200 block of Prince Street.
Not many years ago Mrs. Alexander Murray (the daughter of a former
owner) who had spent her girlhood in this old house remarked to the
author, "You know, the house has a ghost. There is a story that an
American Revolutionary spy who was executed by the British haunts the
place." Every proper old mansion should have a ghost--and what could be
nicer than an American patriot--blue coat and cocked hat?
Time passed. Mrs. Murray's story remained to be written, when about 1930
General Dalton came into possession of 210 Prince Street. Hearing that
his house had been broken into, he requested his friend, Mrs. Sheen, the
wife of Colonel Sheen, to examine the house and have the lock repaired.
Mrs. Sheen with her son, Gordon, and a Negro went to General Dalton's
empty house to repair the door and to lock the mansion. While the Negro
was working on the lock, he said, "I certainly does feel funny. There's
something strange about this house. Let's hurry and get out o' here."
Whereupon Gordon Sheen pooh-poohed the idea, standing by the Negro to
reassure him. Suddenly he saw (or said he saw) in the doorway at the end
of the hall a soldier in Revolutionary uniform walking toward him. When
the apparition reached the music room or library, it turned sharply to
the right into the room and disappeared.
[Illustration: Doorway to Colonel Michael Swope's House]
Some time after this Mrs. Sheen was showing General Dalton's house to
friends who had been living abroad and wanted a home. The two ladies had
been through the lower floors and started to the third story. At the top
of the steps the visitor said, "I can't go farther. Something is pushing
me back." Mrs. Sheen at once descended the stairs, thinking her friend
ill. When they reached the first floor the lady from abroad said, "A
force was pushing me backward. I am quite psychic, you know, and the
ghost who inhabits this house would make it impossible for me to live
here. I love the house and should like to own it, but I should not be
permitted to do so."
At the second auction of lots held on July 14, 1749, Augustine
Washington, brother of Lawrence Washington and half-brother of George,
bought lots Nos. 64 and 65 for fifteen _pistoles_. At a meeting of the
trustees on June 15, 1754, lots Nos. 64 and 65, the property of
Augustine Washington, along with other lots were ordered to "be sold to
the highest bidder at a Public Vendue, the several Proprietors thereof
having failed to build thereon according to the directions of the Act of
Assembly in that case made and provided and it is further ordered that
the Clerk do give Public Notice that the sale of the said lotts will be
at the Town aforesaid on the first day of August next."[112] In the
minutes of the trustees for September 9, 1754, lots Nos. 64 and 65 were
entered as sold to William Ramsay for 39-1/2 _pistoles_, or L37 1_s._
9_d._
The next document in regard to these lots is an indenture made July 21,
1757, between William Ramsay, of the County of Fairfax and the Colony of
Virginia, merchant, and Anne, his wife, of the one part, and John Dixon
of the County of Cumberland in the Kingdom of England, merchant, of the
other part, whereby William Ramsay in consideration of the sum of L810
_7s._ sterling money of Great Britain to him in hand paid by John Dixon
releases, grants, confirms, etc. to John Dixon certain lands described
fully (1,261 acres) and "also the following lotts or half acres of land
situate lying and being in the town of Alexandria in the County of
Fairfax to wit Lott number thirty-four, forty, forty-six, forty-seven,
and the lotts number _sixty-four_, _sixty-five_ [author's emphasis] as
the same are numbered in the plan and survey of the said Town
originally made by John West Junr., as also the following Negro and
mulatto slaves with their increase (to wit) Peter the joyner, Jacob,
Sophia, Whitehaven, Moll, Sall, Peter, Imanuel, Winnifrid and her child,
Zilla, Phillis, and Clarisa, all which said lands and tenements lotts of
land and slaves are now in the actual possession of the said John Dixon
by virtue of one indenture bearing date the day before the date of these
presents and by force of the statute for transferring uses into
possessions to have and to hold the said lands tenements and all and
singular other premises with them and every of their appurtenances
together with the aforesaid slaves unto the said John Dixon, his heirs
and assigns forever,"[113] provided always that if William Ramsay shall
pay or cause paid to John Dixon of the town of White Haven, England, the
just sum of L810 7_s._ with interest at five per cent per annum on the
first day of July next, he will again come into possession of this vast
property.
[Illustration: The Great Room]
In the following August, Dixon appointed Harry Piper of Alexandria his
true and lawful attorney to collect and receive for him all sums of
money or tobacco which might become due, "and furthermore for as much as
I have taken a Deed of Mortgage from Mr. William Ramsay of the town of
Alexandria in the Colony of Virginia, Merchant, for sundrie lotts or
half acres of land in the town of Alexandria with ye houses, gardens and
other improvements thereon, together with sundrie slaves as also one
tract or parcel of land...."[114]
In 1757 by a letter of attorney, dated August 8, John Dixon, merchant,
of the town of White Haven in the Kingdom of Great Britain, authorized
and empowered his attorney, Harry Piper of Alexandria, to take all legal
means of foreclosure to receive the sum of L810 from William Ramsay who
had mortgaged certain part of lots Nos. 64 and 65 with sundry slaves to
secure that amount.
