Town of Dumfries 275th Anniversary

SAVE THE DATE

Resolve & Revolution

Marking the 250th Anniversary of the Prince William County Resolves

Saturday, June 8, 2024

 10 am – 3 pm

Merchant Park 3944 Cameron St, Dumfries, VA 22026

In June 1774, Prince William County citizens protested the British parliament’s passage of the “Intolerable Acts” by drafting and signing the Prince William Resolves. Commemorate this momentous step towards independence by attending a free family-friendly program marking the 250th anniversary. Call 703-792-4754 for more information.

Events include:

Immersive play reenacting the historic debate  Children’s activities

 Puppet Shows  Tours of Dumfries and the Weems-Botts Museum

 Food, Music, & More!

Connect with us on social media!

www.facebook.com/pwhistoric X: @PWHPF Instagram: PWC History

YouTube: Prince William Office of Historic Preservation

Brenda Powell

Contributing Writer

Jonathan Hunley

Production Manager Nicky Marshok

Rediscover Dumfries

Celebrate 275 Years of History and Innovation

BY MAYOR DERRICK R. WOOD

In the heart of Virginia lies Dumfries, a town rich in history and bustling with modern energy. As Mayor, I invite you to join us in celebrating Dumfries’ 275th anniversary. Established in 1749, our town is not just Virginia’s first chartered town, but it’s also a living legacy of America’s past and a beacon of its promising future.

A Journey Through Time

Imagine a bustling port, alive with the commerce of tobacco trade, where ships once anchored along Quantico Creek. That was Dumfries, a pivotal economic hub during colonial times. But as the tides of the creek shifted, so did the fate of our town.

From economic shifts to revitalization efforts, Dumfries has seen it all. Our community’s resilience turned challenges into stepping stones, paving the way for a future as vibrant as its storied past.

Embracing a Future

Full of Opportunities

Fast forward to today, and Dumfries is transforming once again. The development of the

$500 million The Rose gaming resort is set to inject new life into our local economy, promising entertainment and hospitality that will draw visitors from near and far.

Alongside this, new housing developments and the revitalization of our historic Main Street are redefining our community, making Dumfries a model town where history and modernity blend seamlessly.

A Call to Celebration

This May, the spotlight shines on Dumfries with a gala at the National Marine Corps Museum on May 10, followed by a two-day festival that offers something for everyone. We invite history enthusiasts, families, local business owners and anyone interested in the economic development and cultural vibrancy of Northern Virginia to join us.

Enjoy live music, historical tours, family-friendly activities and a showcase of what makes Dumfries unique. This is more than a celebration – it’s an invitation to be part of our community’s thriving story.

Who Should Attend?

• History buffs: Explore exhibits and tours that delve into Dumfries’ rich past.

• Families: Enjoy interactive games, crafts and activities designed for all ages.

• Business professionals: Network at the gala and learn about investment opportunities and economic developments reshaping Dumfries.

• Community members: Meet neighbors, make new friends and celebrate our town’s milestones together.

How to Participate

• Attend the gala and festival: Secure your spot by visiting our website to purchase tickets for the gala or to get more details about the festival activities.

• Volunteer: Help us make the event a success by signing up as a volunteer through our website.

• Spread the word: Share this invitation with friends and family. Post about the event on social media using #RediscoverDumfries to help us reach a wider audience. For more information and to secure your spot at the gala, visit our website. Come celebrate, rediscover and fall in love with Dumfries. We can’t wait to welcome you!

HonDWood@Dumfriesva.gov

(703) 221-3400

Schedule of Events

Gala

The town of Dumfries will commemorate its 275 years of rich heritage at the exclusive Town of Dumfries’ 275th Charter Day Celebration Gala on Friday, May 10.

Held at the prestigious National Museum of the Marine Corps, 1775 Semper Fidelis Way in Triangle, this will be an evening of elegance as we celebrate Virginia’s oldest chartered town and honor Dumfries’ legacy in a historic celebration.

Festival

The Town of Dumfries presents two unforgettable days of family fun at the 275th Charter Day Anniversary Festival.

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Noon - 8 p.m.

Events at:

Garrison Park, 17749 Main St., Dumfries

Merchant Park, 3944 Cameron St., Dumfries

Sunday, May 12, 2024

Noon - 5 p.m.

