Seaport in Virginia / George Washington's Alexandria

In 1772 Carlyle took over the incompleted work on Christ Church and carried it to completion. In 1773 he bought pew No. 19. In 1774 he built the Presbyterian meetinghouse. In between times he was hunting at Belvoir and Mount Vernon, dancing at Alexandria assemblies, sitting as town trustee and gentleman justice, journeying to England and back, laying out and planting his garden, taking part in long, hot arguments with his family and neighbors in the ever-widening breach between the colonies and the mother country, breeding race horses, and joining in the frolics of the Jockey Club. Heir to a title old and honorable as it was, he ardently espoused the cause of the colonies. Too ill for active military service, he nevertheless served as a member of the Committee of Safety until his death in 1780, at the age of sixty.

John Carlyle divided his lands, named after the Scottish family holdings, Limkiln, Bridekirk, Torthorwald Taken, between his two grandsons, Carlyle Fairfax Whiting and John Carlyle Herbert. To his daughter, Sarah Herbert, he left thirty feet on Fairfax Street and one hundred feet on Cameron Street, to include his dryware house. The mansion and all other property were for a brief period the property of his only son.

In his will he expressed the utmost concern for the education of this boy, George William Carlyle, and urged his executors to spare no expense and to send him to the best schools. Alas, for the plans of men! The lad, fired by the talk of father and friends, was serving in Lee's Legion in 1781, and ere John Carlyle was moldering in his grave this boy of seventeen years, spirited, brave, heir to large estates, great fortune and honorable name, and to the title of Lord Carlyle, was dead at Eutaw Springs, led by that boy hardly older than himself "Light Horse Harry" Lee.

Enough of serious and sad history; let us in lighter vein go once more into the lovely paneled blue room where not only weighty conferences occurred, but where, in lace and satin, noble figures threw aside the cares of state and trod a measure to the tinkling of the spinet; where games of cards were indulged in and the pistoles changed hands. Let us go into the dining room with its fine Adam mantel and its mahogany doors, and visualize again the terrapin and the canvasback, the Madeira and Port so abundantly provided from that great kitchen below, and the most famous wine cellar of its day in Alexandria. Let us stroll in the still lovely garden where the aroma of box and honeysuckle mingle, and turn our thoughts once more to the inmates of this fine, old house. Built in the days when Virginia was a man's world, when men who wore satin, velvet and damask were masters of the art of fighting, riding, drinking, eating, and wooing. When a man knew what he wanted, and got it by God's help and his own tenacity, enjoying himself right lustily in the getting. Perchance Major John Carlyle, clad in Saxon green laced with silver, will be wandering up and down his box-bordered paths with his first love, Sarah Fairfax, watching the moon light up the rigging of Carlyle & Dalton's great ships at anchor just at the foot of the garden.

Chapter 3

The Married Houses

[209-211 North Fairfax Street. Owner: Mrs. Herbert E. Marshburn.]

When the new town of Alexandria was laid out, John Dalton purchased, on July 13, 1749, the first lot put up for sale (No. 36) for the sum of nineteen pistoles. The lot faced the Potomac River and was bounded by Water (now Lee) Street, Fairfax Street and lot No. 37. When the latter lot, which lay on Cameron and Fairfax, was put up later in the day, it was purchased by Dalton for sixteen pistoles.

Within three years Dalton had finished a small frame-and-brick cottage, neatly paneled, in which he is purported to have lived and died. The house faced on Cameron Street, standing about the middle of lot No. 37, with an extensive garden running the depth of the premises to the river, surrounded by outbuildings, orchards, wells, and so on, as was the custom of the times. His will mentioned the fact that he lived on this lot and left to his daughter, Jenny Dalton (later Mrs. Thomas Herbert), his new brick building on the corner of Fairfax and Cameron. His will further stated that the house must be finished out of his estate. To his daughter, Catherine (later Mrs. William Bird), he left the remainder of the lot which included his dwelling and another house on that same lot, at the time occupied by John Page.

On February 27, 1750, John Dalton succeeded Richard Osborn as a trustee of the town. His appointment was the first after the original selection of trustees by the assembly in Williamsburg.

John Dalton was a partner of John Carlyle in the firm of Carlyle & Dalton, which for many years acted as agent for the Mount Vernon produce. He was a pew owner with George Washington at Christ Church, which he served as vestryman. With his wife and daughter, he was a frequent visitor at Mount Vernon and a later chronicler has asserted that he barely missed becoming the General's father-in-law. A fox-hunter and horse-lover, in a company of Alexandria gentlemen or alone, he hunted with Washington and bred his mares to the blooded Mount Vernon stud.

