In the Shadow of DC's Slave Pens

With the release of the movie 12 Years A Slave, there has been a lot of discussion online about sites in Virginia where Solomon Northup was taken and held along his journey. I was familiar with a few of them, such as Aquia Harbor and Alexandria.

Northup was even held in DC for awhile since slavery wasn't outlawed there until 1850. I was also aware that while he was in one of the pens in DC, he could see the US Capitol. However, I did not realize that for the past year and a half, I've been working no more than 50 yards from where he was held!

I often sat and ate my lunch outside in an area that, 163 years ago, would have been close enough to hear the enslaved people within the pens.

Go ahead, let that sink in for a minute; I'll wait.

.......

OK, now that it has sunk in, let's continue.

To give you a visual perspective of what I'm talking about, here's an annotated image from Google Maps.

As you can see from the image, my building is right near two of the largest slave operations in Washington, D.C.

One of the slave pens, owned by William H. Williams, was also known as "Yellow House." The space is currently occupied by an FAA building. According to one description, the Williams site was a "modest, well-maintained two-story yellow house, set back by a grove of trees. A 12 foot-high brick wall encircled the rear of the house. The yard provided space for training and selling slaves; in the basement, slaves were detained, chained to walls. A particularly infamous market, sounds of shackles, whips, and fierce dog barks often emanated from the site."

In 1850, a Smithsonian Regent by the name of Jefferson Davis noted that  "[i]t is the house by which all must go who wish to reach the building of the Smithsonian Institution." Eleven years later, Davis would serve as President of the Confederate States of America.

Williams' "Yellow House" location today

The other slave pen, owned by Mr. Robey, is described as being "surrounded by a wooden paling fourteen or fifteen feet in height, with the posts outside to prevent escape and separated from the building by a space too narrow to admit of a free circulation of air." Robey's pen, too, is now occupied by an FAA building.

 

Robey's location today

As I mentioned earlier, it was recorded that Solomon Northup could see the US Capitol while being held in the slave pen. Here's a photo I took from the street between Robey's location on the left and my office building (just out of the frame) on the right.

View of US Capitol today from between Robey's (left) and my office (right).

I had absolutely no idea that I had been enjoying my lunch break in view of DC's slave pens. I have sat outside on the grass, eating and listening to live music with people hustling and bustling all around me, in and out of the L'Enfant Metro stop, all blissfully unaware that we were within spitting distance of slave pens.

This just goes to show you that history is all around you. Even if you can no longer see it, it is still there.

150th Anniversary of Lincoln's 272 Words

I was awake at 4:15am on the morning of November 19. I couldn't sleep and wondered if Lincoln, 150 years before, found himself awake at the same time. I was up because I knew this day - the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address - was a momentous occasion. If Lincoln was up, it probably was not because of pre-speech jitters. After all, he was not the keynote speaker; his presence was almost an afterthought. Instead, it was probably because the war that was ripping the nation apart was weighing heavy on his mind.

 

After a quick breakfast followed by some unfortunate car troubles, I was on a shuttle bus to the Soldiers' National Cemetery at 6:30am. By 6:45am, hundreds of us poured into the cemetery and into the white plastic chairs awaiting our arrival. With my spot secured, it was time to start the waiting game. It would be another three hours and fifteen minutes before the ceremony began.

 

According to The Weather Channel, it never got above 44 degrees with a wind chill of 37 degrees the entire time we sat there. Oh well, it's all mind over matter. This only happens once!

 

Around 9am, the musical portion of the program began. The same band I saw the night before at the train station, President Lincoln's Own Band, as well as the local high school band, were both outfitted in 19th century military dress and played for us. This was followed by the United States Marine Band.

 

At 10am, the program began. Dignitaries included Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the Governor of Pennsylvania, assorted US Representatives and Congressmen, Secretary of the Interior, Director of the National Park Service, Pulitzer Prize-winning author James McPherson, and, of course, President Abraham Lincoln portrayed by James Getty.

 

The entire program was very well done and included the Oath of Allegiance for 16 new citizens by Justice Scalia. It concluded with a moving performance of echo Taps.

 

Obviously, the highlight was James Getty's delivery of the Gettysburg Address. So, without further ado, here's my video of the Gettysburg Address on the 150th anniversary:

 

I took a few photos, but there are far better shots available elsewhere on the internet.