Garrison Park

17749 Main St., Dumfries

Activities include:

• Mouthwatering delights from a variety of food trucks

• Live bands

• Bouncy inflatables for endless fun

• Exciting rock climbing walls for the adventurous souls

• Face painting

• Petting zoo

• A mesmerizing magic show to captivate audiences of all ages

OmniRide.com • (703) 730-6664

Virginia Relay Center–TDD, call 711

OmniRide participates in the Guaranteed Ride Home and SmartBenefits Programs.

OmniRide Express is a stress-free and convenient bus service from Eastern Prince William County, the Manassas area, Gainesville, Haymarket, Stafford, and Spotsylvania to destinations in Northern Virginia (including the Pentagon) and Washington, D.C.

OmniRide Local* is a local bus service in Dale City, Woodbridge/Lake Ridge, Dumfries, and the Manassas area. OmniRide Metro Express* offers two routes that connect Woodbridge and Manassas with nearby Metro stations.

OmniRide Access* is a program that offers paratransit service for people with disabilities. Vans operate within ¾ mile of the OmniRide Local bus routes that serve Manassas and Manassas Park.

OmniRide Connect* is a dynamic, same-day travel Microtransit service in the Manassas Park and Quantico/Dumfries/Triangle areas.

OmniRide East-West Express* travels between Eastern Prince William County and the Manassas area, with access to medical facilities, offices, shopping and other destinations.

OmniRide Ridesharing Service saves you time and money by helping you locate the carpool or vanpool that fits your needs. It’s easy and FREE!

*These services operating with ZERO-FARES until June 30, 2025!

Congratulations to the Town of Dumfries on its 275th Anniversary!

More than homes, we're a hometown. You’ll find us just 30 miles from DC. With onsite schools, parks and trails, recreation and social clubs, Jack Nicklaus Signature golf and a future Marketplace. All with a genuine sense of community where friendships bloom. Exactly what home should be.

Homes from the mid $400s to $800s

A Port City and More

Dumfries has survived many changes over 275 years

BY JONATHAN HUNLEY

From colonial explorer Capt. John Smith to horse racing’s Churchill Downs, Dumfries has seen its share of history over the past 275 years.

But through good times and bad, the Prince William County locale has had one constant: It has maintained its status as Virginia’s oldest continuously chartered town.

Before the arrival of colonists, the area around Quantico Creek was inhabited by

Algonquian-speaking tribes, according to a history of the town from Historic Dumfries, Virginia Inc. Both the Patawom eck and the Tauxenent peoples lived in the general area, with the Patawomeck a little closer to Aquia and the Tauxenent farther north.

In 1608, Smith and his crew of explorers discovered Quantico Creek while charting waterways and mapping terrain in the area, according to the his torical society. They identified a

local Mattawomen village called Pamacocack and noticed the creek’s great travel, communication and food resources.

“So Dumfries was first seen in 1608 by Captain John Smith of ‘Pocahontas’ fame,” Abbigail Alm, site manager for Historic Dumfries, said on a recent tour of the Weems-Botts Museum.

Smith eventually came onto the land to establish diplomatic relations with the native peoples, but by the 1640s, Scottish immigrants had started moving into the area, and they essentially chased them away.

At that time, the settlement was known as Quantico, meaning “by the long stream.” White colonists were attracted by the fertile land and Quantico Creek’s harbor, which was used to transport goods, primarily tobacco, the region’s main export.

The tobacco was grown in outlying areas and transported to the town for inspection and storage in public warehouses prior to trading. This resulted in a thriving local economy while also creating a high demand for enslaved and indentured labor, Historic Dumfries’ history said.

The port of Dumfries allowed sailors to dock their ships near the town to be unloaded and loaded. Tobacco was shipped from the area to England via

This photo from 1863 depicts an area near what was once the Prince William County courthouse in Dumfries.

Dumfries Timeline

1972

Hurricane Agnes causes severe flooding in Prince William.

2020

Dumfries elects Virginia’s only all-Black town council.

1731

Prince William County is organized and includes the present counties of Prince William, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun and Arlington.

Smith arrives in

John Wilmer Porter (19152001) is elected to the Dumfries Town Council as the first Black councilmember elected to serve on a Virginia municipal governing body since the Reconstruction period. He remained on the council until 1981.

1759

Prince William County officials decide to make Dumfries the county seat. The county courthouse would open the next year.

1798

Parson Mason Locke Weems moves to Dumfries and purchases what is now the Weems-Botts Historic House, using it as a bookshop or a book depository.