The old Clapboard House on the John Dalton property and believed to have been his original house.
(Courtesy of Mr. Frank McCarthy)

On January 12, 1769, Washington went up to Alexandria to "ye Monthly Ball." He lodged with Captain Dalton and the next day being very bad he was "confined there till afternoon by rain."[78] Sometimes when attending court he "lodged at Captn. Dalton's."[79]

John Dalton's bequest to his daughter, Catherine, included the home place. On April 24, 1793, Catherine and her husband, William Bird, sold to Jonah Thompson and David Findley for £1,500 (about $7,500) the property described as being in Fairfax Street, 60 feet to the north of Cameron, and extending north upon Fairfax Street 119 feet 3 inches to the line of Herbert, Potts and Wilson, thence East parallel to Cameron to cross Water and Union Streets into the Potomac River, thence with a line parallel to Fairfax south 119 feet 3 inches, and included houses, buildings, streets, lanes, alleys, and so on. But the Birds reserved the right to the "use and occupation of the dwelling House now occupied" and the kitchen and garden, until the "1st day of October next" and also reserved unto Lanty Crowe the house "demised unto him to the end of his term, he paying the annual rent thereof unto the said Jonah Thompson and David Findley."[80] Findley died within the year and Jonah Thompson bought from Amelia Findley, the mother and heir of David Findley, equal and undivided portion of the already described lot and paid her the sum of £500 12s.

Jonah Thompson's House purchased from John Dalton's daughter, Catherine Bird

Jonah Thompson was an important citizen of Alexandria. He was a shipping merchant, banker and large property owner. He married Margaret Peyton and they had three sons, Israel, William Edward, and James; a daughter, Mary Ann, married a Mr. Popham, and another daughter, Eugenia, married a Mr. Morgan.

In 1809 Jonah Thompson mortgaged this property to the Bank of Alexandria for $13,500, which he paid within four years. In May 1850, the heirs of Jonah Thompson sold to Benjamin Hallowell for $4,600 a lot beginning at the south side of the alley which divided the block, running south 43 feet 7 inches. Benjamin Hallowell, in turn, sold to James S. Hallowell for nine thousand dollars in April 1854, and from James S. Hallowell and his wife the property passed through various hands until it became St. Mary's Academy.

The Jonah Thompson house, part of it at least already built in 1793, is one of the most interesting houses to be found anywhere. It is unusually large and has two handsome arched stone entrances. One, although similar, obviously was added, as the line of demarcation is plainly visible between the bricks.

The house has been sadly abused with no thought given its architectural merits and much of the woodwork has been removed. The stair is perhaps the finest in Alexandria, with spindles and risers carved in a more elaborate fashion than was the practice of the thrifty Scotsmen of Alexandria. At the rear of this large house, separated only by a narrow area, stands another house, facing the long garden and originally the river. The front of this house boasts the loveliest bit of Georgian architecture left in the old seaport. A pure Adam loggia, executed in stone, runs across the garden façade. While arches are now filled in and clothes hung to dry flap on the gallery, the outline is so chaste in its classic form that nothing can destroy the illusion of beauty.

No search of records reveals how or why these two houses stand back to back. Whether Jonah Thompson built the first for his bank or business offices, or whether his family outgrew the house and he needed more room is not known. The two are treated as one house in all the documentary evidence, and one's curiosity, interest, and imagination are excited by the twin or married houses. One story has it that Jonah Thompson built the rear or twin house for his eldest son so that the two families might be together but with separate ménages.

The Adam Loggia. Originally open between column and pilaster

Captain John Dalton forged a link between Mount Vernon, his family, and his posterity that was stronger than he knew. It was his granddaughter who was so deeply distressed at the ruin and desolation of the home of Washington that she fired her daughter's imagination with an idea that saved the spot for the nation. This great-granddaughter of John Dalton was Ann Pamela Cunningham, whose name will ever be indissolubly connected with Mount Vernon. In 1853 she formed the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, and as its first regent stirred the women of America with her ardor and directed the entire campaign until adequate funds were collected. In 1859 John Augustine Washington sold the Mount Vernon estate to Miss Cunningham for two hundred thousand dollars—after the Virginia Legislature and the federal government had both refused to acquire it.

This sale was negotiated by the Alexandria banker, John W. Burke, who was appointed executor and guardian of John Augustine Washington's estate after he was killed during the Civil War while on active duty as a member of General Robert E. Lee's staff.