It was an incredibly moving experience to follow Lincoln's journey from the Gettysburg train station, to the David Wills house, and finally to the Soldiers' National Cemetery for the delivery of the Gettysburg Address.

I found myself saying, "this only happens once every 150 years," throughout the day, but a friend corrected me. In another 150 years, it will be the 300th anniversary. This moment - the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address - is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was an honor to be a part of it and I hope I'm able to be there as a 75-year-old man for the bicentennial in 2063.

Greeting President Lincoln

On the evening of November 18, 1863, Abraham Lincoln arrived in Gettysburg at the train station and stayed the night at the home of resident David Wills. It was in a bedroom at the Wills house that Lincoln put the finishing touches on the remarks he would give the next day at the dedication of a cemetery for soldiers who died there four and a half months earlier.

150 years later, I traveled to Gettysburg to commemorate Lincoln's arrival.

I arrived at the Gettysburg train station around 5:15pm, approximately 45 minutes before Lincoln arrived 150 years earlier. The station, which has been added onto over the years, is now one of the city's visitor centers. Filled with info and exhibits, I spent some time reading and waiting for Lincoln to arrive.

Gettysburg train station

Around 5:30, a band portraying the Marine Corps band during the 1860s had assembled outside the station to play some music. They were soon joined by David Wills and we all waited for the President to arrive. Right on cue, the President arrived around 6pm and the band played "Hail to the Chief." He gave a few remarks and then made his way through the station and onto the streets of Gettysburg.

Lincoln and Wills made their way to Wills' home amid a huge crowd. Along the way, they talked about a variety of pressing topics, among them being that Lincoln's son Tad was suffering from a fever.

Lincoln and Wills on the streets of Gettysburg

Upon arriving at the Wills house, Lincoln spent over an hour on the steps of the home, talking with people, taking photos, and answering questions.

I ventured inside to get out of the cold and wind. While there, I met Michael McKee and his wife. As it turns out, Michael is the great great grandson of David Wills on his mother's side. His grandmother remembered visiting the home as a very young girl before it was sold out of the family after David Wills' death in 1894. It was really neat to stand in the Wills home with a direct descendant.

In the Wills house with Wills' great great grandson

Overall, it was a really cool experience. Spending the evening walking in the footsteps of Lincoln and Wills exactly 150 years after they made the journey from the station to the house was awesome.

In Search of Nottingham

Alexander Spotswood 1674-1740

The first home was built here around 1774 by General Alexander Spotswood, grandson of colonial Virginia (Lieutenant) Governor Alexander Spotswood (1674-1740). The colonial governor took ownership of this tract of land in 1722. Alexander had a son named John who had a son named Alexander. The grandson Alexander's father, John, was married to a cousin of Martha Washington, George Washington's wife. Alexander the grandson was married to George Washington's niece, Elizabeth.

William Lawrence McCarthy Spotswood (1791-1871[?]), great-grandson of the colonial governor, built Nottingham, the focus of this post. It is named after the location in England where his father attended school. The exact date of construction is unknown, but it has to pre-date 1834 because the land was sold out of the Spotswood family at that time.

I first heard about Nottingham in January 2009. I was still in college pursuing my degree in historic preservation when a fellow preservationist friend of mine had heard that it was slated to be demolished in the near future. Fearing the worst, we hopped in the car and headed off into Spotsylvania County looking for a home with no address and no exact location. After getting lost, backtracking, and almost giving up, we finally spotted the home about a quarter of a mile off of the main road.

Heading up the drive, we got our first glimpse

We got out of the car and got our first good look at the once-stately home.

 

A survey of the home was done in 1936 by Sue Gordon. Already by that time, she noted that the home was "in rather poor repair." That said, she was still able to observe walnut handrails, a combination of panelled and painted walls, wrought iron hardware on pine doors, and a partially original yellow pine floor.

1936 and 2009

The image above shows the difference in Nottingham's front facade between 1936 and 2009. At some point, the second story porch was removed. The tuscan supporting columns were replaced with much taller square beams and the central doorway upstairs now opens to nothing.

Simply put, Nottingham was a mere shell of its former self. There was no longer any indication that this was the home of a very important Virginia family. The home had obviously been modernized at one point, but the home was clearly a goner by this point. All of the flooring for the second floor was gone - ripped out of the walls, making for a very awkward presentation of second floor doorways and closets that open onto nothing below them.