1968

Violet Merchant moves out of the Weems-Botts House, and the town of Dumfries purchases the historic home shortly thereafter.

2021

Dumfries residents facilitate the renaming of Batestown Road.

The Prince William Resolves, a community contract boycotting imported British goods, is signed at the Dumfries Courthouse as the first of 30 boycott contracts signed in Virginia.

1802

Parson Weems sells the WeemsBotts Historic House to Benjamin Botts for use as a law office.

1822

Gen. Robert E. Lee orders a Confederate blockade of Prince William

Richard and Anne Merchant purchase the Weems-Botts Historic House.

1889

The Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine opens near Dumfries’ Batestown neighborhood.

May 11, 2024

2024

The Rose gaming resort to open in Dumfries.

The county seat and courthouse moves to Brentsville.

1862

Confederate forces leave Prince William, ending the blockade. Union forces enter and occupy the county later in the year.

Quantico Creek, the Potomac River, the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean as rivers were the main source of transportation, or the “highways” of the colonial era.

“Since Quantico Creek was a deepwater creek, ships were able to pull right into town,” Alm said.

The thriving shipping indus-

try attracted new businesses, residents and visitors to Dumfries. It also created competition with other better-remembered colonial ports. By the 1760s, the town was a major center of commerce.

“We used to rival Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York’s ports with the tonnage of tobacco and goods that used to leave

Dumfries,” Dumfries Mayor

Derrick R. Wood said recently.

Also, Historic Dumfries’ history said, in 1730, Lt. Gov. William Gooch introduced the “Tobacco Inspection Act of 1730” that “created a network of warehouses that graded the quality of the harvest and destroyed low-quality product” prior to shipping. The act speci-

fied certain areas for warehouse construction, including Quantico, which helped the region grow. (“At Quantico, upon Robert Brent’s land; and great Hunting Creek, upon Broadwater’s land, in Prince William County, under one section.”)

The growth led to Dumfries – on 60 acres along Quantico Creek donated by John Graham

PARSON WEEMS

WEEMS-BOTTS HISTORIC HOUSE

Dumfries celebrates the 275th anniversary of the town’s charter.

SOURCE: Historic Dumfries, Virginia

– being chartered on May 11, 1749, by the Virginia House of Burgesses. Graham named the town after his birthplace, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, according to the town’s official website.

“It was the first town to receive a royal charter,” Alm said. “We beat Alexandria by two hours.”

The port generated eco -

nomic development. During the town’s most profitable and busy decades, 1750 to 1780, Dumfries had more than 60 establishments, including shops, inns, ordinaries, taverns, doctor’s offices, blacksmiths and silversmiths, the tobacco inspector’s warehouse, a brick factory, schools, an opera house/theater/playhouse and a

Top: An area of Dumfries along U.S. 1 south in the early 1900s. Bottom:

A 1907 photo of a log cabin in the Batestown community that belonged to King Bates.

horse track.

A visitor to late 18th-century Dumfries would have seen a busy town populated by wealthy landowners, middle-class merchants and businessmen, free people of color, enslaved persons, indentured servants and women of all classes and colors.

“We were always a town that

people traveled through. Lots of Founding Fathers stopped here: George Washington, Aaron Burr,” Alm said.

However, only wealthy white men who owned land benefitted from the economic boom. After the American Revolution, Virginia passed manumission laws allowing enslavers to free their enslaved persons, and some Dumfries plantation owners did so, giving freed Black families tracts of land, resulting in the creation of Batestown, Joplin and Hickory Ridge –self-sufficient, unincorporated African-American communities around modern-day Prince William Forest Park.

Dumfries’ years as a bustling port town were limited, though. By the early 1800s, Quantico Creek silted in due to deforestation and exhaustive farming methods, and seagoing vessels could no longer dock at the harbor, devastating the local economy.

“We reached our peak about 1798,” Wood said. “There were a lot of poor farming practices with the harvesting of tobacco, which silted in Quantico Creek, and we lost our deepwater harbor.”

Local residents tried to dredge the harbor and later attempted to move it farther down the creek. For a while, ships docked about a mile from the harbor and smaller, shallower boats ferried goods to and from the ships. But because this was more cumbersome and expensive, Dumfries lost its shipping business to Alexandria to the north and Fredericksburg to the south. As the shipping industry shrank, so did the resident population and supporting businesses.