When the war broke out, Alexandria was occupied by Union troops. The Union authorities knew of the sale of Mount Vernon and repeated but futile efforts were made to find the securities. Mr. Burke's home was searched no less than three times. The funds were never found in their hiding place of the soiled-clothes basket. There they reposed until Mrs. Burke (née Trist, great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson) and Mrs. Upton Herbert (née Tracy), both Philadelphia-born ladies, sewed the bonds in their petticoats and with high heads carried them through the Union lines to Washington and delivered them to George W. Riggs, who held them for the duration of the war, when he returned them to Alexandria—and Mr. Burke.

An interesting sequel to the story occurred only a short time ago when the last of John Augustine Washington's children died. Mr. Taylor Burke, grandson of John W. Burke, and president of the Burke & Herbert Bank, administered the estate of the late Mrs. Eleanor Washington Howard, and distributed her estate, composed of the remainder of that purchase price, among her heirs.[81]

Chapter 4

The Fairfaxes of Belvoir and Alexandria

Of the families in Virginia closely associated with George Washington, none bore so intimate a relation as that of Fairfax.

William Fairfax, founder of the Virginia branch of the family, was born in 1691 in Towlston in Yorkshire, England, the son of the Honorable Henry Fairfax, Sheriff of Yorkshire, and grandson of the Fourth Lord Fairfax. Educated as a member of the governing classes, he began his career in the navy, later entering the colonial service. Before he was twenty-six he had acted as chief justice of the Bahamas and Governor of the Isle of Providence. Prior to 1717 he married Sarah Walker of Nassau, daughter of Colonel Walker, by whom he had four children, George William, Thomas, Anne, and Sarah. In 1729, Colonel Fairfax was appointed Collector of the Port of Salem, Massachusetts, and removed to that colony. In 1731 his wife died, and very shortly afterward he married Deborah, widow of Francis Clarke and daughter of Colonel Bartholomew Gedney of Salem, by whom he had three children, Bryan, William Henry, and Hannah.

In 1734 Fairfax came to Virginia as agent for his first cousin, Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax (who, by direct inheritance from a royal grant of Charles II, had come into possession of some five million acres of Virginia land lying between the Rappahannock and the Potomac, and extending from Chesapeake Bay to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, known to Virginians as the Northern Neck); and to serve as Collector of Customs for the South Potomac. Fairfax first went to Westmoreland, where he was associated with the Washington and Lee families. Next he moved to King George, and lived at Falmouth. By 1741 he was representing Prince William County in the House of Burgesses. Colonel Fairfax was elevated to "His Majesty's Council of State" three years later. Becoming President of the Council in 1744, he continued in that office until his death.

About this time William Fairfax completed his dwelling house, Belvoir, situated on a high bluff overlooking the Potomac River, halfway between Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall. It was described by Washington in an advertisement as having "four convenient rooms and a wide Hall on the first floor." In one of these "convenient rooms," more than two hundred years ago on July 19, 1743, Anne, eldest daughter of Colonel Fairfax was married to Lawrence Washington of Mount Vernon.

A few years after his marriage, Lawrence (to whom George Washington owed his start in life) took his impecunious young half-brother into his home at Mount Vernon, whereupon the in-laws became intimately concerned with George's future. Young George was wise enough to realize that the way of advancement led through this important family and he never lost an opportunity to cultivate the President of the Council. Colonel Fairfax became a benefactor of the young man's fortunes, an inspiration to his ambition, and was truly and wholeheartedly attached through his affections to the gangling youth. To the end of his life Fairfax signed his letters to George, "Y^r very affect^e & Assur^d Friend."

In 1747 George William Fairfax, the Colonel's eldest son, returned home from England, where he had received his education, with the promise from Lord Fairfax of falling heir to his father's agency of the Northern Neck.

The fifteen-year-old George took a great liking to young Fairfax, and despite a difference in age, a friendship began which was destined to last throughout their lives. A letter from George William Fairfax to Lawrence Washington stated, "George has been with us, and says he will be steady and thankfully follow your advice as his best friend. I gave him his brother's letter to deliver with a caution not to show his."[82] Doubtless this was the occasion when George was seriously considering the navy. Lawrence had served under Admiral Vernon, William Fairfax was trained for the navy, and Lord Fairfax was in Virginia to add either persuasion or influence as needed. Mary Washington was set in her determination that George should not become a sailor. Thus it was decided that surveying or engineering was the best outlook for the young man's future career, and Mount Vernon and Belvoir the seat of his further learning. Lord Fairfax would employ the embryo engineer as soon as he had sufficient instruction to be useful. The pupil was adept, the instructors efficient, and we see young Washington setting out with his new friend, George William, in March of 1748, upon his first surveying mission in the employment of Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax.

