The Homes of

“opposite the lower end of Fredericks- burg.” The ferryman's house and the office In which, as a boy, George Washington worked out his surveys and plotted them, are all that remain of the original buildings on the place. The tract, with a great deal of adjacent land }waswhich George Washington later owned, has been purchased by the George Washington HUNDRED miles from Washington Foundation, of Washington, D. C., and will be and forty miles below Fredericks- Bads a national shrine for the youth of burg, in the Northern Neck of Vir- America in memory of Washington’s boyhood ginia. on a plainly marked road days. which diverges from the King’s That the family was still poor is attested A Highway, an architect’s conception by the fact that Augustine bought only 100 of George Washington’s birthplace stands on acres of land, a mere lawn In those days of Wakefield Plantation, overlooking Pope’s Creek great estates. But there were advantages. and close to the shore of the Potomac River. There was access to schools for the children It is a brick house of two stories, with dormer In two towns, Falmouth, on the same side of windows, and is surrounded by a spacious lawn the river as the farm and two miles distant; with old shade trees adding to its picturesque Fredericksburg, opposite it and reached by the appearance. The approach is by a gravel road, ferry. house to and gravel pathways lead from the As the children grew up they were sent to while a the river, and to the old cemetery, these schools, and young George’s first ac- when the formal garden, such as existed quaintance with books was under a Master made their home adds to Washingtons here, Hoboy in Falmouth, to which he rode on a The rest:ra- the beauty cf the surroundings. horse, or walked, each day. Master Hobby in the National Park service and tion war done by later years when he had a bit too much of the Wakefield National Memorial Association, rum punch was wont to boast that it was his been so that whose work has widely publicized tutoring which made George great. After a since 17,030 have visited the July persons year or two here George was sent to school in Manor where, on February 22, 200 years ago, Fredericksburg to Parson James Marye’* the boy who was to become the greatest academy, while Betty was sent to learn “stitch- American was born. ing, knitting and other things” at a school for For many years before George was born, “young females” In the town. As they grew the place had belonged to the Washingtons. It older Samuel, John and little Charles joined was upon this tract that the emigrant from them and all five of the Washingtons England, John Washington, established him- young crossed in the at the ferry and trudged self and from him it passed to his son Law- morning Lane—whose cobbled and rChce, and from Lawrence on to Augustine up Rocky pavement stone walls remind one of those Washington, father of George. All of these high still days ancestors and George Washington's half- —and along the streets to school. It was a brother, Augustine Washington, jr„ sleep in long trip, and when the wind had chilled the vault in the family burying grounds. them as they crossed in the flat-bottom ferry, Tho. elder Augustine Washington married they would stop at the tavern of Thomas Jane Butler in 1715, when he was 21 years old. Thornton, nearby the wharf—which also still "All the They lived here at Wakefield, close to such stands, reminiscent of the Washington children five of young Washington’s crossed in the morning at the ferry and tn great manor bouses as Stratford, of the Lees; —to warm by his great open fire. Mrs. Wash- those days—and Mount Airy, at the, Tayloes; Marmlon. of the ington often stopped here, too, to warm herself Fltxhughs: Friedland, pt the Hooes and or have a glass of toddy on her way to or from Maaons; Sabine IJaU, Mount Airy, Menokin town. and other famed home*, and not far from the Over birthplace of James Monroe and James Madi- IT «u in these years and on the Perry farm the Paths the First President Trod it, son. I % ■„ that the legends of the cherry tree which .Two children were born to them at Wake- field before Jane Butler died in 1725. They George cut down and the colt's neck which he Was His Youth—His Grow wpre Augustine and Lawrence. broke were placed. It is probable that they Spent Early are based Upon solid fact The stories first appeared in "The life of George Washington,'* IN 1730 Augustine Washington married again, by Parson Mason L. Weems, and George Wash- Which Now Have Become Halloi taking as his wife this time Mary Ball, ington ft said to have rakd one of the first copies, which came out in the of his daughter of Joseph Ball of Epping Forest, in year death, and to have enjoyed it although be Lancaster who was 13 was a hard one, and nearby County, years laughed at some of the flowery language. they depended largely his junior, being then 23 years old. In after for an income upon the money collected at Being a stickler for truth, Washington would and when she had some one the ferry, and at the mill*’ on Clair years, passed away, undoubtedly have asked Weems to correct the “grinding By John gave her the name of “The Rose of Epping For- bourne's Run nearby. George was forced when stories had they been without basis, or would which would have made her he was 15 to further est,” very angry himself have denied them. Weems, who ped- give up any attempts at had she for she was never a but the other still heard it, great dled Tom Payne's works, the Bible and his schooling, children