Sad remains of the second floor

Much of the flooring was missing on the first floor as well. Giant holes scarred the walls, too. It was all likely ripped up to be resold and to provide access to valuable copper piping hidden within and underneath.

First floor destruction

We poked around outside some more before leaving. Sue Gordon mentioned that a separate kitchen building was present in 1936, complete with a brick walk leading to the house. It was long gone by the time we got there.

Upon arriving back at campus, I showed the photos I took to one of my historic preservation professors. He and another colleague made arrangements with the developer who owned the site to make measured drawings of the home so that it could be documented for posterity. They went out to the site on a handful of occasions and documented the home.

As we headed down the driveway to leave, I remember stopping the car and sticking my head out the sunroof for one last look. It was like saying goodbye to a long lost relative you only recently met yet felt an immediate bond with. I was sad to go and know that it would soon be torn down, but I was delighted to have spent some time there.

By the following spring, Nottingham was no more. It now lives on only in architectural drawings, in my photos, and in my memory.

In the Cellars of George Washington's Boyhood Home

George Washington spent his life in three main homes in Virginia. I've been lucky enough to work at two of them.

He was born in 1732 at Pope's Creek Plantation. I worked there from 2009-2012; it is now known as George Washington Birthplace National Monument. In 1735, his family moved to Little Hunting Creek (later renamed Mount Vernon by his half-brother Lawrence) and remained there until George was 6. Then they moved to what is now known as Ferry Farm, though it would have been known as the Washington Farm in George's time. I worked there in 2008, though I worked for the Foundation that runs the site from 2007-2009. (I spent most of my time at Kenmore, the 18th century plantation home of George's sister, Betty.)

Mount Vernon is neat because it is the only site that has original buildings left on the landscape. His birthplace was "excavated" by "archaeologists" in the 1930s. They found a lot of material, but archaeology wasn't very refined then, so it is difficult to interpret what they found.

Ferry Farm, however, is unique because they have been doing meticulous archaeology since 2000 and it has yielded some wonderful results.

When I started working for the Foundation in 2007, I had no idea they were on the verge of changing Washington history as we know it. I also had no idea that I was going to get to play a vital role in educating thousands of people about this change in history.

In the summer of 2008, The George Washington Foundation prepared to announce that they had finally found the site of the home that George grew up in from age 6 to about age 20. A site that was assumed to have been lost to history had been found! In addition, they were able to put to rest the story that George's house burned to the ground. There was a fire, yes, but it did not destroy the home. This was big. I mean really big.

When it was all said and done, National Geographic produced a documentary called "The Real George Washington" and it can be streamed on YouTube by clicking here.

The announcement was made on July 2, 2008.

Nationwide print, radio, and TV news media? Check
National Geographic? Check
Virginia's Speaker of the House? Check
Current (as of then) and former Virginia governors? Check

The day was huge. Big speeches were given by the dignitaries and then they got to see the remains of the house. For part of the day, I played the role of human pushpin, marking the location of one of the site's features while dignitaries looked at the site.

Cellars from George's boyhood home

Of course, this was also a party, so there was food and drink. At one point I found myself standing with former Virginia Governor George Allen and Virginia's Speaker of the House Bill Howell discussing beer and baseball. (The former I know a decent bit about; the latter I know nothing at all.)

It was an exhausting day followed by an even more exhausting rest of the summer. The tremendous amount of press coverage led to an explosion in visitation. Most of my job was to give tours of the site and there were some days where we were so busy that I never even had time to eat lunch!

You can visit the site and see where they're currently excavating in what is, essentially, the back yard. They've found a kitchen, slave quarters, etc, but the house site has been covered up and sodded over for protection. The corners are outlined for visual reference, but it just isn't the same.

Looking back on it now, it was a truly remarkable thing to be a part of. There aren't many people who can say that they stood in the cellars of George Washington's boyhood home. I'm lucky to count myself as one of them.

Clover Hill: The Honeymoon is Over

Located near Culpeper, Virginia, I only recently learned of Clover Hill's existence. It has an interesting and rich history, but is destined to meet a very sad fate.

Reportedly built in 1775, Clover Hill was built in the Gothic style long before it was popular. It was home to James Barbour (1828 - 1895), who was a lawyer, planter, Virginia delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention, delegate for the 1861 Virginia secession convention, and a major in the Confederate Army under General Richard S. Ewell. His father, John, served in the War of 1812 as aide-de-camp to future president James Madison.