So Dumfries, which had

U.S. 1 in Dumfries was a dirt road until the 1910s or 1920s, when it was paved with gravel. The bottom photo shows the road in the 1930s or 1940s.

become the county seat in 1759, became economically depressed. People migrated north and south, and Dumfries turned into a sleepy pass-through town, Wood said.

By 1822, the county courthouse moved to Brentsville, and visitors referred to this area as being in a state of decay. When the Civil War broke out, only about 20 families remained in Dumfries, and most people of color who lived in the town were enslaved.

The Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine opened later, in 1889, in what is now part of Prince William Forest Park. Though segregated, both Black and white people worked in the mines, providing the already-existing nearby Black communities with non-agrarian employment.

After the demand for sulfur diminished post-World War I, the mine closed in 1920. In 1933, the National Park Service chose the Batestown-Hickory Ridge region to establish the Chopawamsic Recreational Area, and by 1945, most of the

Black families living there had sold their land and relocated. The remaining residents were forcibly removed.

From the late 19th century until the early 20th century, Dumfries went through a period when there was basically no town government, Wood said.

Then Edward W. Fraley, who would later become mayor, and a group of others formed a committee in the late 1950s to examine the town’s charter.

The Virginia General Assembly determined that the charter was still valid, Wood said, and the town government was re-established in 1961.

Years of ups and downs followed, and Wood, who was elected mayor in 2018, said sometimes the town had a contentious working relationship with Prince William County. That interaction has improved since he’s been mayor, he said, and in 2020, Dumfries elected Virginia’s only all-Black town council.

The next year, an effort honoring Black history and culture in the municipality also

took place. Batestown Road, which served as the northern border of the Batestown community, had been renamed “Mine Road” in the 1940s. But it was rechristened as “Batestown Road” in 2021, the result of work by activists, historians and elected officials who wanted to acknowledge the neighborhood’s significance.

The next major development in Dumfries’ history is slated to occur later this year as The Rose gaming resort is set to open at the town’s southwest edge, bordered by state Route 234 and Interstate 95 on the site of the former Potomac Landfill.

Groundbreaking for the $460 million project occurred Jan. 11, 2022, and later that year, Churchill Downs Inc., which owns the Kentucky Derby, acquired the rights to the Colonial Downs Group and The Rose from the previous developer, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment.

The resort is expected to create 500 jobs and generate $35.5 million in annual tax revenue.

‘The Future is Bright’

Arrival of The Rose, new housing and more bodes well for town

BY JONATHAN HUNLEY

Dumfries Mayor Derrick R. Wood grew up in Silver Spring, Md., but you wouldn’t know it from talking to him.

That’s because the dynamic, second-term politico has so taken on the mantle of chief ambassador for Virginia’s oldest continuously chartered town that one would think he must be a native.

His motto: “Don’t drive through Dumfries. Drive to Dumfries.”

It’s an idea that takes from the town’s past and looks toward what Wood hopes is its future.

“The future is bright for Dumfries,” he said recently.

The municipality became Virginia’s first chartered town on May 11, 1749, and it grew to be a bustling commercial center because Quantico Creek was then a deepwater harbor. It rivaled places that would go on to become big cities: Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, to name a few.

“We were a major port,” Wood said.

But by the early 1800s, Quan-

tico Creek silted in due to deforestation and exhaustive farming methods (tobacco is especially hard on soil). Seagoing vessels couldn’t dock at the harbor, and the local economy tanked.

As Dumfries lost the port, many residents moved away, Wood said. Some migrated north, some south, and the former commercial destination became a sleepy pass-through town.

Fast-forward all the way to 2018, and Wood was elected based on the notion that Dumfries can be a destination again, a place where people from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia travel over and over.

“The new Dumfries is the old Dumfries rediscovered,” he said.

A big part of that new Dumfries looks to be the development of The Rose gaming resort, slated to open later this year. It’s under construction on the town’s southwest edge, bordered by state Route 234 and Interstate 95 on the site of a former construction-debris landfill.

The $460 million project is expected to create 500 jobs and

The new Dumfries is the old Dumfries rediscovere d

A rendering of The Rose, being built alongside Interstate 95 in Dumfries.

generate $35.5 million in annual tax revenue.

Its amenities will include a 175,000-square-foot gaming facility and eight bars and restaurants.

“One is a sports bar, one is a steakhouse with fine dining,” Wood said. “So we’ve got fine dining in the town of Dumfries.”

