history’s stories: mary washington

history’s stories

Mary Washington

By Ralph “Tuffy” Hicks

On the corner of Charles and Lewis Streets stands the Home of Mary Washington, better know as the mother of George Washington. They were living at Ferry Farm when Augustine died in 1743 at the age of 48. Young George was only 11 years of age and this mother managed the farm until George became of age. She continued to live on the property until Colonel Washington purchased a home for her in Fredericksburg when she was 64. George would often visit his mother when he came to Fredericksburg, to attend the Masonic Lodge where he became a Mason. Today the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge #4 is known as "Washington's Mother Lodge". A fact that is little know is that Augustine Washington had 8 children by two separate wives. He had Butler, Lawrence, Augustine, and Jane by Jane Butler. With Mary Ball he had George Betty, Samuel, and John. Mary enjoyed living in her Fredericksburg home because she was close to her daughter Betty Washington Lewis, that lived in the Kenmore Plantation. Her son Charles Washington owned in a town home in Fredericksburg. She would often be seen walking over the property. She had a cluster of rocks that was very secluded where she would meditate and read. Prior to her death in 1789 George came to the home prior to his inauguration. Lafayette, Jefferson, and Marshall were visitors to her home. In 1891 the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities purchased the home. It was to be taken apart and transported to the Chicago World' s Fair for one of the main displays. This started a movement within Fredericksburg to manage the Historic Resources within the city. Upon her death in 1789 Mary Washington was buried on the place that she had selected for her grave. She had mediated and rested many times at the very location. On May 7, 1833 the Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge along with President Andrew Jackson laid a corner stone for a monument to Mary Washington. The monument was to be paid for by Silas Burrows of New York. The monument was half completed position for 60 years due to the bankruptcy of Mr. Burrows. It was not until 1889 on the centennial of the death of Mary Washington that a group of local ladies started a movement to complete the monument that would need to be rebuilt from the foundation up. The project would take until May 10, 1894 when the dedication of the finished Mary Washington monument would be completed. Today the Mary Washington House and the Mary Washington Monument are on all the tours of Historic Fredericksburg.

Dedicated to: Frank Jett, Joe Van Devender, Linwood Groves, & Frank Keel

Tuffy is Front Porch’s Resident Historian

OUR HERITAGE

500 block of princess anne st. By Wendy Migdal

Capturing a section of Princess Anne Street with the McGuire Hotel & Shiloh Baptist Church (New Site), mid-2 20th Century/no date, HFFI Archives (2014-0 01-0 06-0 011-0 016)

If you haven't seen the city's new wayside panels near the Princess Anne Street post office, be sure to check them out on your next visit. One commemorates the Freedom Riders ' first stop in 1961 after they left Washington, D.C., in a courageous attempt to integrate bus stations. The other focuses on the two Black-owned hotels on Princess Anne Street, the McGuire and the Rappahannock, and the other businesses located nearby.

For several decades in the mid20th century, the 500 block of Princess Anne was a thriving Black business district. Shiloh Baptist Church (New Site) was built in 1890, and in 1904 some of the congregation moved a hundred yards or so to the 300 block of Wolfe Street to start Mount Zion Baptist Church. The 300 block had long been a residential enclave for the city's African American residents and that, together with the nearby churches, was likely a reason for the growth of Black-owned businesses nearby.

Next to Shiloh Baptist Church (New Site) was the McGuire Hotel, built by Dr. Webster Harris in 1924. Dr. Harris's dentistry office was located in the hotel, as were several other businesses, including a restaurant and a beauty parlor. Tate ' s Drug Store was also on that side of the block, where Maurice Tate would sometimes help people who couldn't afford their medicine. There were several barbershops, a newsstand, and two "beer gardens," the Little Harlem and the Paris Inn on the corner of Princess Anne and Lafayette Boulevard. The Paris Inn was a hive of activity, especially during the war years when servicemen would come from both Quantico and Fort A.P. Hill on the weekends. Around the other side of the Paris Inn on Lafayette Boulevard was a taxi stand owned by "Sox " Richardson, in a little building that had once been used by General Burnside in the Civil War.

On the other side of the street was the Rappahannock Hotel, which predated the McGuire by about 20 years. The Rappahannock Hotel was built by the Brown family, who lived on site and also owned Brown ' s Funeral Home next door. Mildred Brown Queen was a leading civil rights activist in the 1950s and '60s, and led many meetings at Shiloh New Site. Today, the building on the corner of Princess Anne and Wolfe Streets is a real estate office, but a quick glance reveals that the building was creatively adapted from a service station-Thornton ' s Service Station, another Black-owned business. Also in the 500 block in the 1950s were a record shop and a soda fountain owned by Charles "Sonny " Dyson, Fredericksburg's first Black policeman, who was killed in combat in Vietnam in 1966.