On his return from this mission, serious, sober young Fairfax (he was twenty-three at the time) offered himself as a burgess for Frederick County and was duly elected. He followed his father to Williamsburg, where he found attractions more absorbing than lawmaking. After "several opportunities of visiting Miss Cary" he fell a victim to the wiles and graces of the belle of the season. The Virginia Gazette for December 1748 carried this bit of social news: "Married on the 17th inst., George William Fairfax, Esqr., eldest son of the Honorable William Fairfax of His Majesty's Council to Sarah, eldest daughter of Colonel Wilson Cary of Ceelys."

Of all the colonial belles whose shades furnish theme for pæan and lighten the pages of history, none is more colorful than Sally Cary. This girl, only seventeen, with head of red-brown hair, great intelligent eyes shaded by long, thick lashes, long rounded throat and beautifully modelled hands, arms and shoulders, had an intellect which far surpassed her husband's.

When not at Williamsburg attending the assembly, the young Fairfaxes resided at Belvoir, where Sally acted as hostess for her widowed father-in-law or the bachelor Lord from Greenway Court. This house, after the Palace at Williamsburg, was the center of the social and political life of Virginia. The Fairfaxes were of ancient, noble lineage, with ample fortune, representing the very best in Old World culture. William Fairfax, as President of the Council, was second only in importance to the royal governor, serving as head of the state during the absences of His Excellency. Naturally, his home was the gathering place for men of eminence in the colony, as well as visitors of state.

Colonel George William Fairfax

Belvoir was a rendezvous for neighborhood gaiety. Overflowing with the young people of the family, more were attracted. George Washington was a daily visitor—Sally, but two years older than himself, filled him with delight. At Belvoir he met with the heads of government and gleaned from these meetings knowledge and inspiration to carry him through ordeals never experienced by his preceptors. Here, too, the feminine contacts smoothed the rough edges; George learned to turn the music for young ladies performing upon the harpsichord, to rescue times without number skeins of silk and balls of wool as well as lacy bits of linen continually dropped by fair hands; he was taught the latest dance step from London and learned the most elegant of court bows. In those days the turn of a wrist and the flip of a lace ruffle were not considered inconsequential. It was here he acquired that never-failing interest in the "newest taste and the latest fashion."

Mrs. George William Fairfax. (Sally Cary)

Under this hospitable roof in early and formative years, associated with the cavaliers in daily intercourse, Washington developed an ease of manner and a dignity of deportment that became him well. In the library of this home he became familiar with the best in literature, his love of beauty was aroused, his knowledge of homemaking and gardening acquired, for this household wielded a highly civilizing influence, and awakened George Washington to the charms of culture and refinement. To appreciate the influence of this family upon Washington, it is only necessary to recall how brief was his schooling, how limited his prospects, how poor his pocket when, at the age of fifteen, he came to make his home at Mount Vernon.

At Belvoir and at Mount Vernon, George Washington first learned of the new port to be built at Hunting Creek warehouse. Long and often the talk was concerned with the progress being made before the assembly by Lawrence Washington and the two Colonels Fairfax. The latter gentlemen, being engineers, were both familiar with the construction of the towns in Great Britain and on the Continent. To Belvoir came Colonel Carlyle and Colonel Ramsay, as well as other gentlemen from Dumfries and the county, occupied with the same interest, who hoped to better their fortunes by the shipping trade which they expected the new town to attract, and willing to gamble time and money upon the erection of dwellings, warehouses, and docks.

These men were all purchasers of lots at the first auction on July 13, 1749, and at once began carrying out the mandate of the assembly, i.e., to build within two years or forfeit their holdings.

Within six years the town, so neatly built, so strategically situated, was "honoured with 5 Governors in Consultation; a happy presage I hope, [wrote George Washington to William Fairfax at Williamsburg] not only of the success of this Expedition, but for our little Town; for surely such honours must have arisen from the Commodious and pleasant situation of this place the best constitutional qualitys for Popularity and increase of a (now) flourishing Trade."[83]

That Sally Fairfax was in residence in Alexandria and evidently in her own house taking part in the festivities arranged for General Braddock at the Carlyle house, dancing at the assembly balls, attending reviews, is indicated by a communication from her friend, young Washington:

After his father's death on September 3, 1757, George William Fairfax came a step nearer the title of Lord Fairfax. He went on a very curious mission to England to refute in person a rumor that he was a black man, and to show any doubting relations the hue of his skin was exactly the same as theirs. This was especially strange, for William Fairfax had taken Sarah Walker Fairfax, his wife and mother of George William, to England in 1717, and certainly they must have met representatives of the family on that visit. Nevertheless, it is to Sally that the knowledge of this peculiar circumstance is due. In 1802, writing to her nephew in Virginia in reference to an inheritance of her husband's she says, "He [Henry Fairfax, William Fairfax's older brother] would have left it to your uncle William Henry Fairfax [George William Fairfax's younger half-brother] from an impression that my husband's Mother was a black woman, if my Fairfax had not come over to see his Uncle and convinced him he was not a negroe's son."[85]

While in England on this or other equally private affairs relating to his inheritance, George William wrote his wife from London on December 12, 1757:

Back in America within the year, at a court held for Fairfax County on August 19, 1758, George William Fairfax "presents a commission from his honor the Governor appointing me Lt. Colonel of Militia" of the county and at the same court he took the oaths according to law as a vestryman for Truro Parish.[87] In 1760 he went back to England again and remained nearly two years. On this occasion Sally accompanied him.

All the while, George William Fairfax was occupied with his English inheritance, he was gradually losing interest in his Virginia life. Although he is credited with being loyal to the colonial cause (certainly he never failed in loyalty to his colonial friends) it is more than possible that the friction between the two countries swayed him somewhat in his determination to quit Virginia for the more settled state of the Old Country.

On a June afternoon in 1773, George William and Sally set out from Belvoir to Mount Vernon for the last time to take leave of George and Martha Washington. Dr. Craik arrived in time to meet them and say goodbye. The next day, June 9, in the afternoon, Martha and George went to Belvoir to see these old and devoted friends "take shipping."[88] As the breeze lifted the sails and the sturdy little ship faded out of sight down the Potomac, it carried the Fairfaxes away from Belvoir forever.

Until his own affairs became too involved, Washington supervised George Fairfax's Virginia interests. In August 1774, a year after the master's departure from Virginia, the contents of Belvoir house were sold. Washington himself bought many things—the sideboard, card tables, and other things. Other Fairfax furnishings came to Alexandria; Dr. Craik became the possessor of a Wilton carpet which Washington bought for him.

George and Sally Fairfax settled in Bath in a red-brown sandstone house at 11 Lansdown Crescent, where they became a part of the gay parties taking the waters at the Pump Room and attending assembly balls in the fashion of Jane Austen's most aristocratic characters. Friendly letters went back and forth between Bath and Mount Vernon. After the Revolution, Fairfax wrote to Washington: "I glory in being called an American," regretted his inability to contribute to the "glorious cause of Liberty" and offered his "best thanks for all your exertions ... to ... the End of the Great work ..."[89]

Washington replied from New York on July 10, 1783: "Your house at Belvoir I am sorry to add is no more, but mine (which is enlarged since you saw it) is most sincerely and heartily at your Service till you could rebuild it" and expressed his pleasure at George William's approbation of his Revolutionary actions.[90]

Fairfax, after becoming involved in lawsuit after lawsuit and dissension with his relatives, died in 1787 before inheriting his title. Sally lived on at Bath for twenty-five years after her husband's death. The damp English climate crippled her joints with rheumatism, but did not distort her slender, erect figure, and she maintained her beauty to the end. A year before his death, Washington penned his last letter to Sally, his affection for her undiminished, and his pride in Alexandria growing:

Chapter 5

The George William Fairfax House

[207 Prince Street. Owners: Colonel and Mrs. Charles B. Moore.]

The 200 block of Prince Street is probably the finest left in Old Alexandria, in that it has suffered less change. No less than seven brick eighteenth century town dwellings remain in almost pristine condition. A small and fine Classical Revival building, and Mordecai Miller's "double three storied wooden buildings" make for diversity, while the old textile mill, later Green's furniture manufactory, adds the practical Scottish note to the locality.

On the north side of the street, on lot No. 57, separated today from Lee Street on the east by garden and the former Old Dominion Bank Building, and flanked by John Harper's gift to his daughter Elizabeth on the west, stands a three-storied dormer windowed town dwelling, battered by time and the elements. It stands after nearly two hundred years, a silent sentinel—the Fairfaxes' contribution to the erection of the town at Hunting Creek warehouse.

The house was originally nearly square. The wing, added after the main structure was built, was standing in 1782 at which time the house is described as it stands today. Due to the loss of one deed, that of father to son, it can be questioned whether the house was built by William Fairfax before 1752 or by George William, to whom it was deeded at that time. Like most old houses occupied by a succession of owners, much damage has been done to these old walls. The brick is worn and soft; paint is necessary to preserve them. The front door and stairway were changed a hundred and fifty years ago, as well as mantels and much of the trim and woodwork. The chimneys and dormers were blown down in 1927 and replaced in 1929. When the house was renovated at that time and the plaster removed from the drawing-room walls, wooden blocks or stobs were exposed in the bricks, indicating paneled walls.