When complete, the development also will include a 7-acre public park with a playground, dog park and playing fields as part of 92 total acres of green space on site.

And it will have meeting and event space, an entertainment and convention center, and up

Construction is well underway on The Rose, the first phase of which is scheduled to open later in 2024.

to 305 hotel rooms, which would make it the largest hotel/resort in Prince William, Wood said.

The Rose also has made investments to support the town, including a donation of $2 million to fund design of a new community center, a commitment that when the resort opens all non-tipped positions will pay at least $15 per hour and a promise that the business will work with the town to promote local hiring.

“Dumfries is a town with a proud history, and we couldn’t be more excited to be part of its bright future,” Bobbi Sample, general manager of The Rose

Gaming Resort, said in a prepared statement. “The Rose is putting down roots in Dumfries because of the welcoming spirit that has defined its leadership and its people for nearly three centuries. We congratulate the town on its 275th anniversary and look forward to many more years of prosperity, partnership and progress right here in Dumfries.”

The town of about 6,000 residents also is looking to redevelop Main Street. To do this, a $200 million project would realign U.S. 1, which now splits into separate northbound and southbound sections in the town.

The work would convert the northbound portion from a two-lane undivided roadway into a divided six-lane path with both northbound and southbound traffic following the current northbound alignment.

“The future is Dumfries no longer split,” Wood said.

With U.S. 1 transformed, the town will then take ownership of Main Street, and create a walkable, pedestrian-friendly area, the mayor said.

“So the future of Dumfries is a thriving downtown,” he added.

Part of that downtown would be made up of a 280-unit housing complex from Audeo Partners, a Washington-based real-estate developer.

That project, dubbed “Aras on Main,” would feature up to 220 market-rate multifamily units and 60 single-family attached units, which would be either townhouses or two-overtwo units.

Two communities for residents aged 55 and older also would offer new housing options, and a Wawa convenience

store with electric-vehicle charging stations would replace a vacant building near the intersection of U.S. 1 and Possum Point Road, Wood said.

“We sit now in a position where Dumfries currently has close to a billion dollars’ worth of approved development projects,” he said.

And the next part of creating a new Main Street downtown would be turning it into a mixed-use community, with residential and commercial portions, Wood said.

The mayor also would like to see the redevelopment of Quantico Creek. Ideally, he would want it to become an ecotourism center, with a boardwalk, a partnership with a state university for research, boat slips for canoeing and paddle boarding, and possibly some boutique shops. That plan hasn’t been

approved yet, however.

“This is just casting a vision. We’re in the middle now of a whole Comp Plan rewrite, redevelop,” said Wood, referring to the town’s Comprehensive Plan, a blueprint for development.

Prince William Supervisor Andrea Bailey, whose Potomac District includes Dumfries, said Wood and the town council are “breathing new life” into the town.

“It’s a totally different environment than it was back in the day,” the Democrat said.

The Rose sets the tone for Dumfries to have its own commercial tax base, Bailey said.

And the town’s leaders are making Dumfries more urban and preparing for the future, she said, pointing to the U.S. 1 widening and associated projects. “I think that just opens up the door for economic growth and revitalization.”

Remembering Batestown

African-American community dates to early 1800s

BY JONATHAN HUNLEY

Charlie Reid looked at a Prince William County government document recently and said he wasn’t sure it was correct when it called him a “historian.” But he certainly logged a historical accomplishment in 2021.

That’s when he and Batestown celebrated a renaming of the Dumfries community’s main road, a task that ended up taking two decades.

“No one knows exactly how far back Batestown was established,” said Reid, 73. “I have documentation that says at least 1810.”

Reid believes, however, that the neighborhood where he grew up can be traced to when a Scottish merchant named John Gibson, who lived in an area of Dumfries called Prospect Hill, had several children with a Black woman named Nancy McKee. One of those children was a daughter, Sally, who later married a man named John Bates.

John Bates died after several years, and Sally Bates married

Thornton Kendall, but a tract of land in Dumfries was named “Batestown” after her. It was maybe 700 or 800 acres at its largest size, said Reid, who now lives in Orange County, and it was one of only a handful of Black communities in Northern Virginia before the Civil War.

After the war, Batestown’s population grew as formerly enslaved people moved there, and it quickly became known as the African-American section of Dumfries. Many of its residents were farmers, and some worked at the nearby Cabin Branch Pyrite Mine, while others were employed at Marine Corps Base Quantico.

