SOME ·:}tr1 Historic Landmarks OF \.:lRGINIA AND MARYLAND ill of Wa it now SEVENTH EDITION BY W" H. SNOWDEN Dear Valued Customer, Please note that the images in the original volume of this book are of poor quality, and reproduced herein as best as possible. While we are dedicated to make available products of the highest quality, some circumstances are beyond our control. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for your support and we look forward to serving you again with all your history and genealogy needs Best Regards Rodrigue Maindron Your # 1 source for rare and out-of-print book on genealogy and history (800) 319-8434 file:///F|/Documents and Settings/Owner/My Documents/My Web Pages/disclaimer.htm [12/11/2006 10:46:52 AM] SOME Old Historic Landmarks OF VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND DESCRIBED IN A HAND-BOOK FOR THE TOURIST OVER THE WASHINGTON-VIRGINIA RAILWAY W. H. SNOWDEN, A. M. OF ANDALUSIA, VA. MJ;MBER OF THE VIRGINIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF NEW JERSEY, VIRGIN"IA A:N'D MARYLAND, &C. SEVENTH EDITION oF FrvE THOUSAND. COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED. SOLD ON TRAINS OF THE Washington-Virginia Railway Corripany Price, 50 Cents COPYRIGH'r, 1904, J_'" WILLiAM H. SNOWDEN To THE READER. This Hand Book makes no pretentions to literary excellence, nor fine typographical display. The only aim of the author in its preparation has been historical accuracy and the acceptable presentation of much and varied information in a little compass and at a small cost. It is merely an epitome of a Library Edition of much greater scope, ,vith many more subjects and illustrations, 110,v being published. \Vhile the Book is offered nominally as a guide to locate important places for the tourist, and to briefly narrate ·whatever of historic interest per­ tains to each of them, it is also designed for more than a mere itinerary to be hastily read and then carelessly thr.o,vn aside as being of no further value. Son1e there may be of its readers it is hoped, ·who ,vill find its contents of sufficient interest to take home for household reading and preservation. We are no,v in an age ,vhen there is a far greater desire among all classes of our people than ever before for inquiry into ,vhatever relates to or throws ne,v light upon the ,vork, the struggles, the progress, manners and usages of the generations of the ear.lier days. Some repetitions of facts and occurrences vvill be found in reading the different chapters on account of their having been ,vritten -at different times, fqr vvhich the reader's indulgence is asked. The thanks of the author is due to such of his friends as have contributed to the work, and especially to Miss Eugenie DeLand of vVashington City for her numerous pictorial designs. In the book ,vill be found not only a summary of the life, services_, and char­ acter of General Washington, and a description of his home, his farms, and his farming operations, and the changes ·which have been incident to his land estate since his passing a,vay, but also descriptions of nu1nerous other outlying historic landn1arks on both shores of the Potomac. The ,vriter trusts that the book, hastily prepared in brief intervals of pressing duties, may prove an ac­ ceptable companion to all strangers wayfaring among the 1nany interesting historic points ,vhich ,vill be open to them by this convenient and delight­ ful route of travel -to the Home and Tomb of the venerated Washington. VY. H. S. l-\NDALUSIA, VA. Washingto9 Citg to Mount Vernon. Washington, Alexander Island, Arlington Junction, Addison, Four Mile Run, St. Elmo, St. Asaph, Del Ray, Lloyd, Braddock, Rosemont, Alexandria, New Alexandria, Dyke, Bellmont, Wellington, Arcturus, Herbert Springs, Snowden, Grassymead, Hunter, Riverside, Mount Vernon. The tourist who boards the train of the Washington-Virginia Railway Company at the corner of Twelfth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, in the National Capital, for a ride to the I-Io<l1e and Tomb of George Washington will pass through a region of country whose every locality bears the vivid impress of most interesting as \vell as important historical associations, reaching back through nearly three hundred years of the begin­ nings and progress of our country in the march of civilization and advancement. On every stream and thoroughfare, in every valley and on every hill crest there is some memento. or land mark, in whatever direction the eye may range, to remind of the pioneers who transformed the wastes of the_ wilderness, marked the bounds of the homesteads, laid the hearth stones, established the neighborhoods and set up the altars of the Virginia Commonwealth. Aside from the great historic interest which pertains to every portion of the way of this desirable route to l\1ount Vernon, there is also for the tourist a pleasing diversity of natural scenery, of which the broad skirting river forms a very attractive part. As the train passes down 14th street towards the Potomac, the beautifully diversi­ fied grounds of the Agricultural Department, those of the Sn1ithsonian Institute and of the National J\'Iuseu1n and the Botanical Gardens, comprising a large area reaching to the foot of the Capitol may ·be seen on the left. The extensive and varied collec­ tions in the spacious buildings of these grounds from all lands and climes amp1y illus­ trating the mineral, animal and vegetable Kingdoms of nature will well repay a visit. On the right are the monumental grounds from which rises the great shaft erected to the memory of GE=neral George Vv ashington. This structure rises to the height of a little ove!" 555 feet above ground level and 600 feet above mean tide water, and is the highest work of masonry in the. world. It is built of granite and marble and contained in its wall is a block of native copper weighing 2roo pounds from Lake JVIichigan. Its foundations are of blue stone laid 16 feet in depth. The topmost stone weighs over 3000 pounds. The whole structure is surmounted by a point of aluminium 9½ inches high and 51/~ inches square at its base weighing 100 ounces, the cost of which was $225. vVhiter than silver and not liable to corrosion this point as the sunlight strikes it, glistens like a huge diamond or an intense electric light. The base of the shaft is 55 feet square, with walls 15 feet thick. The whole structure \vcighs 111ore than 80000 tons. Just under the pyramidon or pinnace stone is a platform with an area of rr67 feet from which, through eight windows, the visitor has magnificent prospects of the surrounding country. I-Iere, the walls are 18 inches thick. The corner stone was laid July 4th, 1848, and the whole was finished in 1885 at a cost of $1,500,000. On an average 500 visitors ascend the monument daily at a yearly cost to the government of $20,000. 6. SOME OLD HISTORIC LANDMARKS The top of the great structure is reached by an elevator, and also a stairway of 50 flights of steps,. each flight consisting of eighteen steps-goo in all. vVithin the walls of this structure there is room enough to contain a thousand persons. Like the great dome of the Capitol, this massive shaft from its commanding height is a conspicuous land mark for many miles distant in all the approaches to Washing­ ton. Beirig so high and isolated from other sur­ l rounding objects it has been struck numbers of times by lightning but without material injury. Strange to say, but it is nevertheless a fact esta.blished by nice and careful experiments, that this massive monun1ent so deeply and broadly founded, has a daily leaning movement toward the sun, amounting at ti1nes to four or five inches. In close proximity to the monument is the N ationa1 Bureau of Printing and Engraving, where are printed all the paper currency and postage stamps of the government. Emerging · from the National Capital the train crosses the Poto1nac River by the New Highway Bridge, into Alexandria county, Virginia. This W ASHlNGTON MONUMENT. bridge, built in 1906, is 2,666 feet long and has a wide draw over the main channel of the stream through which large sailing vessels and steamers may pass up to the port of Georgetown two miles beyond, which place is at the head of a tide water navigation reaching down by a continually widening and deepening stream, until at its confluence with the waters of Chesapeake bay, 108 miles, it is seven miles in width. The distance from the Capital to the Atlantic Ocean is 185 miles. To Norfolk 210 miles. Fifty miles below the Capital the water becomes salty. The head waters of the Potomac are in the Alleghany mountains and its entire length is about 400 miles. This river was called by the Indians Cohangoruton. "River of Swans." Before the advent of the white man the haughty Algonquins had their tribal town or Capital where the superb city now lifts its don1es and towers. The corner stone of the Capi­ tol was laid with masonic ceremonies by George Washington in 1j93. He was then serving the. first year of his second term as president. Har­ per's Ferry where the Shenandoah joins the Poto­ mac is fifty miles distant. Great Falls eighteen miles. The first white man who ever gazed upon the fair face of the Potomac and its beautiful land­ scapes was that renowned adventurer Captain John Smith, one of the Jamestown colony who with fourteen companions in an open barge in the Spring of 1608 explored its majestic course through the unbroken wilderness from the Chesa­ peake to the head of tide ,vater a few miles above the present site of the Capital.