John Dixon in turn sold this property to the Scottish firm of shipping
merchants, Robert McCrea, Robert Mease, & John Boyd in 1774, and in 1778
Boyd released his part of the property to McCrea and Mease for the sum
of L253, with all houses, alleys, profits, commodities, and so on.
That William Ramsay built at least a part of this house seems almost
indisputable. First, Augustine Washington had forfeited the property by
not complying with the law to build thereon, and it seems hardly
possible that Ramsay should have owned the property from 1754 to 1757
without complying with this act of the assembly. Furthermore, in the
appointment of Piper as Dixon's attorney on August 16, 1757, the
property is referred to as consisting of houses, gardens, and other
improvements thereon. Dixon disposed of the property in 1774 to McCrea,
Mease & Boyd, and four years later Boyd released his part for L253, with
all houses, alleys, and so on. Little construction was done in
Alexandria from 1775 to 1783, for this was the period of the
Revolutionary War and no capital was going begging in the colonies at
this date. Besides this evidence, the house has every appearance of a
colonial building and the woodwork is all mid-eighteenth century in
design. William Ramsay was an original trustee, appointed by the
assembly for laying out the town. For a time he was successful and
prosperous, owning much property, until overtaken by great misfortunes
and compound interest!
All of which brings us to Michael Swope of York, Pennsylvania, a worthy
gentleman of ancient lineage, patriotic inclinations, and distinguished
service. The family Bible attests the fact that he held many offices of
trust--judge of the Orphans' Court; justice of the peace; member of the
assembly; Colonel, First Battalion, First Brigade, Pennsylvania Flying
Camp Regiment, being but some of them. He was captured at Fort
Washington and kept a prisoner of war for a number of years, suffering
great hardship and privation.
[Illustration: Stairway and kitchen at Colonel Michael Swope's]
When the Revolutionary War was over, Colonel Swope's health was
undermined and he found the severe Pennsylvania winters unbearable. With
his wife and family he moved south to Alexandria, where he set up in the
ship chandlery business with his sons. He purchased from Robert and Ann
McCrea and Robert Mease the property already described as a residence in
1783. In a later deed of June 29, 1809, it is recited that Michael Swope
erected a large three-story brick building on these premises in 1784.
This house at 210 Prince Street is a fitting memorial to this officer.
The doorway to the dignified old town mansion is one of the best
examples of Georgian woodwork in Alexandria, and remains, save for one
small patch and a new fanlight, in its original state.
The back drawing room is splendidly proportioned. The paneled mantel
flanked by fluted pilasters is in keeping with the other woodwork which
is good throughout the house. Some of the best, a cupboard, was found on
the third floor and brought down to replace one missing in the great
room. Since it fitted perfectly, it is quite possible that it has only
been returned to its original place. The rear wing of the house seems
older and more worn than the front, giving the feeling of earlier
construction.
During Colonel Swope's occupancy fine furniture filled these rooms. In
the Alexandria clerk's office an inventory of Colonel Swope's
possessions, taken in 1786, fills several pages of legal paper when
copied in its entirety. Such things were listed as "one clock and case,
one mahogany dining table and eight chairs, one spinnett, one large
looking glass, four small ones, one dressing table, one desk and
drawers, five beds with all their furniture and linen belonging to them
and bedsteads, two Franklin stoves, one riding chair and harness, sundry
china and Queensware, eight decanters, 75 pounds of pewter, sundry
silver furniture, to wit, two cream pots, five tablespoons, six
teaspoons, two soup laddles, one tankard, and also one Negro woman and
her child named Jude."[115] These are but a few of the Colonel's
possessions, scattered these many years among his descendants.
Michael Swope and his sons were successful in the thriving seaport of
Alexandria, and when Adam Walter, the second son, was married he moved
to Philadelphia, where he set up in the shipping business as a partner
of his father. His father built for him a home at 31 Catherine Street
and 'tis said that the architecture very much resembles the Prince
Street house.
Michael Swope died in 1809, aged eighty-four years. The body of the old
hero was taken by boat from the port of Alexandria to the port of
Philadelphia where he was interred in the Swope family vault in Union
Cemetery at Sixth and Federal Streets. About 1858, during the yellow
fever epidemic, the city board of health issued orders to have this
vault cleaned out. It is said that the metal casket containing the
earthly remains of Michael Swope was then in good condition. Perhaps,
after all, Colonel Swope is the ghost that haunts this old house and
chooses its inmates.
[Illustration]