The 600 block of Princess Anne consisted mostly of car dealerships, the bus station, and a few residences, but one structure should be mentioned. The building that was occupied by Dr. Philip Wyatt--a dentist, president of the local NAACP, and civil rights activist--was moved to Charlotte Street to make way for the current post office. Though only a few of these buildings still exist, memories remain strong for many residents.

Wendy Migdal is a freelance writer in Fredericksburg

What’s in a Time Capsule?

the turning basin

Some places in town are buried, unseen and all but forgotten. One such place is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Canal Trail. It's a veritable time capsule underneath a neighborhood, waiting for some future archaeologist to reveal. So what is this place?

It's somewhere under the yards of the houses on the odd-n numbered side of the 1500 block of Prince Edward Street, right behind the Dorothy Hart Community Center. This is the site of the Turning Basin, a key part of the canal system of the 1840-50s. It may very well contain the remains of canal boats nearly 200 years old! Not to be confused with a Viking ship burial, but fascinating in its own right.

The story begins with the Rappahannock River. Starting in 1829, construction began on an extensive system of river locks, canals, crib dams, and ponds that, by 1849, would stretch from Fredericksburg toward the agricultural region around Fauquier County. This intricate route of commerce, controlled by the Rappahannock Canal Company, utilized narrow flat-bottomed boats, called "bateaux", similar to a barge, to haul cargo up and down the river. At least 25 such boats, some of which were up to 65 feet long and almost ten feet wide, plied the canal system for several years.

Bateaux, capable of hauling many tons of cargo, were slowly propelled by brute force (especially going upriver!): as men maneuvered long oars and poles (unlike the towpath system used along the C&O Canal). Going downriver, upon reaching Fredericksburg, the boats needed a place to turn around for the return trip. Called a "turning basin", this was a wide manmade pond, with wharves along the edges, where bulk cargo from upriver mostly merchandise, timer, lumber and farm products - was offloaded. And here, the emptied boats were loaded with cargo for the laborious trip upriver: hauling mostly merchandise, plus bricks, guano, lime and yes, good ole whiskey. It must have been a busy place.

In use as a transportation route for only a few years, the canal system was made obsolete by improved roads in Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, and the arrival of the railroad. The Rappahannock Canal Company was shuttered for unpaid debts in 1853, and subsequent ventures to rehabilitate the system proved futile. Soon, the canal here in town was repurposed and improved by the Fredericksburg Water Power Company, which led to new mills being constructed in the upper end of town, and for decades the canal provided water power to local industry. At Fall Hill Avenue, the canal was diverted away from the Turning Basin, which was filled-in by the late 1920s and built over. I first learned of the Turning Basin from Bill Trout, who specializes in canal studies, in early 2017 during the stakeholder input for the City's new Archaeology Ordinance. Bill hoped that if any buildings with deep foundations were built there, archaeologists could monitor the work. Enacted in 2021, the ordinance provides a path for that to actually happen someday.

No archaeology has ever occurred there, and who knows what lies beneath this neighborhood? One turning basin in Richmond contained the remains of at least 100 sunken vessels!

The history of canals in Virginia is brief, but fascinating. Today, "canal buffs" are alive and well. Check out the Virginia Canals & Navigations Society, whose motto is to "Preserve, Enhance & Explore": www.vacanals.org/. You can see our Turning Basin on Gray's 1878 Map of F r e d e r i c k s b u r g : http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksb urg/plats/graysmap1878.jpg. Also look at the Rappahannock River Water Trail Guide published by Friends of the Rappahannock - it maps the locks found upriver that you can still explore today.

So … what's in a Time Capsule? Here, maybe the buried remains of sunken boats, right below our feet.

An attorney and retired archaeologist, Jon Gerlach chairs the Architectural Review Board in Fredericksburg. Jon is a candidate for City Council, Ward 2 in the Nov. 2021 election.

Image from c. 1865 Sketch of Bateaux, Richmond, VA by J.R. Hamilton (Library of Congress)

The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center is a non-profit, all-volunteer archives whose mission is to preserve historically valuable material ofthe region and make it available to the public for research

900 Barton St #111, Fredericksburg, VA www.crhcarchives.org contact@crhcarchives.org 540-373-3704

Volunteers Wecome! Contact us about donating collections of documents and photographs

By jon gerlach