The house has had some fourteen owners, each with his own idea of "improvements." The occupants of the house for the first hundred years are interesting as having been the founders and builders of the old trading port. Let us begin with the original purchaser of lots Nos. 56 and 57 and learn a little of the early inmates of the premises identified in Alexandria today as the Fairfax or the George William Fairfax house.

William Fairfax and his son, Colonel George William Fairfax, both purchased lots at the first auction held on July 13, 1749. The former had purchased the lots numbered 56 and 57 for thirty-five pistoles, while the latter had acquired two others across the street, lying south and designated Nos. 62 and 63 on the plat of the town. At the meeting of the trustees held the following day, it was ordered that deeds be made for September 20, 1749, for all lots disposed of. George William Fairfax retained his property until March 1750, when he sold the lots to Willoughby Newton, Gent., for £41 18s. 6d. Newton conveyed them, on November 10, 1752, to George Johnston for £44.

Lot No. 58, adjoining Colonel Fairfax's purchases on the west, was early the property of Colonel Champe, but the fact that it soon passed to Fairfax ownership can be established by two references in the minutes of the trustees.

On May 30, 1763, it was "ordered that Robert Adam Gentⁿ be overseer of the Main street [now Fairfax] from the upper part of Mrs. Chews Lott to the lower part of her Lotts and that he make so much of the said Main street dry and fitt for traveling for Waggon & foot people by the first of Septem^r Next or pay for his failure twenty Shillings to the Trustees for the use of the Town ... And that W^m Ramsay Gent. in like manner and under the same penalty put the said main street in order from the upper part of his own lott to the lower part thereof together with half the next street and that William Ramsay continue his district down to Col George Fairfaxes lott ... And that John Carlyle in like manner and under the same penalty put the main Street in order from the corner of Mr. Fairfaxes Lott to the lower corner of the said Fairfax's Lott and one half of the adjacent street."[92]

Entrance hall and stair detail

On December 16, 1766, it was resolved that, "Whereas deeds were granted by William Ramsay and John Pagan two of the trustees of the town of Alexandria bearing date of the 28th day of March Anno Domini 1752 to the Hon Geo W^m Fairfax Esq^r for two Lotts of Land in the said Town No. 56 & 57, on the motion of Geo W^m Fairfax Esq^r it appears to us the above mentioned Trustees that No. 56 should have been included in Lott No. 57 as one lott liable to the Conditions of improvement by act of Assembly—and that he never having had a deed in his name or his fathers for Lott No 58 It is now ordered that one Deed of Conveyance be made out to the said Geo W^m Fairfax his Heirs and Assigns and that M^r W^m Ramsay and M^r John Carlyle be appointed and are hereby authorized to make good the said deed of Conveyance for these Lotts being improved agreeable to the Act of Assembly for constituting and erecting the said Town."[93]

That deed, bearing date of January 30, 1767, cited that on March 1, 1753, lots Nos. 56 and 57 were conveyed to George William Fairfax, Esq., and that as lot No. 56 was only part of a lot it should be holden as parcel of the lot numbered 57 and that the purchaser hold the same without being compelled to make any improvements other than what was by law required on one whole and entire lot.

In 1771, when Fairfax by reason of prospective inheritances of land and titles, was contemplating removal to England he turned to Robert Adam, a successful businessman, for assistance in disposing of his Alexandria property. Court records reveal that George William Fairfax and Sarah, his wife, sold on November 25, 1771, to Robert Adam, lots Nos. 56 and 57 with all "Houses, buildings, orchards, ways, waters, water courses" for £350 current money of Virginia.[94]

The transaction deed was witnessed by George Washington, Anthony Ramsay, and James Adam, and it is interesting that the entry for that day in Washington's diary reads: "went a hunting in the morning with Jacky Custis. Returned about 12 o'clock and found Colo. Fairfax and Lady here, Mrs. Fanny Ballendine and her nieces, Miss Sally Fairfax, and Mr. R. Adam, Mr. Jas. Adam, and Mr. Anthy. Ramsay, all of who went away in the afternoon, when Miss Scott came."[95] This deed was recorded at Fairfax Court on September 23, 1772, with another deed from John Carlyle and George William Fairfax, executors of the estate of William Fairfax, to convey lot No. 58 with all houses, building, etc., to Robert Adam for £125. Up to this time only one house stood on lots 56 and 57.