Needless to say, there's a lot of history in this home and the people who lived there. However, Clover Hill wasn't done witnessing history.

After the battle of Brandy Station in June 1863, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hampton (brother of Lieutenant General Wade Hampton) of the 2nd South Carolina Cavalry died in the front-right first-floor room of the house.



 

Wade Hampton

Frank Hampton

 

 

While this is certainly notable and significant in the home's history, it is trumped less than a year later, in February 1864, by another historic event in the home.

George Armstrong Custer (of Little Big Horn fame) honeymooned with his bride, Elizabeth "Libbie" Bacon Custer, at Clover Hill for about a month. Custer called the place "Camp Libbie" in her honor.



George and Libbie 

 





Clover Hill with Custer and staff, March 1864



Clover Hill obviously survived the Civil War and was home to a number of families well into the 20th century. Sadly, it has been vacant for many years now.

Clover Hill, November 2013

The bushes out front have grown so tall and so rotund that it is impossible to see in this photo the porch where Custer and his staff posed almost 150 years ago. Trust me, though, the porch is still there.

Seeing Clover Hill's sad state of disrepair is utterly gutwrenching to anyone who appreciates history and old houses. Supposedly, the owner has been contacted in the past about selling the home so that it can be preserved. Unfortunately, the efforts were fruitless. Now, it seems, all is lost. It would take a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money to bring the home back to livable condition.

Standing on the property, it is all but impossible to imagine this place as the home of a once-proud and accomplished Virginia family. It is even harder still to imagine it as a lovely honeymoon destination for George Custer and his young bride, Libbie. Instead, it is easier to imagine it as the place where Frank Hampton died because, like Frank, Clover Hill has drawn its last breath.





Braehead: Breakfast Before Battle

Located off of Lee Drive and nestled within the boundary of the Fredericksburg Battlefield sits Braehead, the 1859 home of John Howison. The home was only three years old when the Civil War literally arrived on Mr. Howison's doorstep.

Braehead, 2013, courtesy of Braehead Manor website

On the morning of the battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee tied his faithful warhorse Traveller to the tree in front of Braehead and came inside to have breakfast.

The tree where Lee tied Traveller still stands.



The home was damaged during the Civil War and bears many scars, including grafitti, bayonet marks, bullet holes, and carvings. Braehead had been in the Howison family for almost 150 years. Graham Stephens, the last member of the Howison family to live there, decided to sell the home. I contacted Mr. Stephens in February 2008 and arranged a tour of the house with him.

Damage next to the door from a projectile

 

Initials carved into a doorframe
 

Seeing the tree where Traveller was tied was very cool. However, what I really wanted to see was the room where Lee ate breakfast. I wanted to stand where Lee stood and see what he saw. Near the end of the tour, Mr. Stephens took me into "The Room" ... and this is what I saw:

The room where General Lee ate breakfast

I stood there, silent and stunned. Surely he had to be joking. This room had a fairly modern black-and-white linoleum floor and was being used to store Christmas decorations, among other things. That's when Mr. Stephens told me what had happened to "The Room." Years before, water damage wreaked havoc on part of the house, including this room. The original wooden floor was completely destroyed and had to be replaced. In an effort to save some cash, the floor was replaced with cheap linoleum.

Ugh. My heart sank. I couldn't believe it. My visions of standing where Lee stood and seeing what he saw had been dashed against the rocks.

At any rate, the whole home was very neat and I really enjoyed the tour. It contained all of the original furnishings and even had some odd quirks - like a bathroom in a hallway from an ill-fated stint as a bed and breakfast in the 1990s. Seriously. The bathroom WAS the hallway; you had to pass through it to get to the rooms on the other side of it.

When I left Braehead that day, I had mixed feelings. I was honored to have toured the home, but I was unsure of its future now that it was up for sale.


My fears were short lived because Braehead was purchased by the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, and then sold to the first people to own the home outside of the Howison family, in 2011. They have turned the home into Braehead Manor, a very nice bed and breakfast. I have not stayed there yet, but the photos on the website show a home that, while very different in appearance from when I visited in 2008, looks wonderful. The restoration work was very well done and the home looks incredibly cozy and inviting.

So there you have it. My journey to see the room where Lee ate breakfast was crushed by linoleum, saved by a nonprofit, resurrected by a preservation-minded couple, and turned into a great B&B that will allow countless people to experience this gem of an antebellum home.

The Mystery Building Behind FedEx

During the government shutdown, I had some free time on my hands. OK, so I had a lot of free time on my hands. As luck would have it, I have a friend who likes to explore historic structures. She tipped me off about one on top of a hill, shrouded by trees, behind the local FedEx plant. Needless to say, I was intrigued.

We hopped in the car and off we went, north into Stafford County. As we came up on it, my friend pointed out the mystery building as we drove by, but I couldn't get a good look at it. We turned around and drove past it again. This time I got a better look, but I still wasn't satisfied.

Pulling off the road, it was time to embrace technology: Google Maps' satellite images.

Google Maps arial view
 

Sure enough, there it was. We weren't crazy. But we still had no idea what it was. For now, it was just some odd, tall structure hidden behind some trees on a hill near FedEx. Was is concrete? Maybe. Stone? More likely. Our time had run out for the day, so we headed home. I was dissatisfied, but still very intrigued.

Over the next few days, I got busy doing other things and put the mystery building out of my mind for awhile. Then we decided it was time to go back and explore some more.

Pulling off the side of the road at the base of the hill, I was almost beside myself with excitement. I was hoping it would reveal itself to be some really neat, old building that had long been forgotten. However, the very real possibility that it would turn out to be a boring, abandoned modern structure was still in the back of my mind.

I hopped out of the car and began my ascent up the hill. Right off the bat, it was tougher than I thought it was going to be. The hill was incredibly steep and everything was covered in thorny vines. Nonetheless, I made my way up the hill.

The further I climbed, the closer I got and the more of the building I could see. By the time I reached the top, I knew we had stumbled onto something very cool. This is what I saw:

Overall view of the building

Needless to say, I was very intrigued by what I was beginning to see. This was obviously no modern building. It was also obviously no small structure. This old, stone building was very cool! I was totally excited by it and began snapping pictures to take back with me for research.

 

After I made my way back down the hill, I explained what I had seen to my friend. We spent some time looking at the photos and then left the site, hoping to know more soon.

 

The next day, I did some very simple online sleuthing that led me to some very solid info about the building.  It turned out that the mystery structure was:

 

Chestnut Hill

 

As it turned out, discovering the name of the structure was going to be the easiest (and most straightforward) part about this.

 

Could I track down a solid construction date? Nope. Local lore says part of it may date back to 1660-1677 as a fort ... but that's highly unlikely. The year 1850 (or 1856) is supposedly carved into one of the chimneys. That's a more likely date. Still, an exact date is unknown.

 

When documented by Julia Heflin in 1937 for the WPA, she had little to report on the home. "There is no history attached to this place," she wrote. While her research skills are incredibly poor, she did manage to take a photo of the old place. It's not a great photo, but her photography skills are certainly better than her research skills.

 

Chestnut Hill in 1937

 

Despite being a mystery-filled, three-story, stone oddity, Chestnut Hill can lay claim to being the first home in Stafford County to have an indoor bathtub with running water ... gravity fed, of course. A pipe ran from a local spring into the stone tub and could be filled with just the turn of a handle. It must have been neat to see, but I wouldn't want to bathe in such cold water!

 

Chestnut Hill was occupied well into the 20th century. It was sold in 1964 and then, like many historic homes in this area, burned under mysterious circumstances in 1967. It was obviously never rebuilt.

 

At any rate, the home (or what's left of it) is very neat and I was happy to learn 1) that it even exists and 2) that it has such a neat history.

 

More about Chestnut Hill can be found in a great new book, Land of Hogs and Wildcats: People and Places of Lower Stafford County, Virginia, by my good friend and local historian Jerrilynn Eby. You can get the book by clicking here. Jerrilynn is a wealth of information and all of her books about Stafford are great!

 

Well, thanks for joining me for this installment of The Ambling Historian!

 



Stolen Statue Recovered with Aid from President Lincoln

During the battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, the town was occupied by Union soldiers. There are many accounts of the rowdy behavior by the soldiers while they were here. Some of their activities included excessive drinking which led to men parading around in dresses, dragging very nice furniture out into the streets, playing pianos that had been removed from homes, and quite a lot of looting.

Looting is the theme of today's post.

Douglas Gordon House

Built sometime before 1801, the Douglas Gordon House, located at 1210 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, was the scene of an odd case of looting and Presidential-aided recovery during the Civil War.

 

Douglas, his wife Anne, and their three children were among the residents of town who left their homes and took refuge elsewhere during the battle. As a result, their home was "up for grabs," as it were, by the occupying Union soldiers.

 



Daguerreotype of Douglas' wife Anne


 

When the Gordon family returned to their home on Princess Anne Street, they found it to be a casualty of war; the home was riddled with holes from bullets and other projectiles. In addition to this, their furniture and works of art had been smashed and destroyed.

 

One of the more ambitious looters even made off with a heavy bronze equestrian statue of Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy. The piece had been purchased by the Gordons while on their honeymoon in Italy. No small piece, it is likely that it took more than one person to get it out of the house.

 

This is the actual statue that was stolen and recovered.

The looter (or looters) are lost to history; their names are not recorded. That said, it is known who the statue was sold to: Colonel Joshua Owen of Pennsylvania.

 

Less than a year later, Anne Gordon's sister-in-law, Anne Thomas, overheard a soldier in her Baltimore home bragging about an equestrian statue he had stolen from a home in Fredericksburg. Mrs. Thomas was convinced it was the Gordon family piece.

 

Anne Thomas was friends with President Lincoln's physician, so she called on him to enlist Lincoln's help in recovering the statue. The plan worked.

 

On November 7, 1863, General Order No. 360 was issued to order the statue, which was "private property of Mr. Douglas Gordon" had been "unlawfully taken from a private residence in Fredericksburg" and was to be "restored to Mrs. Annie C. Thomas, the sister of Mr. Gordon, who has made application therefor." 

 

General Order No. 360

 

The Gordon statue went on an odd journey with an interesting cast of characters. It eventually found it's way into the Virginia Historical Society's museum collection and is currently part of a travelling panel exhibition entitled, An American Turning Point: The Civil War in Virginia. The exhibition is currently on display at the Fredericksburg Area Museum & Cultural Center, which is how I was able to see and photograph it.

 

Arguably, the statue should have not been removed from the house in the first place. That said, it's a good thing the thief had a big mouth and decided to brag about it. It's really quite remarkable that he happened to be bragging about it in front of  Mr. Gordon's sister in her own home. Of all the people and homes in Baltimore, he just happened to be in that one at that moment!

 

Coincidence? I think not.

Idlewild: Lee's Chancellorsville HQ

When someone says "Idlewild," most people in the Fredericksburg area think of the new subdivision full of cookie cutter houses set so close together that you could almost touch two at once if you stood between them with your arms outstretched.

Most people don't think about the house that appears on the three entrance pillars to the Idlewild neighborhood. That house isn't just some random image chosen because it looked nice. No, that house actually exists.

Built by William Yates Downman in 1859, Idlewild is a beautiful example of American Gothic Revival architecture. The home was just four years old when Robert E. Lee used it as his headquarters on May 4-5, 1863, during the Chancellorsville campaign. Perched high up on a hill, the home had a commanding view of the surrounding landscape when Lee was there. Today, the area is secluded by trees; you can see a Home Depot building and a Central Park shopping center sign in a couple of the clearings.

From the opposite perspective, if you know just where to look, you can see one Idlewild's chimneys peeking through the trees from the edge of the Home Depot parking lot.

Remarkably, Idlewild remained in the same family until the 1940s. Subsequent owners lived there until vacating the property in 1989. No one has lived there since then.



Idlewild, circa 1989

The home sat relatively undisturbed until arsonists set the home ablaze in 2003. A smaller fire and continued vandalism have plagued the site ever since. Now in the possession of the city, the sad remains have been shored up with steel beams and a "protective" fence has been erected around the main house and some of the outbuildings.

Idlewild, October 2013

The city has hoped that someone will come along with a plan that will allow Idlewild to be restored to its former glory. A few companies and people have presented various ideas, but the city has turned all of the offers down.

Idlewild is one of only two homes in the Fredericksburg area that was used by Robert E. Lee. The other home, Braehead, was recently redone and turned into a B&B.

I would love to see Idlewild restored, but without some quick action and, frankly, some deep pockets, it isn't going to happen. I remain hopeful, though, because it would be an absolute shame to let a home with so much history fall victim to the elements any more than it already has.

Idlewild's sad interior

Fredericksburg is often billed as "America's Most Historic City," but every time we lose a piece of our history, whether it is to development or the elements, we become a little less historic.

Little Building, Big History: Union Church Historic Site

As I mentioned in the introductory post, I'm President of the Union Church Preservation Project and Head Trustee of the Union Church Historic Site. (Be sure to "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.)

Since the majority of the church was destroyed during a storm in September 1950, the current structure is just the narthex and is only about 10 feet deep. But like the title of this post implies, there's big history in this little building.

Photo taken in 1927 by Frances Benjamin Johnston.

Built in 1819, it was the third iteration of a church in Falmouth and was the only church there at the time. The name "Union" comes from the fact that it was shared by Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians. Therefore, it was a union of the four denominations.

Two very important people with the abolition movement worshiped in Union Church. One was Anthony Burns, a Stafford county slave whose escape, capture, and trial in 1854 under the Fugitive Slave Law made headlines across the nation. The other was Moncure Conway, a Falmouth native born into a slave-holding family who went on to become one of the most outspoken Southern abolitionists.

Anthony Burns

Burns and Conway, born just two years apart but in totally different worlds, crossed paths during one of the United States' most contentious times. This little building with big history is one of the places their lives intersected.

Moncure Conway

Once the Civil War broke out, Union Church was used in a variety of ways for the war effort. First and foremost, the brass bell was removed and melted down, likely turned into a cannon tube. Next, the church saw a ton of Union soldiers. It was used as a barracks and a hospital on a variety of occasions between 1862 and 1864.



After the Civil War, the church was pretty badly damaged. All of the pews had been used for firewood or makeshift hospital tables. It wasn't until 1868 that the church was up and running again with new pews and a new steel bell.

Union Church thrived for the rest of the 19th and early 20th centuries. By 1930s, however, things were changing. There were now other denomination-specific churches in Falmouth and Union Church was no longer the only option for worship. The doors were closed for good in 1935.

Sitting vacant for years, a 100-year-old structure cannot survive without general maintenance. A new roof was needed, but the funds never came through. In September 1950, a large storm ripped through Falmouth and caused the roof to collapse, taking the majority of the building with it.

Union Church sat, mostly destroyed and open to the elements, for four years. In 1954, a contractor was hired to take down the rest of the walls and brick up the narthex.

In the decades that followed, a number of efforts were begun by a variety of people to preserve and restore the old building, but none came to fruition.

It wasn't until 2009 that the Trustees of the Union Church Historic Site, a 501c3 organization, was formed to bring the building back to life. In 2010, a fundraising arm called Union Church Preservation Project was formed.

In the four years since being created, we've come a long way. Thanks to a grant from Stafford County, the church finally got a new roof. A number of volunteers have helped clean and maintain the church and make it more presentable. We've removed the bell and put it on display as well as have the church painted. Our first major fundraising event was a huge hit back in May and we're gearing up for year two soon. Students created a digital reconstruction of the church using AutoCAD. We even donated a pew to the Smithsonian! New whiskey barrel planters were put out in front and Union Church once again looks lively and cared for.

Most recently, the University of Mary Washington's Historic Preservation department (where I got my degree) was partnered with us to use the church as a case study for their Building Forensics class. The students will gain valuable, hands-on experience and we will get wood, brick, and mortar analyses that will help us move forward with the proper preservation of the structure.

As we move into Stafford County's 350th anniversary in 2014 and we get closer to Union Church's 200th anniversary in 2019, things are definitely looking up.

Like I said in the title, Falmouth Union Church is a little building with big history.

Freshly painted in January 2013.

Here we go!

Hi everyone!

Thanks for stopping by my corner of the Internet. Let me tell you a little about me so that you know what to expect from The Ambling Historian.

In my professional life, I have a degree in Historic Preservation and have done work at both of the "Ivory Towers" of the history field - the National Park Service (previously) and the Smithsonian Institution (currently).

In my personal life, I run a nonprofit for the Falmouth Union Church Historic Site and have an intense passion for American history, mainly Civil War and earlier. I love visiting battlefields, historic house museums, and various other historic structures.

I love seeing places that are off the beaten path - like, waaaaay off the beaten path. This often means that the sites may have little if any information on site. That appeals to the researcher in me because I then get to dive into historic records, maps, etc and find out about the site.

My goal for The Ambling Historian is to present a variety of posts. Sometimes we will explore the story behind a place. Other times it will be about the people in a certain place. There will also be posts about places I can't find any info about and I just want to share in he hopes that someone else will have some info. There may even be posts that are short - a photo and a few words - because I find the place and its accompanying story moves me beyond words.

At any rate, I hope you enjoy this blog and you have a good time ambling through history with me!