attended him with a surveying party to run lines beauty and was a woman of much common the schools In Fredericksburg. On Sundays the the and Mrs. own book from his cart stopped at any hos- wilderness, Washington gli sense. whole crossed and attended services in let him because it had been decided t pitable home he was near when meal time family go, To and Ball Saint Church, where George’s teacher. was to be his and Augustine Mary Washington came or nightfall, and was a number of times George’s surveying profession, there were born: At Wakefield, George, in 1732; Parson Marye, was the rector. would be from home for a guest at Perry farm and knew the family only away period Betty, in 1733, and Samuel, in 1734. At a few and between could o Ep- well. As to the story of George Washington Lawrence returned from his seafaring and months, surveys pawasson, to which they moved at about this back to the farm to help manage it. So, at throwing a Spanish silver dollar across the settled at the old Eppawasson place, which he time and which is a part of the present Mount young George with the party ran the lines t Rappahannock River, it Is a feat that can be named Mount Vernon, after the admiral under Vemcn t*act, John was bom in 1736, and at through unexplored country, over the 1 accomplished, and his nephew, Robert Lewis, whom he had sailed, and here young George, the Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, to which Ridge and into the Shenandoah Valley, sli said that he saw it done. who was a favorite of this elder half-brother, in in and they moved 1738, Charles, 1738, Mil- N lng on the ground, working from daybreal The father of the family died in 1742, and often visited. It was between one of these dred, wba died before she was sir months old, dark, cooking at campfires, and enduring m soon Augustine, jr., who was many years older visits, when the tales Lawrence had told him El 1739. other hardships, among them danger from than George, left to take his residence at of the sea and adventure were throbbing in his The move from Wakefield to Eppawasson up tack by border Indians. He went sev Wakefield, and Istwrence, also much older, head, that George decided to join the British was prompted by Augustine's failure to prosper times on surveys for Lord Fairfax, and i sailed with Admiral Vernon on the Navy. His belongings, as far as be needed at Wakefield, but upon the Eppawasson tract, British said that he first met the man who was fleet. was now and be them, were packed and he was ready to go later known as Mount Vernon, and close to George 10, although be a great statesman, George Mason of C continued at school for a he soon became when his mother’s final pleas prevailed and the frontier of Virginia, he found life even time, Eton, when the latter employed him to run "the head the and was he decided that it was his to at harder. Having children to educate, he bought of house,’’ the owner duty stay lines back to the valley, as he had done farm and on. in 1738 from William Strother a tract of “100 of the home and farm which his father had Ferry carry Fairfax. In later life Mason was WashJ acrej, lying about two miles below the falls willed to him. In spite of difficulties, Mrs. When he was visiting Mount Vernon a little ton's closest friend. ■t the Rappahannock, with a handsome dwell- Washington and George managed to get along later he met Lord Fairfax, whose estate was thereon, and a to it,” which and to more land, their at Bel close Lord Fairfax k*g ferry belonging buy although struggle voir, by. employed HEN Lawrence was stricken with tube losis he decided to go to the Bah Islands in hope of recovery, and George ^ with him. They found a suitable home on islands, and George was immensely pie with this chance to travel and live in t tropic islands, but, unfortunately, it was long before he fell victim to smallpox, and a long time he was dangerously ill. Aftei recovery his face was marked by pits lef the disease, which remained for his lifet They both returned early in 1752, Lawrenc the Mount Vernon, where he died, and Ge to the Perry farm, where he again took up n agement of the farm and sun-eying, plot land for many of the large proprietors, laying out roads, one of which, in Stafi still bears the name of Washington road. All of the children of Mary Ball Washin were at home now, and the younger ones went to school. When George was 19 and engaged stil surveying but giving most of his time to n aging the farm, another episode occurred it life, which is thus told in the records < court held at Fredericksburg in 1751: "Ann Carroll and Mary McDaniel, servi of Fredericksburg, being committed to the of this county by William Hunter, gent, suspicion of felony, charged with robbing cloathes of Mr. George Washington, whili was washing in the river, some time last £ mer, the court is of opinion that the said l Carroll be discharged and admitted in evid for our lord the King. "And being of opinion that the said 1 McDaniel Is guilty of petty larceny, where the said Mary McDaniel relied upon the a of the court and desired immediate pui ment, be it ordered, that the sheriff carry to the whipping post and inflict 15 lashe her bare back, well laid on, and that ah then discharged.” Washington appeared as a witness, presi bly. George must have been swimming at Ferry Farm, but whether the women “rob bU “cloathes”. of^ wbat was in the pocket stole them *nA left the mao who was to treat tenergi.to jnake hta way home in ui view Fmrm. Birdseye of Ferry y stifled muteness, le * sot jhede-plain.-