It may well be that Adam acted only as agent for George William Fairfax, or that he assured title to the property for cash advanced. Within the month he had sold half of the lots to Andrew Wales, a brewer, for £331 17s. 6d., nearly as much as he paid for the entire property. The other portion he sold to John Hough, Gentleman, of Loudoun County, Virginia.

Robert Adam was quite the man of affairs in Alexandria. Born in Kilbride, Scotland, in 1731, the son of the Reverend John Adam and wife (née Janet Campbell), he came to Maryland at about twenty years of age and was in Alexandria before 1758, associating himself with that merchant prince of the town, John Carlyle, as early as 1760. The firm of Carlyle & Adam acted as agents for Mount Vernon as well as Belvoir, handling the wheat and tobacco from these plantations. Washington was close to both men until he was outraged by treatment accorded his wheat and bags, though he afterward did Adam the honor of dining with him.

Following Colonel William Fairfax's death, Robert Adam succeeded to his place as a town trustee. In 1782, with others from Alexandria, he was active in founding the Masonic lodge. At the opening of the lodge in 1783, he was elected and served as its first Worshipful Master, along with Robert McCrea as Senior Warden, Elisha C. Dick as Junior Warden, William Herbert as Secretary, and William Ramsay as Treasurer. The year 1785 saw the erection of the Alexandria academy and Robert Adam laying the cornerstone.

Like Adam before him John Hough had only a passing interest in the property of George William Fairfax. He disposed of two small lots, one to Benjamin Shreve, a hatter, and one to George Gilpin, the colonel-to-be. He sold the remainder of lots Nos. 56, 57 and 58, fronting on Prince Street to John Harper, a sea captain of Philadelphia, in June 1773 for the munificent sum of £780, with all and every improvement and all houses, buildings, and so on.

The small parlor, restored. A blending of old and new

It is possible that Harper occupied George William Fairfax's house, but it is certain that he let it to Colonel William Lyle of Prince Georges County, Maryland, in 1782—probably before—and also as late as 1789, when Lyle returned to Maryland. Tax records show that Lyle was renting from Harper on Prince Street during this time. In 1782 he was taxed for "2 whites, 13 blacks, 2 horses, and 12 cattle."[96] He is mentioned several times in Washington's diaries as being at Mount Vernon, and at least once Washington came to Alexandria and dined with Colonel Lyle.

For a time Colonel Lyle was associated with Colonel John Fitzgerald in the shipping trade under the firm name of Lyle & Fitzgerald. During the Revolution he served on the Alexandria Committee of Safety. From 1783 until his departure to Maryland, Lyle was an active member of the Sun Fire Company. He owned considerable property in Alexandria. At one time he determined to build a dwelling house on part of lot No. 57 on the corner of Prince and Water [now Lee] Streets, which he had purchased from John Harper, but he sold the lot without fulfilling his intentions.

When peace came in 1783, Captain John Harper, whose real-estate plans had been deferred by hostilities, began the division of his Fairfax property into building lots. At amazing speed and increasing prices he sold off what had formerly been gardens and orchards, and as soon as George William Fairfax's house was vacated by Colonel Lyle, Harper disposed of it to William Hodgson of Whitehaven, England, in 1790. Now our story of the Hodgson tenure must leave Alexandria to combine for a brief moment with the great house of Lee.

The front room: The excellent Adam mantel from the Jonah Thompson House is an improvement to replace a later one with a Latrobe stove

Among the famous sons of the sire of Stratford Hall (Westmoreland County, Virginia), Thomas Lee, and his wife Hannah Ludwell, was William Lee, who was born in 1739. He went to England about 1766 as a Virginia merchant selling tobacco and acting as London agent for his Virginia clients. In London in 1769, William Lee married his cousin, Hannah Phillipi Ludwell (daughter of Philip Ludwell and Frances Grymes of Green Spring).

William Lee took an active interest in politics and was elected as an alderman of London in 1774. This did not prevent him from doing all in his power to aid the American colonists. We find him going to Paris in April 1777 as commercial agent for the Continental Congress and working with his brother, Arthur Lee, on various diplomatic missions. While serving at The Hague he was ordered to the courts of Berlin and Vienna, but his services were thought to be so valuable it was decided to leave him in Holland. Arthur Lee was sent on to Berlin in his place, but later William Lee was appointed to the Austrian capital.