By the 20th century, Batestown had grown large enough to support a church and a school.

The pyrite mine closed in 1920, and in the 1930s, the federal government threatened eminent domain if landowners didn’t sell their property to create Prince William Forest Park. Not all of Batestown was incorporated into the park,

though, and the community survives today.

Reid describes a place where children frolicked in a swimming hole, and “ice skated” (really just sliding on frozen waterways in their shoes).

“We played in these woods,” he said on a recent driving tour of Batestown. “Oh my God, we were everywhere in these woods, man.”

The residents had to do without conveniences that other neighborhoods had, though. For example, Reid said, “We never had running water.”

Many believe that the pyrite mine polluted the water they could access, too, Reid said. So the mine, which initially seemed like a positive because it offered jobs to Batestown residents, ended up being viewed as a negative.

Also, as land was acquired for Prince William Forest Park, residents were required to change their address from “Batestown Road” to “Mine Road.”

The moniker persisted for years, although Batestown’s

Charlie Reid noted that a number of influential figures lived in or had connections to Batestown.

They include:

John Wilmer Porter , who was elected in 1962 to the Dumfries Town Council as the first Black councilmember to serve on a Virginia municipal governing body since Reconstruction. He remained on the council until 1981.

His wife, Mary G. Porter , a teacher who was one of the “Courageous Four” who in 1964 began the integration of Prince William schools. Mary G. Porter Traditional School in Woodbridge is named for her.

Calvin Johnson , who in 1972 became the Prince William police department’s first Black officer. He also was chief of the Dumfries police. The town police force’s building is named for him.

Eddie Stallworth Jr. , a trailblazing Black police officer and president of the Prince William NAACP.

Claudine Porter Langhorne , who in 1974 became Prince William’s first Black female police officer.

Claude C. Thomas Jr ., a former Dumfries vice mayor whose DNA can be linked to Gibson, the Scottish merchant who Reid has connected to Batestown.

Leroy Bates and Walter Kendall, Reid’s brother, tried to get the road name changed back to Batestown.

“They died without getting it changed,” Reid said, “so I met Mrs. Bailey, Supervisor [Andrea] Bailey, and I don’t know how we got on the conversation, but I made it clear to her that I would really like to get that road changed back.”

Bailey, a Democrat, represents the Potomac District, which includes Dumfries. She got involved, and the Dumfries

Town Council and Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted to change the road’s name back to “Batestown.”

The renaming was celebrated on Juneteenth, June 19, 2021.

“I have to say the Batestown community is such an important community to the people of Dumfries, and to Dumfries, because it’s a part of where Dumfries began,” Bailey said.

She said renaming the road was an acknowledgment that the people of Batestown have value and that the communi-

ty shouldn’t go unnoticed in history. Working on the project was a great pleasure and honor for her, she said, and the effort took a long time because it was necessary to educate the right people about why the renaming was appropriate.

Prince William is a diverse place, “and so all history is important,” Bailey said.

For his part, Reid said he did get discouraged until the supervisor took on the issue.

“If it wasn’t for Mrs. Bailey, it probably would’ve never

happened, without a doubt,” he said.

Bill Backus, a preservationist with Prince William’s Office of Historic Preservation, may have summed up the importance of the Batestown renaming best.

“The renaming of the road helped bring back a place and a community,” he said. “Since Batestown was never a formally incorporated town, by changing the name of the road to ‘Mine Road’ in the 20th century, it literally took Batestown off the map.

“Now it’s back.”

Charlie Reid unveils a Batestown Road sign during a celebration marking the renaming of the road on Juneteenth in 2021.

Center of History

Weems-Botts Museum tells the story of Dumfries

The town of Dumfries bought the Weems-Botts property in 1973.

BY JONATHAN HUNLEY

The Weems-Botts Museum is in Dumfries’ Merchant Park at the corner of Duke and Cameron streets, which is appropriate for a center of town history, because those roads date to the colonial period.

Inside, visitors can learn about everything from Founding Fathers to the Civil War to Batestown, one of the area’s most prominent traditionally Black communities.

The oldest part of the house (the colonial dining room and upstairs bedroom) was probably built in 1747 for use as a meeting house for the town and church, called a vestry house.

“So [the dining room is] decorated as if there is a vestry meeting in progress,” Abbigail Alm, site manager for Historic Dumfries, Virginia Inc., said during a recent tour.

Parson Mason Locke Weems, a traveling preacher, printer, bookseller and the first biographer of George Washington,

bought the property in 1798 and used it as a bookstore or book warehouse. Weems came up with the story of Washington and the cherry tree, which may or may not be true.

“He preached and sold books out of the back of his wagon, for the most part,” said Alm, who was wearing cherry earrings. “He wasn’t here very often.”

The house’s 1½-story style

was typical for a working-class family in the colonial period, she said.

“Everybody would have slept upstairs, the whole family,” Alm said. “The parents and maybe one or two of the younger kids on the bed; everybody else on pallets on the floor.”

The upstairs bedroom probably would have been used as storage in the case of a vestry

Not sure where to look for your next great hire? Let InsideNoVa and MaxRecruit help

Our new partnership combines the local reach of InsideNoVa with the targeting firepower of the major national recruiting sites – all with one call.

Our one-stop recruitment package includes:

• A top position on InsideNoVa.com’s job board, Northern Virginia’s largest news website, reaching over 500,000 visitors a month.

• Placement in our weekly community newspapers to reach passive job-seekers.

• A MaxRecruit package placing your ad on top national job sites, including Indeed, Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter, with an allocated advertising budget.

Starting at only $299 per job!

MAX-IMIZE YOUR RECRUTING

More details:

Call 703-771-8831 | Email vgrayson@insidenova.com | Visit hiring.insidenova.com/recruitmentproducts

By combining the local reach MaxRecruit®

house or bookstore.

Congratulations Mayor Wood and the Town of Dumfries, 275 years and strong! God bless you.

– Georgette Agnew

Congratulations from Audeo Partners to the Town of Dumfries on this historic event!

– Audeo Partners

Weems sold the house in 1802 to Benjamin Botts, who used it as his law office until 1811. Botts was an attorney who served on former Vice President Aaron Burr’s defense team during Burr’s conspiracy and treason trial in 1807, when Burr was believed to have conspired to take over the newly acquired Items

But, Alm said, “It’s decorated like there’s a soldier being quartered here during the Revolution, which, if it was a vestry house, they may have quartered a soldier.”

Congratulations on your 275th Anniversary. The late Mother Annie Williams of Neabsco Baptist Church resided 106 years of her life in the Town of Dumfries.

– Neabsco Baptist Church

Louisiana Territory.

Botts and his wife, however, were killed in the Richmond Theatre fire of 1811.

“It was the worst urban disaster in U.S. history at the time,” Alm said, noting that 72 people died, including Virginia Gov. George W. Smith and his family. The blaze happened during a play just after Christmas.

The Dumfries house stayed in Botts’ name until the town repossessed it in 1835, and Botts’ sons repurchased the building a few years later.

The house changed hands numerous times over the next three decades until Richard and Anne Merchant bought the house in 1869 and added four rooms (kitchen/colonial general store, exhibit room, Victorian parlor and additional second-floor bedroom) and the front porch.

The Merchants had two daughters, Mary and Violet, and the family lived in the house until Richard and Mary died in 1906. Mary died first, of tuberculosis, followed by her father just a few months later.

“So, at the time, it was just Anne Merchant living in the

A doll from the first half of the 20th century in one of the museum’s exhibit rooms.

house,” Alm said. “Violet was 19 years old, and she was working as a secretary up in D.C. She eventually came back down to Dumfries to live with her mother and take care of her.”

The two women lived in the house for 45 years, slowly selling Richard’s land and assets and taking in boarders to support themselves. Anne Merchant died in 1952, and Violet Merchant lived alone in the house until 1968, when she moved into a nursing home. The town of Dumfries bought the site in 1973.

Plumbing was never added to the house, as the two Merchant

women probably just never had the money or the means to have it installed, Alm said.

As a museum, the house has a room that contains display cases focusing on the Civil War in Dumfries, the town’s Batestown community and the Prince William courthouse that was in the municipality when it was the county seat.

The room used to be a spare summer bedroom for the Merchant family, Alm said. “Anne and Violet rented it out to boarders, mostly miners that worked at the Dumfries pyrite mine and elementary school teachers from Dumfries Elementary.”

A notice of expiring ration coupons during World War II.

Compassionate care in Dumfries

Sentara Medical Group is proud to serve our patients in the Dumfries community. Whether you need primary care, women’s healthcare services, or physical therapy, we are dedicated to working with each patient to create a care plan that meets your individual needs.