200 block of Prince Street. The Old Dominion Bank and the houses of George William Fairfax, Dr. James Craik and Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick

The four children of William and Hannah Phillipi Lee were born abroad. The first child, William Ludwell (1775-1803) was born in London; Portia (1777-1840) either in London or at The Hague; Brutus (1778-1779) at The Hague; and Cornelia (1780-1815) at Brussels. William Lee remained abroad until 1783, when he returned to his plantation, Green Spring, near Williamsburg. Peace had not then been concluded and he had such difficulty in obtaining passage for himself and family to Virginia that he was forced to purchase a ship for the voyage. The Lees set sail from Ostend on June 30, arriving home September 25.[97]

While living in London William Lee was thrown into contact with William Hodgson, formerly of Whitehaven. This gentleman was an "active friend" of America, a "fire-eating radical," and a member of "The Honest Whigs," a supper club of which Benjamin Franklin was a member, and the "presiding genius." Hodgson, also a member of the Royal Society, then composed of the intellectuals of the day—the premier scientific society of the English world—rendered valuable aid to the American commissioners in Paris by correspondence with Franklin in which he passed on much useful information.

An enthusiastically outspoken recalcitrant, Hodgson was not content with his contribution to the American cause, but took up the cudgels for the French, and was promptly launched into very hot water. Two years in Newgate prison followed his hearty toast "The French Republic," and the epithet he applied to His Majesty, George III, of "German Hogbutcher."[98] After this experience, it is not surprising that Hodgson removed himself beyond the seas. He turns up at dinner at Mount Vernon in June 1788. Two years later we find him buying a house and lot for £1,650 from John Harper on Prince Street. The evidence is that he was already in this house as a tenant. Here he set up in the dry-goods business, using the first floor for his store and countinghouse, and the upper part as his dwelling.

What could be more natural than Mr. Hodgson looking up his friends, the Lees, on his arrival in Virginia? His old friend, William, had died. Portia, now an orphan, was a young lady of handsome estate. Mr. Hodgson was dining rather frequently at Mount Vernon in 1798, and the General was writing of him always as "Mr. Hodgden."[99] Twice he was in company with Portia, the last time appearing in a diary entry of June 1799 with his wife at dinner. Mrs. Hodgson was, of course, the former Miss Portia Lee. Sometime this same year he brought her to his dry-goods store and dwelling house on Prince Street. Built some forty-odd years before, this house was doubtless in need of numerous repairs.

The Hodgsons resided for upward of twenty-five years in the old town house of the Fairfaxes. They were the parents of eight children, so many that Hodgson found it necessary to give over to his family the lower floor of the house that he had been using as his store and countinghouse and to confine his activities to his warehouse and wharf on Union and Prince. About this time the house seems to have undergone many changes. A new front entrance was added, the stairway changed, a fashionable arch and reeded mantels appeared. In other words, the house was "done over" in the newest taste and latest fashion.

In 1816 Hodgson was forced to sell his house due to his inability to meet a trust placed on the property in 1807. It was purchased in 1816 by John Gardner Ladd, senior partner of John Gardner Ladd & Company. Ladd appears to have come to Alexandria from Providence, Rhode Island, late in the eighteenth century. He is mentioned in Washington's diary as dining at Mount Vernon on February 1, 1798. A little glimpse into his private affairs is revealed by an old customs house record for the year 1817. Under the entry for Thursday, January 2, we discover that the ship America, Captain Luckett in command, sailed for the West Indies and that "John G. Ladd, Esq., of the house of J.G.L. & Co. goes out in this ship, with a view of benefitting his health." His will, bearing date of February 18, 1819, and leaving to his wife, Sarah, for her life "the entire use and emoluments of my dwelling house and lotts on Prince and Water Streets (formerly the property of William Hodgson)," seems to indicate that this wish was not realized. The home remained in the Ladd family for the better part of thirty-five years.

To Alexandrians of later days, 207 Prince Street was known for many years as the home of the Honorable Lewis MacKenzie. This house had the first bathroom and tub in Alexandria. A niece of MacKenzie has stated that her childhood had no more enthralling experience than leaning out of the third story window and watching the water pour into Prince Street from a hole in the wall. It was hit or miss with the pedestrians below! MacKenzie also had the first heated halls in Alexandria, and nearly burned up the house in consequence. He simply bricked up a small chimney in a corner of the hall and installed wood stoves. Despite the hazard, the warm halls were a great luxury in those days, for before the advent of central heating all Virginians regarded halls in the wintertime as places to pass through as quickly as possible.

Lewis MacKenzie, who owned the Fairfax house until 1891, was one of the eight children of Captain James MacKenzie, mariner. The unique wedding of his father and mother had been reported by the Times and Alexandria Advertiser almost a century earlier (1798). Its nautical motif arrests our attention and carries us to the wharves of Alexandria in the time of George Washington: