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 V^^:^l SHREDS AND \zM?^ 
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 By 
 
 Jj^))) Mildred Beatty 
 Pierce 
 
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 ^.-O^VV ' /A^5-^>b/ T^^^ ^^y^^^oftf''^^ ^t their Shop ("ic^^^^^ ' 
 ''''~"^^^^'^'''^^^>\ in East Aurora, New York 
 
UBMRY of CONGRESS 
 
 1»>C/ Oyiii"^ «at:elvecl 
 
 JAM U iy07 
 
 OUVSS A Mc' N3. 
 ' COPY /^. 
 
 
 Copyright 
 
 1906 
 
 By Mildred B. Pierce 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 ''Eastward Ho!" _ _ . - - H 
 
 A Modern Pompeii _ _ - - 24 
 
 Quaint Old Yorktown -, - - - 31 
 
 Portal of The Past — Williamsburg - 46 
 
 Old Bruton, Church of the Day Before 
 
 Yesterday - - . - - - 65 
 
 Imperial Richmond _ _ _ _ TJ 
 
 Just Touching Upon Norfolk - - - 94 
 
 St. John's Church, Hampton, Virginia - 102 
 
PREFACE 
 
 'OWELL has said that "It is a high inspiration to be 
 the near neighbor of great events." 
 This strip of Virginia, of which Old Point Comfort 
 is the tip, has been nearer than a neighbor to great 
 events. It has been right at home — has furnished the 
 arena for actions crucial, pivotal and of an ultimate importance 
 to affect all Christendom. 
 
 It comes in the nature of a surprise to many people that this 
 peninsula rightfully wears the highest honors ^ Three wars, 
 consequent losses and privations, and many fires have sacked the 
 old libraries of this section and denied posterity much of its 
 history which was never fulsome. The Adventurers were not 
 primarily occupied in compiling data nor were they unduly in- 
 terested in being the first. They were out for gold and made up 
 in daring and romance whatever they may have lacked in statistics. 
 Later generations revered Virginia history; but they were not 
 engaged in writing it, talking it, preaching it; they were in the 
 main pleasure-loving and ease-taking and carried no troublesome 
 conscience concerning to-morrow. Consequently the adventure, 
 fantasy, fortune, hardship, peril, famine, devastation, massacre, 
 the initiative, the ceremony and the victories supreme, have not 
 been needlessly heralded and are but vaguely recalled. 
 The country at large is discovering the landmarks here, on this 
 peninsula, pre-eminent in American History, and is anxious to 
 visit and to learn. There is seldom the time, the inclination nor 
 the opportunity to consult the histories, scattered and usually 
 voluminous; and, yet, there is a desire for something authentic 
 and fuller than'the province of the guide book permits. So, — 
 these little sketches are presented. They have been written after, 
 not one journey, but many, to the places and there I have taken 
 the pictures of the historic sites. Every effort has been made to 
 verify through these personal visits and study of the authorities. 
 G, I desire to make acknowledgment to Mr. George F. 
 Adams, for it was he who suggested to me to make these ex- 
 cursions and write them for T^e Cavalier, in which they were 
 first printed, practically as they appear here. The historians con- 
 sulted include: John Smith — History, Stith, Meade, Fiske, 
 Campbell, Wilson, Yonge, Tyler, Cooke, Goodwin, Ford and 
 others. 
 
To that sweet Virginian, Mary Corling Dunlop — 
 who has ever seemed to me to be the reincarnation 
 of the Colonial belle, Mollie Ball of Lancaster, 
 ' * verry sensable, Modest and Loving " — I dedicate 
 these Shreds and Patches of History. 
 
 M. B. P. 
 
Shreds and Patches of History 
 
"Eastward Ho!" 
 
 Seagull. I tell thee that gold is more plentiful there than copper 
 is with us; and for as much red copper as I can bring I '11 have 
 thrice the weight in gold. Why, man, all their dripping-pans are 
 pure gold and all the chains with which they chain up their 
 streets are massy gold; all the prisoners they take are fettered in 
 gold; and for rubies and diamonds they go forth on holidays 
 and gather 'em by the seashore to hang on their children's 
 coats and stick in their children's caps as commonly as our 
 children wear safFron-gilt brooches and groats with holes in 'em. 
 And then you shall live freely there without sergeants or cour- 
 tiers or lawyers. Then for your advancement, there it is simple 
 and preposterously mixed — you may come to preferment enough 
 — to riches and fortune enough and have never the more villainy 
 nor the less wit. Besides there we shall have no more law than 
 consciences, and not too much of either; serve God enough, eat 
 and drink enough, and enough is as good as a feast. 
 
 Spendall. God 's me! and how far is it thither? 
 
 I ED upon such fancies it is small won- 
 der that the popular mind grew fever- 
 ish with excitement and enthusiasm to 
 colonize the fair, new lands of Vir- 
 ginia. This comedy of Eastward Ho! 
 had a record run in 1605, and was given 
 to the public in book form, just three hundred 
 years ago, when, to satisfy the demand, four edi- 
 tions were exhausted between the first of Septem- 
 ber and the end of that year. 
 
 Ben Jonson had collaborated with Chapman and 
 Marston to produce the play and the erroneous 
 title tells the prevailing belief that America was 
 
 11 
 
tied to the Orient. Seagull and Spendall were char- 
 acters in the play. The quotation is from their 
 nightly recitations which thrilled the London au- 
 diences. The dialogue is vibrant yet with the in- 
 vitation to a vision-land which fetters its prisoners 
 with gold and has no overplus of law or conscience. 
 The impulse is to exclaim with Spendall: '*God 's 
 me! how far is it thither?" Let 's away! 
 Bearing such pictures in their minds, to what 
 cruel disappointments and appalling disasters were 
 they doomed, who sought the new country! What 
 centuries and generations between the pledge of a 
 wonderland and its fulfillment! 
 The first score years of settlement — anything but 
 settlement — were a repeating record of devastation 
 and decimation. As the results of folly, famine and 
 massacre, the almost complete annihilation of the 
 colony is told again and again, during twenty years 
 of persistent effort. Before the Pilgrim Fathers had 
 stepped upon Plymouth Rock, near fourteen thou- 
 sand had been the number of those coming over 
 to the Virginia settlement. When the Indian mas- 
 sacre was over, in 1622, nine hundred and eleven 
 were the pitiful remnant with which a fresh start 
 was made. The destiny of the colony hinged fre- 
 quently upon such dramatic turns as would defy 
 the most daring playwright. The follower of their 
 fortunes grows to a reverent understanding that 
 these people ** should be the means under God" 
 to a power which should affect all Christendom. 
 12 
 
Q America is greater, better and richer, than Sea- 
 gull's boasting speech, though not so fooHshly ex- 
 pressed. **In the windowless palace of rest" for 
 three hundred years the Adventurers have slept; 
 the James River has reached over a part of the 
 Island to draw within her embrace certain of the 
 sites of the dwellings of those first settlers, who, 
 indeed, *' builded better than they knew." 
 It is pleasing that in fancy we may make the voyage 
 and be with them when the joyful start was made 
 down the Thames. It was a great day for even so 
 blase a city as London. The throngs of people 
 pressed to the farthest edge of the docks to shout 
 hurrahs and bid '*God Speed!" Dryden was on 
 hand with some verses which would never have 
 been remembered for any merit of their own ; but 
 he brought to rhythmic measure the favorite sen- 
 timent that Virginia was " Earth's only paradise." 
 Of the company on board ship there was none to 
 be long esteemed, save John Smith. Captain Chris- 
 topher Newport was in command of the little fleet, 
 which was a blunder to begin with ; a better man 
 was along in Bartholomew Gosnold, brave sea- 
 captain. Evidently there was some royal pull which 
 had supplanted Gosnold, who, by reasons of his 
 energy in exploiting the venture and in having 
 previously shortened the distance by a direct sail- 
 ing to the American shore, was entitled to be hon- 
 ored as admiral of the fleet. But, Newport was in 
 charge of the three ships, the Susan Constant, the 
 
 13 
 
Good Speed and the Discovery; they sailed south, 
 the old course, by way of the Azores and con- 
 sumed nearly six months from the day of leaving, 
 Saturday, December 20, until the landing at 
 Jamestown. They came within the Capes late the 
 following April and skirted these shores until the 
 second week in May, when they set sail up the 
 James. 
 
 Whether is was a bit of cowardice, fearing the 
 discord; or a stroke of diplomacy; or a love of 
 mystery; that King James sent them afloat with 
 sealed orders, is not easily determined. Whatever 
 the purpose, the fact furnished another picturesque 
 incident when the landing was made at Cape Hen- 
 r}^ the cross set up and the box opened. The Ad- 
 venturers could not wait until they should reach a 
 place for settlement; but, the first available point 
 of American shore was selected to enable them to 
 satisfy their curiosit>^ With delicate compliment 
 they called the place after the Prince and named 
 the twin strip of land to the north, after Prince 
 Charles. With what eagerness must they have 
 opened the box containing their instructions! 
 Whatever of chagrin or discontent they may have 
 felt — there was only to obey — " The King can do 
 no wrong." 
 
 There has always been a question of the judgment 
 which induced them to select the Island of James- 
 town, then a peninsula, as the place of settlement. 
 The letters preserved, which the gentlemen did 
 14 
 
write, advise that by the order of the King, they 
 were to go well inland to avoid molestation by the 
 Spaniards. By the configuration of the then pen- 
 insula, they were able to " moor their ships to the 
 trees in six fathoms of water." This point, thirty- 
 two miles from the mouth of the James, appeared 
 best to meet the requirements of the king and the 
 colonists, and there the landing was made on May 
 13, 1607, and in honor of his Majesty, they called 
 the place "James Towne." 
 
 From start to finish, the Adventurers seem not to 
 have done the thing they had planned. The first 
 intention was to found the colony on the island of 
 Roanoke, where ''Croatan," the unsolved enigma 
 of early American history, was carved upon the 
 guide-post tree. A storm drove the little fleet into 
 the waters of the present Hampton Roads and the 
 mariners accepted the guidance of fate or Provi- 
 dence, as belief may be, and sailed up the James 
 River. 
 
 It was well where so much of ill was to befall, that 
 the first sight of the land was fair; that the trees 
 swung from their arms a tapestry of leaves, through 
 which the sun burned in spots of gold ; that the 
 turf unrolled to the river's edge, a mat of velvet 
 green, that the flowers stood sweetly by, lifting 
 cups over-spilling with perfume; that the birds 
 chanted a choral service; that the pines, solemn 
 and stately, intoned a blessing, while from the 
 bearded bloom of their boughs was breathed an 
 
 15 
 
incense on the air; that the river challenged the 
 sky for color — mute witnesses both of unknown 
 days — in fact, it was May in Virginia ! If there a 
 dusky face appeared, it was in the background and 
 the Adventurers were well come to this new land. 
 Q It will be a long time before "James Towne" 
 will again present so charming a scene; it is a 
 pleasure to linger now with the Adventurers — 
 there were for them so few joy days and so many 
 calling for anguish and lamentation. It is easy to 
 imagine how they must have rushed hither and 
 yon, eager to see and do all at once — and the mar- 
 vel of the unfamiliar! The first duty was to praise 
 God. No skill of man ever framed more fitting 
 temple than that cathedral in the virgin woods, 
 when the trees stood apart that aisles might be, an 
 old sail stretched above afforded the shelter for the 
 congregation, and *'a bar of wood nailed between 
 two trees" serv^ed as a reading desk for the devout 
 Mr. Hunt. Surely the angels, ' * ministers of grace, ' ' 
 were very close to the worshippers, kneeling there 
 in the great primeval forests with all the elements 
 of the unknown surrounding. There the colonists 
 met every night and morning and twdce on Sun- 
 days until the church was builded. The trees were 
 felled first to make a clearing for the fort and later, 
 the houses were put up within, ranging side by 
 side, in angular fashion. They were thrown has- 
 tily together and thatched with reeds. 
 The Council was composed of six men, named by 
 16 
 
The tree has spread its trunk as a protecting cloak about the tomb— See page 23 
 
the King. Men of good family, yes — but totally 
 unfitted by nature or training for their duties. 
 Barring Smith and Gosnold, it was the Council of 
 the Incapables. Gosnold fell an early victim to the 
 deadly fever, and the miserable jealousies of the 
 others because of Smith, had made him their pris- 
 oner, thrown under arrest on shipboard, charged 
 with seeking to make himself **King of Virginia." 
 Edward Maria Wingfield was chosen president. 
 He had to his credit the reputation of having done 
 some good fighting in the Low Country wars with 
 Spain; but, he has very much to his discredit, the 
 most of all, that he had planned to seize the only 
 remaining ship of the colonists and flee the country. 
 John Kendall was the instigator of the move. The 
 early American jury found this councilman guilty 
 and administered summary punishment; he was 
 shot. Wingfield was deposed. John Martin deserted 
 and John Ratcliffe was a wicked disturber of the 
 peace. Released from all restraints of family and 
 traditions, the metal of the men was tested. The 
 old letters of the Adventurers, which were com- 
 piled by John Smith, and left a priceless legacy for 
 future generations, leave no chance to misunder- 
 stand the character of these councilmen. The ac- 
 counts have all the more value since they were 
 written freely without any thought of public sen- 
 timent, then or thereafter. There is no whimp- 
 ering for popular favor to be found in these epistles 
 — they were impelled by the merciless truth of the 
 
 17 
 
tragic situation, and they called a spade, a spade. 
 Q, In all the musty research there is great reward 
 — perhaps no one thing more gratifying than that 
 our child-worship of John Smith may stand; the 
 study reveals him incomparable ! It would require 
 a volume to tell the resources, the unfailing cour- 
 age, the fascinating romance of John Smith, Gen- 
 tleman. Those who have delved deepest into the 
 past and have scrutinized every act and searched 
 every record of the Virginia Colony, have not felt 
 it too much to say that had John Smith failed the 
 colony, then had our Republic never been. And 
 too, the story of Pocahontas holds good — better 
 than our belief! 
 
 I spent hours, days, in the libraries studying these 
 people, long since buried with part of their city, 
 under the swift current of the James. I read every 
 available thing written concerning this first set- 
 tlement; and went back again and again to pore 
 over the letters which the Adventurers had written. 
 They became personal appeals to my sympathies. 
 Through an intensified interest, I lived with them, 
 was one of them. I worshipped with them under 
 the old sail, I walked their few streets and ventured 
 not far without the fort for fear, for deadly fear of 
 the Indians. I helped to build the shacks, kindled 
 the fires on these first hearthstones, was parched 
 by the fevers, escaped the fires and massacres, lost 
 my head with them in digging yellow dirt for 
 gold, watched wistfully for the returning ships 
 18 
 
with supplies, starved with them — from very frenzy 
 of thought I would rush from my desk to escape 
 the conviction that I was one of five to share "a 
 pint of barley sodden in water"; and rid me of 
 the terror that my famished neighbor might kill me 
 and eat me. I looked with wonder upon my present 
 associates and environments — where were my Ad- 
 venturers and the attending miseries of *'The 
 Starving Time"? The rapid transit of thought! 
 I had spanned three hundred years and was back 
 again in our own period of plenty. 
 But, I wished to go to Jamestown. I wanted to 
 step upon the ground, to localize in my mind the 
 place of landing. It was a needless fear which I 
 had harbored that a present civilization might have 
 over-builded and that memory must look through 
 and beneath toppling towers of commercial prog- 
 ress to see the humble homes of the first colonists. 
 Almost as silent and lone as then, now is the place. 
 Posterity was careless of a precious trust. Long 
 unhindered, the mighty current of the fast flowing 
 river had crumbled the earth and dropped the 
 fragments to the bed of the stream until several 
 acres of the island have been obliterated, while the 
 stretch which bridged it to the mainland has so 
 long been engulfed that it has escaped remem- 
 brance to say when. Scarred and broken grave- 
 stones, a mouldering tower and the disintegrating 
 foundations, are the pathetic decay of the desolate 
 mecca. 
 
 19 
 
Depopulation seemed the fate of Jamestown; for, 
 when the Indians had been driven westward be- 
 yond the power to terrify, the unhealthfulness of 
 the place still obtained. With the establishment of 
 other towns, the exodus began and the popularity 
 of Williamsburg, the near-by Colonial Capital, 
 drew to that center until but a handful remained, 
 and finally two planters were alone in possession of 
 the deserted city. The removal was complete in 
 about the year 1700, and then the plough over- 
 turned the land and the streets were lost in the 
 fields of waving grain. The acres about the church 
 tower were left unprotected but not obliterated. 
 By the extinction of the congregation the church- 
 yard had reverted to the state. The island passed 
 through several ownerships, finally to that of Mrs. 
 Barney, widow of the late Mr. Edward E. Barney. 
 By deed of gift. May 3, 1893, Mr. and Mrs. Bar- 
 ney conveyed to the Association for the Preserva- 
 tion of Virginia Antiquities the twenty-two and 
 one-half acres roundabout the historic tower. This 
 society had, the previous year, acquired the rights 
 to the tower and churchyard, through an act of 
 state legislation. 
 
 This Association has made noble efforts to preser\ e, 
 protect, and as far as possible, to restore the fragmen- 
 tary records as left in ruins and graves. So revered 
 to them is their work that the dust of the several 
 excavations has been literally sifted through their 
 fingers, lest some precious evidence be lost. The 
 20 
 
excavations are revealing treasured data whereupon 
 to rebuild the buried city. Our Government has 
 been interested to the extent of placing a retaining- 
 wall, resisting the inroads of the river and protect- 
 ing the Island from further encroachment. 
 The first church which John Smith described as 
 *'a homely thing like a barn, set upon crotchetts, 
 covered with rafts, sedge and earth," was destroyed 
 by fire in January, 1608, when most of the houses 
 of the settlement went for kindling wood. Repairs 
 were quickly made and probably there was sol- 
 emnized the first English marriage on American 
 soil, that of Anne Burras and John Laydon ; and 
 a year later witnessed the christening of their daugh- 
 ter, Virginia. Lord Delaware arrived in 1610, and 
 set straight about renovating and improving the 
 church. The record is that it measured sixty by 
 twenty-four feet. The excavations have exposed 
 the foundations of three churches, one within the 
 other; the innermost gives evidence of being this 
 church of timber, where all "the pews were of 
 cedar, with fair, broad windows also of cedar, to 
 shut and open as the weather shall occasion. The 
 font was hewn hollow like a canoe. The church 
 was so cast as to be very light within, and the Lord 
 Governor caused it to be kept passing sweet, 
 trimmed up with divers flowers. Every Sunday, 
 when the Lord Governor went to church, he was 
 accompanied by all the councilors, captains, other 
 officers, and all the gentlemen, and with a guard 
 
 21 
 
of fifty halberdiers in his lordship's livery, fair red 
 cloaks on each side and behind him. The Lord 
 Governor sat in the choir on a green velvet chair, 
 with a velvet cushion before him, on which he 
 knelt, and the council, captains and officers sat on 
 each side of him, each in their place, and when 
 the Lord Governor returned home, he was waited 
 on in the same manner to his house." Fancy the 
 pomp and ceremony of the vanished past of the 
 fated first cit>' ! 
 
 Four years later than this spectacular church-going 
 of his lordship, was the marriage of the American 
 princess, Pocahontas, to the widower, John Rolfe, 
 whose love for her had caused "a mighty war in 
 his meditations." Still three years later the colo- 
 nists had neglected their church for the culture of 
 tobacco. Again repairs were made, and in 1619, 
 Sir George Yeardley called in convention the first 
 legislative assembly in America and the body of 
 law-makers sat in the choir of the church. Twenty 
 years after that, the plan for a brick church was 
 executed, 1639. To this building. Bacon applied 
 the torch in the Rebellion of 1676; the charred 
 debris of the fire is in evidence under the fioor of 
 the church and even the sexton's tools have been 
 found by the excavators. The ruins of the brick 
 foundations of a row of buildings, showing steps 
 of cellars, have also been unearthed, which fit in to 
 corroborate the belief that ' ' the one farthest from 
 the river was the State House in existence in 1676, 
 22 
 
and where Nathaniel Bacon contested with Sir 
 WilUam Berkeley and which was afterward burned 
 by the Rebel and his forces." 
 
 Between the graves of Dr. James Blair, "Commis- 
 sary of Virginia, and sometime minister of this 
 parish," and that of his wife, Sarah Blair, a syca- 
 more shoot crowded its way up, separating the 
 tombs and finally shattering them. The growing 
 tree carried with it a portion of the tombstone of 
 Mrs. Blair to a height of ten feet in the air, firmly 
 fastened, while clasping the boxing of the tomb in 
 its trunk. The stone was dislodged a few years ago. 
 During the Jamestown Jubilee, in 1807, this freak 
 of nature was noted and recorded. The tree, now 
 grown to gigantic height, has spread its trunk as 
 a protecting cloak about the tomb and stands the 
 sentinel of the ancient churchyard. Mrs. Blair was 
 the daughter of "Col. Benjamin and Mrs. Hannah 
 Harrison of Surrey. Born August ye 14, 1670, mar- 
 ried June ye 2, 1687, and died May ye 5, 1713, 
 exceedingly beloved and lamented," is the record 
 by epitaph. This was the Harrison family which 
 was later to give two presidents to the United 
 States. 
 
 Happily the patriotism to preserve Jamestown 
 Island, was aroused before the river, rebuking the 
 neglect of generations, had reached quite over the 
 island to hide within her bosom the site where the 
 Adventurers had made their landing, builded their 
 churches, had given in marriage, buried their 
 
 23 
 
dead, had instituted trial by jury, had made the 
 first contribution to American Hterature and had 
 convened in first legislative assembly — all before 
 the Mayflower had sighted the barren coast of 
 New England. 
 
 A Modem Pompeii 
 
 ?T was not a molten stream from the 
 burning pit of some smouldering vol- 
 cano, which overswept this New World 
 Pompeii, recently excavated — far from 
 that! Nor, did modern progress ever 
 demand the site for any vertical city 
 of skyscrapers. Without conscious purpose on the 
 part of man, the wasted island has remained a 
 single choice and consecrated to its cradle destiny. 
 CJ A sacrifice to utility, this first English city in 
 America, was obliterated by the ploughshare and 
 buried under fields of waving corn. It was not 
 effaced in a moment, in the midst of affairs, in the 
 zenith of its glory — for small glory did the miser- 
 able beginning of anything so great as is America, 
 ever enjoy! Even in its palmiest days, Jamestown 
 was scarce more than a stopping place of officials 
 on duty there and an aggregation of public build- 
 ings. Then was the time of the real country places ; 
 there was the whole wilderness to draw upon and 
 24 
 
A Monarch Sycamore Stands Sentinel of the Old Jamesto>vn ChuTchyard—See page 18 
 
li .. &■'.:: i.r:.!}'J / 
 
Monolith of the Lonely Island is the Old Church Tower of Jamestown 
 
no one to oppose save the Indians. The boundary 
 of Virginia then reached from ocean to ocean, east 
 and west, and by its charter claimed two hundred 
 miles to the north and two hundred miles to the 
 south of Old Point Comfort. 
 
 In the waning light of a single century, "James 
 Citty" succumbed to repeated disasters, disinte- 
 gration, and finally yielded up the seat of govern- 
 ment to proud little Williamsburg, which has 
 come down to us a toy court, long reflecting the 
 ceremonial of the mother country. The town of 
 the Adventurers became mellow for the seed of 
 corn and history. The current of the James en- 
 croached and there was a double menace to any 
 preservation of the landing place of John Smith 
 and the first permanent English settlement. 
 Measured by the ripened ages of the Old World, 
 three hundred years is but a brief period from 
 which to review the beginning — a beginning that 
 is neither vague nor mythical. There is with us the 
 singular advantage of a nation which is the out- 
 growth of a matured, developed and Christian 
 people — there is no harking back to obscurity, nor 
 any figment of fancy, nor any evolution of a race. 
 Yet, they were very careless of any record .^ A 
 haphazard collection of letters, written by the 
 Adventurers, and compiled by John Smith, that 
 hero, who, had he lived in the according period 
 had been dignified with the attributes of a god, 
 is our first authority. The memory of man failed. 
 
 25 
 
Tradition played tricks with truth J- The eviden- 
 ces through remaining buildings were destroyed 
 because of the scarcity of material, which was 
 carried elsewhere, while the foundations of the 
 deserted place were soon hidden beneath the fertile 
 fields. Little was left to remind, and for a long 
 while it was not cared to recall the step-stone where 
 so many had faltered and fallen, and where so much 
 that was ill had overtaken ^ Thus, Jamestown 
 slipped from remembrance and almost from the 
 map; until, suddenly, we have awakened to an 
 appreciation of everything pertaining to that first 
 venture, which, estimated in results, is America, a 
 Wonder Nation. 
 
 Within the three intervening centuries much has 
 been irrevocably lost. Still, a great deal that was 
 believed effaced has been retraced, owing to the 
 tireless research and toilsome task of Mr. Samuel 
 H. Yonge, of the United States Corps of Engineers. 
 He had charge of the construction work on the 
 island which our laggard Government has been in- 
 duced to place against the swift current of the James 
 River. The voracious tide had lapped at the island 
 until it was feared that the larger part, and certainly 
 the stage of the dramatic first events, had been 
 drawn under water to disappear in the bed of the 
 river. 
 
 In placing the sea-wall, the corner of an old foun- 
 dation obtruded and, with this as a starter, Mr. 
 Yonge set himself patiently to work. During the 
 26 
 
two years that he was on Jamestown Island, direct- 
 ing the building of the retaining wall, Mr. Yonge 
 gave all his leisure time, to the end that our country 
 is forever a debtor to his research. The excavations 
 were begun, aided and abetted by the Association 
 for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and 
 carefully carried forward with the result that James- 
 town vvas unearthed, a modern Pompeii. 
 It was certainly reckoning with the unknown for, 
 aside from the little to be gleaned of Jamestown 
 from the Adventurers' letters, but two descriptions, 
 from personal knowledge, have been preserved. 
 These refer, and that indifferently, to the place 
 towards the close of its century, in 1676, and ten 
 years later in the account of the Reverend John 
 Clayton. With so little data at hand, the historians 
 have barkened to tradition and yielded to easy 
 supposition; which have proved mostly wrong. 
 Mr. Yonge first calculated the cause and extent of 
 the abrasion and scientifically proved that the pre- 
 vious estimate of the wash had been too great ; also, 
 the supposed location of the town was incorrect. 
 Happily we may start upon the new century with 
 a corrected page from the past. Even with the evi- 
 dence accumulated through the excavations, James- 
 town is scarce more than half-told. 
 An island two and one-fourth miles long and not 
 more than one and one-quarter at its greatest span, 
 is the green base of the Old Church Tower. Five 
 churches must be accounted for Jamestown; six, 
 
 27 
 
if we include that service when a bar of wood 
 nailed between two trees, served as reading desk 
 and an old tent stretched above, provided shelter 
 for the newly arrived worshippers who knelt there 
 in the wilderness woods on the margin of the New 
 World. The first two structures were within the 
 Fort — the old chronicles tell of these, of their 
 homely construction, of the fire which swept away 
 the first within eight months of the landing, of the 
 rebuilding and the happy celebration of the wed- 
 ding of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, which we 
 conclude must have taken place within the second 
 sanctuary. 
 
 So poorly put together were these houses of wor- 
 ship that they were ever demanding repairs and 
 rebuilding; it is somewhat difficult to keep trace 
 and pace with their remodeling. But, in 1617, 
 when Captain Argall came over he found a sad 
 state of affairs as regards their place of worship. 
 He has given an account of a third church; he 
 stated the dimensions: ** fifty by twenty foote." 
 Right gladly do we acknowledge this evident ten- 
 dency to detail, on the part of the Captain, for it 
 gives us a known quantity with which to work; 
 and now begin the fascinations of the excavations 
 as regards the church ; for, we may fasten the date 
 of this church of 1618 to the slenderest of the three 
 foundations disclosed. And too, three sets of floor 
 tiles have also been unearthed and the lowest of 
 these we attach to the weak foundation of the 1618 
 28 
 
structure, which, more than Hkely, was built of 
 wood. Then, about twenty years later, on this same 
 site, was the first of the brick churches builded. 
 This edifice stood until the Bacon Rebellion and 
 was then rebuilded, to be again destroyed by fire. 
 Q So stoutly builded is the old obelisk, eighteen 
 feet square and with walls three feet thick and 
 of a probable height of fifty feet — so solid and 
 defiant is this tower that the conclusion is forced 
 that there was a double purpose in its construction 
 — it might protect from the assaults of the Indians, 
 if need be, as well as from those of Satan. Since 
 along about 1644, with the death of the Emperor 
 Powhatan's brother, there perished the fear of 
 probable attack from the Indians, it is argued that 
 the Tower must have been set up before that date. 
 C[ Within the nave and the chancel, paved with 
 square bricks, is an indicated tomb, with a slab of 
 iron stone which has been inlaid with brasses. No 
 clew is there remaining as to whether this is a 
 grave or cenotaph .^ The intaglio outline of a 
 shrouded figure, the inscription plate, crest and 
 strange device are missing in the brasses which 
 channeled the stone and left the indiscernible sil- 
 houettes to forever mystify us. 
 A musket ball lodged in a skull, and with several 
 buckshot therein imbedded, give grim testimony 
 of a probable military execution. This was exposed 
 along the river bank when the protection work 
 aligned the island for the sea wall. And too, a 
 
 29 
 
number of human skeletons were found lying in 
 regular order. These are in part evidence that the 
 old churchyard has been the same from the first. 
 From the awful decimation of the succeeding Sup- 
 plies, the whole island would scarce provide nar- 
 row beds for those who went to sleep in death. 
 There are many indications which go to prove 
 that an extensive acreage was claimed for this city 
 of the dead .^ The fallen walls of the last of the 
 churches were, long years afterward, utilized in 
 building a church wall around the fragmentary 
 tombs remaining. 
 
 The first legislative assembly convened within the 
 third of the Jamestown churches — the inner foun- 
 dation revealed through the excavations .^ Most 
 things went the way of flame in those turbulent 
 days, and four different State Houses, with frequent 
 intervals of meeting in the taverns, are recorded. 
 The third and fourth probably occupied the same 
 foundations, which adjoin those of the Ludwell 
 houses and the "Country House." These have 
 been located and unburied. It was the corner of 
 the foundation of the " Country House," which 
 jutted out in the construction work, and which 
 led to these final discoveries and the disclosure of 
 the New World Pompeii. 
 
 A lady's riding stirrup, a thimble, a pair of scissors, 
 a copper candlestick, a pipe and a candle — how 
 personal becomes the interest and how human the 
 sentiment respecting this ownerless trumpery, 
 30 
 
found rusting in the cellar of one of the excavated 
 houses! The fireplaces point to a provision for 
 generous logs, there are supports for the porches 
 — fancy takes a winged flight back to re-people the 
 phantom house. The tract corresponds to that of 
 the Ludvvells — what dainty foot did this stirrup 
 hold, over whose slender finger, long since mingled 
 with the sacred dust of the island, did this thimble 
 fit — was it the proud and haughty Lady Frances 
 Berkeley, who deigned to yield her heart, but 
 never the name of her former liege lord and mas- 
 ter, when she married Philip Ludwell — a pipe and 
 a bottle and the great fireplace — the thimble and a 
 pair of scissors — the visions become sociable and 
 inviting — would that we might know! That is 
 forbidden; but cherished indeed are these relics 
 which intimate of home and have long outlasted 
 their owners, to bear testimony of the fireside. 
 
 Quaint Old Yorktown 
 
 [ITNESS of a victory superlative! Prog- 
 ress reached up and stopped the clock, 
 for Yorktown! The hour was high noon, 
 and the day was the 19th of October, 
 of the year 1781. History had a thought 
 to there preserve unchanged a memento 
 of the surrender of the British and the achievement 
 
 31 
 
of American Independence. But the reckoning 
 was without Time, whose stealthy hand has well 
 nigh crumbled to dust whatever of a brave material 
 showing the quaint little place had made up to 
 that memorable period «^ The present quiet and 
 serenity must be the very antithesis of the activity 
 and agitation of the dramatic close of hostilities, 
 there enacted. 
 
 Pathetic in its senile decay, it is yet a happiness 
 to find that no modern demand has ever over- 
 builded the spot. All that is left belongs rightfully 
 to the past. In the quest for the ancient landmarks, 
 it is easier to peer through an overgrowth of bram- 
 bles and vines than through an aspiring skyscraper. 
 Fallen and disintegrating walls are not the barrier 
 to the imagination which would reconstruct, as are 
 bricks and stones, set plumb, and with the mortar 
 still wet. 
 
 Perhaps you have been to Yorktown — then are you 
 familiar with its single street, and with the squat, 
 little houses there aligned, which find their vanish- 
 ing point at a distance of less than two city blocks; 
 when the country resumes the landscape and spreads 
 fields of broom across to the banks of the widening 
 river. Possibly you have made that turn in the road, 
 where, from the shelter of the pines, you look across 
 the white shore-line to the placid waters, repeating 
 the marvel of the sky. Catching the first glimpse 
 of Old Yorktown, you feel that you have crossed 
 the boundary to another, to a foreign land. An 
 32 
 
Quaint Old Yorktown— Its SinRle Street witli the Squat Little Houses there iiU^neii— See puife 32 
 
The Corner of the Foundation of "The Country House' 
 
ambitious chart of the town indicates as many as 
 three streets, and names them Main, Church and 
 Keyes. The first two will explain themselves and 
 .where they are likely to be found ; but the third is 
 lost in the confusion of picturesque ravines and 
 marl cliffs between the Nelson Mansion and the 
 Monument. Yorktown began a little late of the 
 century, for, in 1705, it was platted and laid out in 
 streets by that one of the Nelson family who was 
 then known with affectionate familiarity as '*01d 
 Scotch Tom." He was the founder of the family 
 in America. The place grew to the proud com- 
 mercial distinction of loading as many as seven 
 vessels every year for England. The cargoes were 
 the equivalent of money in the Old Dominion — 
 tobacco. Here also was the port of entry for fine 
 goods for the dealers in the then insignificant towns 
 of Philadelphia and Baltimore ^ This was when 
 William Nelson was the A. T. Stewart of York- 
 town and the Amblers were his competitors. 
 It is well to make the acquaintance of these old fam- 
 ilies; we shall meet them again and again and grow 
 to recognize them as neighbors, friends, kinsmen. 
 Three generations of the Nelsons must be kept 
 straight in the mind in order that no mistake be 
 made. '*01d Scotch Tom," as his name suggests, 
 came from the country north of England, and 
 founded this family at Yorktown, whose descend- 
 ants, even unto this day, keep the name promi- 
 nently before the public. He made two marriages. 
 
 33 
 
The first was with an American girl, Miss Reid; 
 and the second time he succumbed to the fascina- 
 tions of a widow whose name was Tucker. The 
 elder of his two sons was Thomas, Secretary of the 
 Colony, and the other son, William, was the Pres- 
 ident of the Council. It was William's son Thomas 
 who was the general and financier for Virginia in 
 the Revolution. William married Miss Burwell, 
 who was the granddaughter of "Old King Car- 
 ter." I love to bring these people down by their 
 nicknames — they give the distinguishing features 
 in tabloid form. The baptismal name is frequently 
 strange and confusing; for instance, who would 
 recognize Mr. Robin Carter as the famous old 
 colonist whose landed estates entitled him to the 
 title and perquisites of a monarch.? 
 In its palmy days Yorktown held not more than 
 sixty buildings, but many of them were very ele- 
 gant, with appointments in keeping. That they 
 were stoutly builded we are satisfied by an inspec- 
 tion of the sole remnant of that picture period, the 
 Nelson Mansion e^ This was not "Old Scotch 
 Tom's" residence; of that no evidence remains; 
 but this was builded for his son William, who, 
 when an infant in arms, took a conspicuous part 
 in the laying of the corner-stone. He was held in 
 the arms of his nurse and the bricks were passed 
 from her apron through his baby fingers. Bishop 
 Meade tells that this mansion was long the abode 
 of love, friendship and hospitality. 
 34 
 
We are reminded that at the time of the surrender 
 the direst confusion prevailed; that fine furniture 
 and rare and costly books were scattered about the 
 streets from the ransacked houses; that the soldiers 
 and their horses lay dead, neglected or half buried 
 in the trenches and mounds which the shells had 
 torn and thrown up; and that in no place was there 
 safety from the searching fires of the allied batter- 
 ies. It is also recalled that the patriot Nelson, fearing 
 this mansion, the finest and most conspicuous in 
 the place, might be occupied by the British, offered 
 five guineas to every gunner who would strike it 
 with his fire. He preferred rather that it should 
 be shelled than to meet such a fate. That it with- 
 stood the siege is evidence of a house put up to 
 stand. 
 
 With the subsequent retrogression of Yorktown, 
 was the passing of any material prosperity. Two 
 years before the American victory, the capital had 
 bej^ removed from Williamsburg to Richmond, 
 tythe lasting disadvantage of Yorktown. When 
 ije great event of Independence achieved had its 
 one hundredth anniversary, but two hundred and 
 fifty inhabitants were left to Yorktown, and of 
 these more than one half were of the black race. 
 Perhaps one dozen white families would constitute 
 the present population. 
 
 The day when I last went to Yorktown, when I 
 rode from Williamsburg there, I dropped the pres- 
 ent from my reckoning and I was one with the 
 
 35 
 
past. I met, passed and greeted, in the friendliest 
 way, those unseen ones of bygone days. I strained 
 my ear to catch the hoof-beat of the impetuous 
 riders, and my heart throbbed tumultuously with 
 hate or loyalty as they revealed themselves to me 
 in scarlet uniforms or the Continental blue and 
 buff. Then I swept away the vision of war ^ In 
 truth, two lazy horses were creeping on apace, 
 under the slapping rein of my would-be-sociable 
 driver. He had exhausted his store of small talk 
 with the information that ** mos' folks admires bes' 
 de Yorktown road," leaving me to infer that any 
 other road entering into competition must be that 
 to Jamestown. 
 
 I turned for entertainment to the figure riding be- 
 side me and noted only by me — straightway the 
 journey became romantic, sentimental. I was a 
 Colonial maiden. I was not very definite whether 
 I belonged to the Amblers, the Pages or the Bur- 
 wells. I was, too, a little confused respecting gen- 
 erations ; but since there was none to correct me, 
 I might fancy as illogically and unchronologically 
 as I chose. It pleased me most to associate myself 
 with the Nelsons and claim them my forbears. I 
 lived in the old mansion, only it was not old, but 
 the finest in the town. 
 
 I was returning from Williamsburg, at this unreal 
 time, and I confess that my silly young head was 
 turned with all the gaities in which I had been in- 
 dulging ^ I had been to the playhouse, for the 
 36 
 
Hallams had come over from England and had 
 played their *' First Night" at the theatre facing 
 the Palace Green ^ And there had been grand 
 assemblies at the Governor's Palace; ah! they had 
 been joyful times ^ Fancy assisted me from my 
 seat in the unpretentious vehicle to one upon my 
 favorite horse; and, Cinderella-like, my later-cen- 
 tury dress had vanished and in its stead was one of 
 Colonial fashion. The gallant who rode beside me 
 wore a splendid waistcoat and had rufHes of lace at 
 his wrists; his knee-breeches were of blue broad- 
 cloth, his stockings were white, and enormous 
 buckles fastened his shoes «?* His hat was three- 
 cornered and silver-laced, and his hair was tied 
 with a broad ribbon. He was whispering sweet 
 nothings to me in the most elaborate and stiltod 
 phrases. I was his fascinated listener. I was promis- 
 ing to dance the minuet with him that night at the 
 the ball — I was promising that — and more. 
 The shops at Yorktown were displaying dainty 
 sprigged muslinets and dimities, coloured striped 
 silks, jaconets and cambrick, plain and tamboured, 
 and an elegant assortment of callicoes and chintzes, 
 some silk marseilles and printed veilings; silver 
 grey lustrings; also, extra long, plain and nett 
 white silk gloves. I stopped to admire these and 
 decided upon breadths of flowered gauze and a 
 pair of white satin slippers as my purchases. 
 Then again, it seemed charming to me to pretend 
 that I had written the letters which a Union sol- 
 
 37 
 
dier, during the Civil War, had found while ran- 
 sacking the Nelson Mansion. Could I have fore- 
 seen the error and confusion which these letters 
 created in after years, then would I have been 
 more explicit and plain as to the identity of this 
 Mary Ball, whose beauty and social triumphs I 
 recorded. Now, however, my lips are sealed to 
 secrecy and I may never disclose who was she, 
 **the comliest Maiden." It must be recalled that 
 I wrote these letters — of the faded and musty old 
 packet, which the soldier found — in 1727, the last 
 year of Governor Spotswood's administration. The 
 splendid new palace had been builded for him, 
 and the adventurous cavalcade over the Blue Ridge 
 had been made by the Knights of the Golden 
 Horseshoe. It was indeed an halcyon time in which 
 to enjoy belle-ship in the Colonial Capital. I regret 
 that my foolish letters should be sealed within the 
 corner-stone of the Mary Washington Monument 
 for they had not referred to the Mary Ball of 
 Lancaster, who was the mother of Washington. 
 You see I had written * ' Dear Sukey ' ' that : 
 
 Madam Ball of Lancaster and her sweet Molly have gone 
 Horn. Mama thinks Molly the comliest Maiden She Knows. 
 She is about 16yrs old, is taller than Me, is verry sensable, Mod- 
 est and Loving. Her hair is like unto Flax. Her eyes are the 
 colour of Yours and her Chekes are like May blossoms. I wish 
 that you could see her. 
 
 While I was still sojourning in wraithland and was 
 wrapped in the warmth of a revivified spring, with 
 38 
 
the sedge in bloom and all the air afloat with fra- 
 grance, I was recalled to the present fact that my 
 journey was at an end; that I had reached my 
 stopping place — not the **Swan Tavern," but one 
 so quaint and olden as to be its worthy successor, 
 the Yorktown Hotel. 
 
 On the crest of the hill, overlooking the beautiful 
 York River, is the marble shaft in token of the 
 glorious victory ^ Before I reached there I had 
 passed a dilapidated box-like house which served 
 as the first Custom House in the United States. 
 Just beyond is the Nelson Mansion, where the 
 hedge and wall put up a protecting screen before 
 the aristocratic old place. Beneath the vulgar paint 
 of later generations will be found the grain and 
 finish of the fine woods employed in its construc- 
 tion. The size of the rooms, so spacious, has re- 
 mained unaltered through the cycle of change 
 which even ran through the plebeian round of a 
 boarding-house. During the Revolution, General 
 Thomas Nelson literally gave all for his country, 
 and retired from the conflict practical^ penniless. 
 This place he saved from the public sale of his 
 effects, which included even the family Bible and 
 the stand upon which it rested. Bishop Meade tells 
 that when visiting in a mountain parish in Vir- 
 ginia, he found the Nelson Bible, but so highly 
 did the family then in possession of the book prize 
 it that no amount of persuasion on his part could 
 induce them to part with the treasured relic. The 
 
 39 
 
reminiscences of Bishop Meade as compiled in the 
 "Old Churches and Families of Virginia" were 
 published in 1857, and he gives the time of the 
 discovery of this Bible as the year previous. 
 The little church at Yorktown is another trophy 
 of hoary time. Not a column, not a single orna- 
 ment has been employed in its decoration ; severely 
 plain, the modest edifice does not even aspire, to 
 the semblance of a belfry ^ The walls, all that 
 remain of the earlier church, which was destroyed 
 by fire in 1815, are most unusual. They suggest 
 enormous, solid stones, four of them so placed as 
 to form the enclosure. Marl from the river bank 
 had been molded into blocks and set for these 
 walls, which the action of the elements had hard- 
 ened into an indestructible substance. The subse- 
 quent fire which defaced the church, cemented 
 the walls into a stone-like mass, still standing. 
 The church is near the river, immediately back of 
 the little Yorktown Hotel. The decay and want of 
 care, particularly in the churchyard, are pathetic 
 and lamentable. The graves of the Nelsons are 
 here; that of "Old Scotch Tom," William, the 
 president of the Council, and that of General Nel- 
 son, his son. I felt sure that the one enclosed with 
 the iron pickets was the grave of the founder of 
 the family ; but a thicket of brush and ft tangle of 
 vines had so overgrown the tomb that I could not 
 make out the inscription. I soon discovered for my 
 convenience, a soap-box; and, looking farther 
 40 
 
Temple Farm— 5'ee page 44 
 
afield, I found an old broom; with the box to 
 stand upon and the broom to sweep clear the top 
 of the marble slab, and holding back the overrun- 
 ning branches, I traced the chiseled record. It is 
 in Latin and tells that : 
 
 Here lies, in the certain hope of being raised up in Christ, 
 Thomas Nelson, Gentleman, the son of Hugh and Sarah Nel- 
 son of Penrith, in the county of Cumberland. Born the 20th 
 of Februrary, 1677. He completed a well-spent life on the 7th 
 day of Oct., 1745, in his 68th year. 
 
 That of his son, William, "President of his Maj- 
 esty's Council in this Dominion" is much more 
 fulsome. Indicating the mournful variations of for- 
 tune, that of General Thomas Nelson, the eldest 
 son of the third generation, is a grave unmarked 
 and its place disputed. There is a story told that in 
 one corner of the church walls, the vault was made 
 and only a slab left lying in the grass to record the 
 place. This is a fable. When Bishop Meade was 
 making his researches there were persons then 
 living who remembered the spot and led him to 
 the grave of the General which was close by that 
 of his father and grandfather. 
 
 It taxes one's credulity to understand how any one 
 could have ever accumulated a fortune in York- 
 town; and yet, William Nelson, merchant, did this. 
 The bulk of his wealth went to Thomas, his eld- 
 est son, and he, in turn, donated the estimated 
 forty thousand pounds which had been his heritage, 
 to the Patriot Cause. He was the financier during 
 
 41 
 
those perilous times and obtained for the State of 
 Virginia, upon his own credit, vast sums which 
 the State could, under no circumstances, then have 
 secured for itself. This generosity was thankfully 
 received — and soon forgotten. 
 
 Demure, neglected and unpretentious as is the 
 little Yorktown church and with memories mostly 
 sad, there is yet a pretty story kept, relating to one 
 of its pastors, the Rev. John Camm. The tale is 
 of the John Alden and Priscilla type, but to my 
 way of thinking, it is decidedly more clever. This 
 divine, who doubtless droned his doctrines and was 
 probably deadly dull, since he was a preacher, 
 a teacher and a bachelor, had claims for distinc- 
 tion. He was a Tory preacher, one of the leaders 
 in the " Parson's Cause," which helped to make 
 Patrick Henry famous. And he was, too, the Pres- 
 ident of William and Mary College. Of his con- 
 gregation were Miss Betsey Hansford and a young 
 man, so desperately in love with her as to have no 
 thought for the parson's talk. When, however. 
 Miss Betsey turned a deaf ear to his pleadings and 
 said him '* Nay," he besought the preacher to bring 
 the scriptures to bear upon the obdurate young 
 woman. The Reverend Camm was conscientious 
 in his zeal for his friend and visited the young lady 
 frequently, urging her to accept her suitor. Miss 
 Hansford finally suggested that it would be well 
 for the parson to go home and read his Bible and 
 she further advised that the light might break in 
 42 
 
upon his understanding if he were to look at the 
 twelfth chapter, the seventh verse of the II Book 
 of Samuel. Mr. Camm obeyed her injunction, 
 and found the significant words, "Thou art the 
 man." .5* He understood and they were married. 
 Now, it seemed to have been one of the strict con- 
 ventions at that time that the professors of William 
 and Mary should be unmarried men. This wedding 
 of the Reverend John Camm and Miss Betsey 
 Hansford was deemed an infringement upon the 
 customs of the College, and it was plainly given 
 out that thereafter, the marriage of any member 
 of the faculty would vacate his office. 
 While the Yorktown monument is beautiful, pleas- 
 ing in design and proportions, and the bas-relief of 
 figures encircling the shaft, is particularly fine; it 
 is claimed that the memorial is insignificant in 
 expressing the importance of the event. A monu- 
 ment which could fittingly stand for an achieve- 
 ment so great as is American Independence, must 
 reach high heaven and have for its base the whole 
 United States. It might also be remarked that there 
 is another site twelve miles across this same penin- 
 sula which is still unmarked by our Government; 
 and yet, it is a landmark taking precedence of all 
 others in our country. A crumbling church tower 
 is the sole monolith on Jamestown Island to mark 
 the site of the first permanent English settlement 
 in America, without which there had been no 
 victory at Yorktown. 
 
 43 
 
Following for a mile or more along the picturesque 
 shore from the Monument, "Temple Farm" is 
 reached. The old house is shorn of its two wings 
 and stands a weather-beaten structure, facing York 
 River. Memory sees more than the eye and restores 
 the once spacious home of Governor Spotswood. 
 Then the wings were as large as the center build- 
 ing e^ The house has taken on no ornaments nor 
 any modern excrescences and is now well pre- 
 served and looked after. The present owners hos- 
 pitably open the doors for all who wish to stand 
 within the room where the mighty compact was 
 signed. At that time the place was owned by a 
 widow by the name of Moore. Two hours was the 
 time granted by Washington to Cornwallis for the 
 cessation of hostilities and within the room at the 
 right of the hall, the famous generals met. 
 We go back to a happier period than that of war 
 to find warrant for the name of " Temple Farm." 
 The tradition is that that gallant knight, he of the 
 Golden Horseshoe fame, is responsible and that 
 this very dwelling was the summer home of Gov- 
 ernor and Lady Spotswood «^ Here, where the 
 Scotch broom tosses its thread-like grasses, where 
 the teasing tide has torn the shore into deep ravines 
 and where the river spreads majestically to meet 
 the Chesapeake Bay — they recuperated their forces 
 after a too strenuous season at the ''Palace" in 
 Williamsburg. 
 
 On this farm was one of the early churches be- 
 44 
 
lieved to have been builded by Governor Spots- 
 wood. In the tall grass may be found the old brick 
 foundations and down the once center aisle, now 
 matted with grass and vines, a solitary tomb re- 
 mains in the wilderness of undergrowth. This 
 church was the temple and hence the name for 
 the farm. There is evidence to confirm the belief 
 that Governor Spotswood builded this edifice with 
 the thought of being finally interred in this sacred 
 spot. 
 
 Fifty years after the treaty had been signed there, 
 a Mr. William Shield purchased the farm and has 
 left a letter relative to the "Temple." He says: 
 
 I purchased the farm and moved there in 1834, at which time 
 the walls of the Temple, from which the place takes its name, 
 were several feet high; within them, after removing the ruins, 
 I found heaps of broken tombstones, and on putting some of 
 the fragments together, to ascertain if possible, the names of 
 some of the people buried there, I succeeded in finding the 
 name of Governor Spotswood, showing that he was buried at 
 Temple Farm, — a fact not generally known. There was one 
 tombstone, however, entire and unbroken. 
 
 When I was last at Temple Farm, the ''one tomb- 
 stone entire" was there, not unbroken, for vandal 
 relic hunters were chipping away parts of the stone 
 until the date is becoming defaced. The pity of 
 this appeals to all those who so wish to preserve 
 the antiquities of our country. Earlier than any of 
 the marked graves at Jamestown or Plymouth, is 
 this solitary one in the undergrowth of brambles 
 and vines on Temple Farm. Easily legible is the 
 
 45 
 
inscription, graven so long ago — 1655, and we 
 wonder who was the gallant young gentleman 
 whose sole record, so far as I have been able to dis- 
 cover, is preserved in this stone which reads: 
 
 MAJOR WILLIAM GOOCH 
 of this parish 
 Died October 29, 1655 
 Within this tomb there doth interred lie, 
 No shape, but substance, true nobility, 
 Itself, though young in years, just twenty-nine. 
 Yet graced with virtues moral and divine, 
 The Church from him did good participate. 
 In counsel rare, fit to adorn a State. 
 
 Portal of the Past — Williamsburg 
 
 [HEN you go to Williamsburg, if you 
 have not been there before, you will 
 doubtless be possessed by one of two 
 moods: you will either be protesting 
 that all such visits are non-fulfilling, or 
 in the complacent and satisfied frame 
 of mind of the one who frequently does this sort 
 of thing and knows just what to expect — in either 
 case you are bound to be disappointed — happily. 
 Even if you acknowledge to a fondness for prying 
 along history's haunts, you will not be prepared for 
 the evidence, ** given under hand and seal," to 
 46 
 
be found in the little old Colonial Capital. There 
 is nothing like it in all our country, and be they 
 never so charming, no others can quite match the 
 mingling of romance, mimic pomp and splendor 
 of that picture period when, across the broad At- 
 lantic, was here reflected the mirage of England's 
 Court. Nor, can any other city claim as intimate 
 association with so many of that illustrious galaxy 
 of names, imperishable, immortal, in the annals of 
 our nation ! 
 
 Except Yorktown, which had never the same social 
 distinction, and whose memories are mostly those 
 of war, I can think of no place where it is so easy 
 to get back to the beginning as at Williamsburg. 
 As of yore, the Duke of Gloucester Street unrolls 
 its length, a fine highway, from the site of the old 
 Capitol to William and Mary College, one mile 
 distant. The weather-worn sign designating this 
 thoroughfare still hangs on the corner of the quaint 
 little Court House, which was patterned by Chris- 
 topher Wren. In all the intervening years there 
 has been no need for another to usurp the suprem- 
 acy of the Duke of Gloucester Street. The "Pal- 
 ace Green" and the "Court Green" have each 
 their lane-like roads and footpaths on either side 
 and are a part of the original plan of the Colonial 
 City. Every name runs to history and brims over 
 with delightful suggestion — the Duke of Glouces- 
 ter Street! — the Palace Green! — the Court Green! 
 — memory puts in a thread or two and the fasci- 
 
 47 
 
nated fancy plies a busy shuttle, Q When I went 
 first to Williamsburg, I carried with me a rather 
 hazy recollection of any claim it might have for 
 attention. There is small wonder for this. The 
 right and righteousness of the Puritans and Pil- 
 grims and their sacrificial lives to one grand pur- 
 pose had been drilled into me as of paramount im- 
 portance. As a child, I had looked upon them, 
 good men and women, as a mournful lot of mar- 
 tyrs, refusing any joy in this life and with narrow 
 chance of any hereafter, according to their doc- 
 trines. I regarded the early years of colonization 
 and settlement as deadly dull and uninteresting. 
 Meager mention was made of the Jamestown set- 
 tlement and there was nothing seemingly worth 
 while doing in this peninsula until the Revolu- 
 tionary War, when by mere accident of birth, many 
 patriots sprang from this quarter. I loved the short 
 paragraphs devoted to the John Smith rescue by 
 Pocahontas and ignored any question mark relating 
 thereto .^ I cherished a secret admiration for 
 Nathaniel Bacon, "The Rebel," but otherwise 
 my enthusiasm flagged ; so much so, that when I 
 passed a scarcely creditable examination — but still 
 had passed — I closed the history, wishing never to 
 open it again .j* It is not strange therefore, that 
 Williamsburg to me was a blank, and I venture the 
 assertion that nine out of ten who go there are in 
 the same state of vacuity — that is when they go for 
 the first time — after that it is another story. 
 48 
 
The Li«le Cottage where "Audrey" had stood at the steps when the moon was Shiniae- 
 Full and had Stooped to Pluck the Hyacinthfor "Haward "See page 64 
 
William and Mary College 
 
I went first to the Inn. It stands on the Duke of 
 Gloucester Street with a fine frontage along the 
 Court Green. The Inn itself is nothing antique, not 
 more than tVenty years to the good and a portion 
 of it not so old as that. It is not the successor to 
 the famous Raleigh Tavern, which site is farther 
 up the street and now held by an embryo depart- 
 ment store — anything so modern where the past 
 dominates, touches upon the grotesque, as you will 
 understand once you have been there. It was right 
 at the Inn, before I had registered my name, that 
 my interest was quickened ^ Why had so many 
 people of note, scholars, authors, educators and 
 the highly cultured made pilgrimages to this little 
 town ? «^ Evidently its atmosphere is correct for 
 writing; Mary Johnston had studied well the place 
 and had found it rich with suggestions and the 
 very setting for her charming story, as did Ellen 
 Glasgow. When she was writing The Voice of the 
 People she took up her abode at the Inn and 
 simply lived Williamsburg. Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 
 Marion Harland and many another writer had 
 drawn upon the quaint little city for material and 
 inspiration. This was very interesting. As I was 
 laying down my pen and turned to look about me, 
 then I felt the antiquary fever begin to burn in my 
 veins; through the doorway I caught the gleam of 
 shining brass and silver and rich mahogany — and 
 too, I fancied I saw the unmistakable outlines of 
 some genuine Chippendale furniture! An investi- 
 
 49 
 
gation proved this true — originals! In the low- 
 ceiled library the furniture was all of the aristo- 
 cratic wood of two hundred years ago. These are 
 not the results of any collector's fad, but have come 
 down in the family of the present owner, by be- 
 quest. I walked into this room and dropped into 
 a low chair before the open fire and straightway 
 entertained covetous thoughts. I noted the brass 
 andirons and fender; also slender bars of brass sup- 
 ported by iron braces, projecting from the fire, 
 whereon a rotund teakettle of brass steamed with 
 hospitable intent — a contrivance entirely new to 
 me, and I had to call for information, and learned 
 that it was a '* Footman " which, with the entire 
 fire sett, once belonged to Colonel Wilson Miles 
 Cary, officer under the King of England and a 
 member of the House of Burgesses. This Wilson 
 Miles Cary was not the father, but the brother of 
 that Mary Cary, who had won the early admira- 
 tion of Washington. It is therefore not improbable 
 that this feted belle of Virginia may have toasted 
 her dainty toes before the fire, resting her feet on 
 this very fender, all the while dreaming of the 
 handsome and gallant young soldier who had so 
 frankly admitted her charms. This brother of hers, 
 Wilson Miles, had inherited not only the estates 
 of their father and an uncle, but also those of two 
 brothers. 
 
 Near the fireplace of this interesting room stood a 
 desk of mahogany, of a rare old design. The drop- 
 50 
 
leaf was well braced to open and shut in a most 
 unusual fashion. There were secret drawers to fire 
 the imagination and to incite one to a wishful 
 search for a lost letter of love or a missing will ^ 
 There were work-stands, secretaries, a genuine 
 Chippendale table, with some fine old silver, and 
 a buffet whereon stood tall silver candle-sticks 
 and prized pieces of china. Knowing that even 
 the copies of the famous Chippendale chairs to-day 
 sell for fifty dollars and upwards, and recalling the 
 fact that an offer of one thousand dollars each had 
 been made for genuine antiques of this pattern, I 
 sorrowfully put up my slender purse which I had 
 been willing to barter, railway ticket included, 
 and decided that these treasures were mine only 
 to look upon. 
 
 I had no desire to take in the sights logically nor 
 by the measure of time, but just to wander about 
 at my own free will and absorb as much of the 
 story and data as well I could. Within a few yards 
 of the Inn, across the Duke of Gloucester Street, 
 is an octagonal structure with an extravagant waste 
 of roof in proportion to its walls ; this I recognized 
 as a Colonial symptom and made haste to visit the 
 place. I secured at the Inn a key of such a size as 
 to suggest blood-curdling responsibilities — this I 
 took timidly in my hand and went over to unlock 
 the door of what was once a powder magazine and 
 is now an incipient museum. Here was presented 
 the embarrassment of one key and a dozen or more 
 
 51 
 
keyholes — which was the one? I mentally num- 
 bered them and tried each in turn to finally find 
 the combination. Although I have been there any 
 number of times since, I never am able to tell just 
 which is the proper one and must go the whole 
 performance over again. It pleases me to carry that 
 great key, just as it pleases me to sit before the 
 Gary andirons and footman — they are vibrant with 
 the past. 
 
 The door opened on creaking hinges into a single 
 room, eight-sided and with a diameter of quite forty 
 feet. Standing within the high-pitched structure, I 
 could peer through almost to the finial ball, forty- 
 seven feet above. The fallen, and falling, plaster 
 from the walls has mapped not only all the countries 
 known but many yet to be discovered. The room 
 was bare and empty, save a diminutive old table 
 which had held the work of hands long since 
 folded in eternal rest; and a small show-case, en- 
 closing a list of articles, treasured for various mem- 
 ories, mostly those of age ^ A few pictures hung 
 upon the walls, several coats-of-arms and much 
 emblazoned heraldry. Through the stained glass 
 windows the sun poured into the lonely, deserted 
 room and fell in great purple and ruby stains upon 
 the floor .^ A portrait window I noted at once; 
 memorial to my favorite, the Jamestown ''Rebel," 
 Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. It had been placed not so 
 many years ago by the descendants of the illustri- 
 ous man. Another is there to perpetuate the mem- 
 52 
 
Portrait Window in the Powder Horn. Memorial 
 to Nathaniel Bacon, it.— See page 52 
 
The Site of the House of Burgesses and the First Capitol of America— See page 55 
 
ory of Sir Alexandre Spotswood. I came out, locked 
 the door and walked round about the strange struc- 
 ture and proceeded forthwith to learn every possi- 
 ble thing about the Powder Horn. 
 Back to the year 1714, I must go to find a starting 
 point — this was pleasing, for it brought the con- 
 struction within the rule of that fascinating knight, 
 Sir Alexandre Spotswood, the Governor of the 
 Colony. He had come over from England but four 
 years earlier and was then thirty-four years old ,^ 
 This vigorous young man belonged to the strenu- 
 ous type — although then it was variously called by 
 other names. His pent-up energy found expression 
 in contentions with the House of Burgesses, in 
 becoming the first of our *' Captains of Industry" 
 through devdloping the iron resources; he busied 
 himself with wine-making, bringing over a lot of 
 Germans for this purpose, and he spent his spare 
 moments in attempts to educate and Christianize 
 the Indians. Indeed, upon investigation, so exci- 
 ting and masterful and withal so lovable did Sir 
 Alexandre reveal himself, that I found myself 
 sharing with him the previous devotion which I 
 had singled out for Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. ^ I was 
 gratified to discover that some of his surplus en- 
 thusiasm had gone into the design and order for 
 this Powder Horn. Of course, it was built through 
 an Act of the House of Burgesses, but Spotswood 
 was the instigator of the move ^ Originally this 
 building was purposed for a complete magazine, 
 
 53 
 
with powder-room, armory and blacksmith shop, 
 and was surrounded by an outer wall parallel with 
 the many-sided house. This was during the reign of 
 King George the First. Not until sixty years later, 
 when the Third of the Georges was on the throne 
 of England, did the Powder Horn come up for 
 dramatic setting in the history of the Colonies. Sir 
 Alexandre Spotswood had administered affairs 
 through a period quite golden in the annals of 
 Virginia; he had led his famous cavalcade to the 
 Blue Ridge Mountains, establishing the "Knights 
 of the Golden Horseshoe," the first of American 
 Orders; this gallant knight had finished his work 
 and had gone out forever from the Colonial Pal- 
 ace at Williamsburg to *'the windowless palace of 
 rest." ^ ^ 
 
 A succession of governors had followed and now 
 was the last. Lord Dunmore, arrogant, hot-headed 
 and unloved ,^ The relations with the mother 
 country were strained, even when Lord Dunmore 
 arrived; and he was not the one to mend matters. 
 They tried to patch things up and when, in 1774, 
 Lady Dunmore with her distinguished daughters 
 arrived, the compliment of a grand ball was de- 
 cided upon. The Countess of Dunmore with Lord 
 Fincastle, the Honourable Alexandre and John 
 Murray, and the Ladies, Catherine, Augusta and 
 Susan Murray, had stopped awhile in New York 
 City, en route to Virginia. There they had been 
 the honor guests at a magnificent reception, which 
 54 
 
took place in the '* Province Arms." It was in- 
 cumbent upon the Httle Capital to extend an equal 
 courtesy. It is quoted that Lady Dunmore was a 
 very elegant woman; that her daughters were 
 *'fine, sprightl}^, sweet girls. Goodness of heart 
 flashing from them in every look." The Capitol 
 was the place of assembly for this brilliant func- 
 tion. The invitations were extended in the name 
 of '*The Honourable House of Burgesses, to wel- 
 come Lady Dunmore and the rest of the Gover- 
 nor's family in Virginia." 
 
 The Virginians were — well, Virginians — and the 
 ball went merrily on with no attention lacking on 
 the part of the hosts; but there rankled in their 
 breasts a growing resentment and indignation 
 which was only for that night smothered. The day 
 previous to this entertainment the Burgesses had 
 been assembled in the Council Chamber of this 
 same Capitol to have his Excellency, Lord Dun- 
 more, address them as follows: 
 
 Mr. Speaker, and gentlemen of the House of Burgesses, I have 
 in my hand a paper published by order of your house, con- 
 ceived in such terms as reflect highly upon his Majesty and the 
 parliament of Great Britain, which makes it necessary for me 
 to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly. 
 
 Later there was a meeting in Raleigh Tavern and 
 out of it grew the proposal for a General Congress 
 of the Colonies. 
 
 Think of Williamsburg in June — in June — more 
 than one hundred years ago ! Bring back the Pal- 
 
 55 
 
ace to face the Green, reaching to the Duke of 
 Gloucester Street ! Fancy, if you can, that meeting 
 in old Bruton Church on that day, the First of 
 June, 1774, when the people fasted and prayed and 
 arrayed themselves in the vestments of mourning. 
 It was George Mason who wrote bidding his fam- 
 ily, the " three oldest sons and two oldest daugh- 
 ters to attend church in mourning." And what 
 was it all about? — the Boston Tea Party. Virginia 
 was wholly sympathetic with the Massachusetts 
 Colony, and things at Williamsburg were not at 
 all harmonious for the Royal Governor, Lord 
 Dunmore. Then something more happened up in 
 Massachusetts, at Concord, and left the date, April 
 19, 1775, with the initial and never-to-be-forgot- 
 ten. Again Virginia expressed the warmest sym- 
 pathy; more, announced herself as ready to join 
 for action. Patrick Henry had proclaimed: "The 
 War is inevitable — let it come." 
 As a matter of precaution, so he claimed, under 
 the cover of night. Lord Dunmore had removed 
 about twenty barrels of gunpowder from the Pow- 
 der Horn. Then was another history day for Will- 
 iamsburg, when the crowd surged up and down 
 the Duke of Gloucester Street, muttering threats 
 and making demands J- The Governor with his 
 family retired within the Palace, and as a measure 
 of safety, he had rows of muskets placed conven- 
 iently near. There he was hunted down and ad- 
 dressed as follows: 
 56 
 
The Crumbled Foundations of the Capitol are Level with the Ground— Williamsburg 
 
The Old Powder Horn Showing the Spotswood Window— See pane 59 
 
My Lord: — We beg leave to represent to your Excellency that 
 the inhabitants of this city were this morning exceedingly alarmed 
 by a report that a large quantity of gunpowder was, in the prece- 
 ding night, while they were sleeping in their beds, removed from 
 the public magazine in this city, and conveyed under an escort 
 of marines, on board one of his Majesty's armed vessels, lying 
 at a ferry on James River. 
 
 We beg to represent to your Excellency, that this magazine was 
 erected at the public expense of this Colony, and appropriated 
 to the safe keeping of such munition as should be lodged from 
 time to time, for the protection and security of the country, by 
 arming thereout such of the militia as it might be necessary, in 
 case of invasion and insurrection, and they humbly conceive it 
 to be the only proper repository to be resorted to in times of 
 imminent danger, etc., etc. 
 
 The Virginia Gazette of April 22d has the full text 
 of the plaint. 
 
 The Governor promised that the powder should 
 be returned within one-half of an hour ^ With 
 Patrick Henry, to say was to do, and at the head of 
 one hundred and fifty armed men, he had set out 
 for Williamsburg, whereupon Lord Dunmore 
 drew from a man-of-war at Yorktown a detach- 
 ment of soldiers and marines as a guard to the Pal- 
 ace and to the Governor. He also communicated 
 to the Honourable Thomas Nelson, President of 
 his majesty's Council in Virginia, his fear of an at- 
 tack. Lord Dunmore urged that everything should 
 be done to quiet the people; since, if molested, he 
 should feel it necessary to fire the town. Colonel 
 Carter Braxton successfully arbitrated the matter 
 
 57 
 
by persuading Patrick Henry to accept and Lord 
 Dunmore to pay, an indemnity of three hundred 
 and thirty pounds sterhng for the powder. It did 
 not deepen the trust of the people in their Gov- 
 ernor to find several barrels of powder buried under 
 the floor of the old Powder Horn; a discovery 
 made when a committee of citizens had forced 
 open the doors of the magazine. The situation was 
 not pleasant and Lord Dunmore set up a floating 
 place of government on the man-of-war lying off 
 Yorktown. He never went back to Williamsburg. 
 C[ And what of the old Powder Horn in the years 
 that have gone between — it has run the gamut of 
 experiences! It was claimed as well suited for a 
 market-house and so used for many years. Then, 
 for a long time, it was a school, after that, aspiring, 
 it became a church for those of the Baptist faith. 
 The Reverend W. A. R. Goodwin, rector of Bru- 
 ton Church, in his researches, has found that it 
 was leased for a period of ninety-nine years, for the 
 nominal sum of one dollar, and that it served as a 
 place of worship until 1856, when lo! the pendu- 
 lum of change swings far aside. This floor where 
 the impetuous had trampled, where dickering buy- 
 ers had stood, where the feet of droning scholars 
 had idly swung, where the pious had knelt, was 
 turned over to tripping measure and dance; from 
 the dramatic, the practical, the serious to the gay, 
 the Old Powder Horn was to enjoy a season as 
 a dancing school ^ And this was to last until 
 58 
 
another war should riddle the peninsula, and the 
 arsenal should revert to its original purpose ^ 
 The Confederates used it to store their arms and 
 ammunition. Then came a condition most lowly; 
 the Powder Horn became a stable, and finally was 
 rescued by the Association for the Preservation 
 of Virginia Antiquities, and converted into this 
 reliquary. 
 
 Little treasure-town of history is Williamsburg, 
 Virginia ! I was not prepared for the possibilities of 
 charmed retrospection to be indulged by a pro- 
 tracted stay in the little city of the " Middle Plan- 
 tation." Many things forgotten and many more 
 never known, claimed my fascinated interest; and 
 I had thought that a day would satisfy — when a 
 week, a month, a year even, would not suffice to 
 call back to an unchanged haunt the spirit past! 
 Within the limits of this sketch it is impossible to 
 more than touch upon the multiple memories fos- 
 tered in Williamsburg; love, war, romance, senti- 
 ment, patriotism, royalty, democracy, comedy, 
 tragedy — whatsoever one wills of history, is there at 
 one's bidding. The greatest marvel of it all is that 
 so little of the modern meddles, and the plan of 
 the town, the houses, the church, and all the no- 
 table structures have deviated but little from the 
 original plan ^ It is true that the Capitol is gone, 
 destroyed by fire, many years ago. On the crest of 
 the hill stood this edifice, twin stage with Faneuil 
 Hall, of Boston, for Revolutionary oratory. The 
 
 59 
 
crumbled foundations are level with the ground; 
 but the floor plan is easily traced and the dimen- 
 sions marked. It is not difficult for the imagination 
 to conjure the superstructure, where was the forum 
 for Patrick Henry's eloquence and where Wash- 
 ington served his first term as member of the 
 House of Burgesses — his record is not a distinctly 
 brilliant one, but excuse lies in the fact of his pre- 
 occupation in his bride, who was the charming 
 widow, Martha Custis. They were spending honey- 
 moon days at her town place, the '*Six Chimney 
 Lot," just beyond the Powder Horn. 
 It is related that Governor Nicholson was respon- 
 sible for the removal of the seat of government 
 from Jamestown to the Middle Plantation. The 
 tempestuous love affair of this very unpopular Gov- 
 ernor of Manhattan Island, who had been with- 
 drawn from the New York Colony and transferred 
 to Virginia, is full of whimsical romance. It was a 
 belle of Williamsburg who fixed his fancy. Miss 
 Burwell, and here is suggested for your diversion, 
 one of the many sentimental chapters of the early 
 days. It is also said that this same Governor Nich- 
 olson had something to do with the planning of 
 Williamsburg, and that, in compliment to the new 
 sovereigns, William and Mary, it was proposed to 
 lay out the town in the form of a W and M. There 
 is no present indication of any such plan, and this 
 should probably be pigeonholed with that other 
 tradition: that Williamsburg suggested a plan for 
 60 
 
the Capital City, Washington. Q In 1692, William 
 and Mary College was founded; and a staggering 
 guess at English history, will indicate the royal 
 pair interested in establishing in Virginia this school 
 of divinity. This was the second university set up 
 in America; Harvard was the first. It has been 
 facetiously remarked that the purpose was "to 
 make all Indians Episcopalians and all white stu- 
 dents clergymen." The teachers were appointed 
 by the Bishop of London, and the faculty usually 
 had as members such of the clergy as England was 
 pleased to be rid of. Commissary Blair went over 
 to solicit a charter and secure contributions. He 
 met with opposition from Attorney-General Sey- 
 mour, who exclaimed when Blair urged that the 
 people of Virginia had souls to save — "Souls! 
 damn your souls, make tobacco;" evidently a man 
 more practical than religious. For the first edifice, 
 Christopher Wren was the architect, and the first 
 commencement exercises were held in 1700. De- 
 spite the pious purpose for which it was founded 
 there is record of the questionable diversions of the 
 students, who "kept race horses, bet at billiards 
 and other gaming tables." They are reported as 
 indulging in the wicked pastime of cock-fighting, 
 now and then, and indeed, their hilarity reached 
 the ears of the Bishop of London, who was obliged 
 to write his Virginia clergy "not to play the fool 
 any more." It is the proud distinction of this col- 
 lege to have trained in letters, twenty-seven men 
 
 61 
 
who served in the Patriot Army; four of its grad- 
 uates were signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, and three became presidents of the United 
 States. 
 
 The ** Palace" of the governors went the way of 
 flame, long years ago; but the oblong stretch of 
 sward still reaches from the portal to the Duke of 
 Gloucester Street, as in the stately days of two 
 hundred years ago. What pictures of royal festivi- 
 ties and imperial ceremonies may be called forth 
 by a contemplation of the site of the old Executive 
 Mansion! Facing the green, on one side is the 
 fine old home of Governor Wythe, which divides 
 honors between the associations as the headquar- 
 ters of Washington, during the Revolutionary 
 War, the residence of the noted Chancellor of 
 Virginia, and the fiction which Ellen Glasgow has 
 woven about the old place in her novel. The Voice 
 of the People. Cornwallis' headquarters were in the 
 splendid Colonial mansion, in the College Campus, 
 the present home of Dr. Lyon G. Tyler, president 
 of William and Mary College, and the son of 
 President Tyler. 
 
 Very interesting indeed, is the account of the first 
 theatre in America, which had its setting in Will- 
 iamsburg. The players sailed from England in 
 April, 1752, in "The Charming Sally," which 
 cast anchor in the York River and sent word to 
 Governor Dinwiddle for permission to produce 
 their plays at the Capital. This was granted. It was 
 62 
 
a gala first night, when, the following June, the 
 Hallams appeared upon the stage of this first the- 
 atre, alongside of the Palace Green. The plays 
 presented were The Merchant of Venice and Gar- 
 rick's farce, Lethe *^ It is told that Master Lewis 
 Hallam, who afterward became a celebrated Amer- 
 ican actor, and was the first to take up the manage- 
 ment of the theatre after the Revolution, was but 
 a youngster at this time. He had only a single line 
 to repeat, but when he appeared before the nota- 
 ble audience, he was overcome with stage fright, 
 stricken dumb, and bursting into tears, fled from 
 the stage. Adam Hallam, a favorite actor in Eng- 
 land, was the father of William, Lewis, George, 
 and Admiral Hallam, of the Royal Navy. William 
 Hallam organized and financed the company 
 which sailed in "The Charming Sally." ^ Lewis 
 Hallam and his wife were players, with them were 
 their two sons and their daughter who was later to 
 become the great stage favorite, Mrs. Mattocks. 
 The cast included Messrs. Rigby, Malone, Bell, 
 Singleton, Addock, Miller, Clarkson, Hulett and 
 Mrs. Becceley, Mrs. Addock, Mrs. Rigby and 
 Mrs. Clarkson. 
 
 For several months they gave performances in 
 Williamsburg, meeting with the greatest success 
 and the most enthusiastic encouragement. It was 
 in this playhouse, along the "Palace Green," that 
 Mary Johnston's fancy brought Audrey to appear 
 before a brilliant company: 
 
 63 
 
Audrey, dressed in red silk, with a jeweled circlet like a line of 
 flame about her darkly flowing hair * * * * the girl who 
 could so paint very love, very sorrow, very death; the girl who 
 had come strangely and by a devious path from the heights 
 and loneliness of the mountains to the level of this stage and the 
 waiting throng. 
 
 Just beside the site of the first theatre is still stand- 
 ing the quaint cottage, with its dormer windows 
 peering toward the vanished palace; all of history 
 and sentiment that has heretofore attached to the 
 place has yielded to the designation of "Audrey's 
 House." Standing in the hallway and glancing up 
 the low mount of stairs with its guard-rail grace- 
 fully wrought in spindle fashion, one almost ex- 
 pects the heroine of Mary Johnston's story to ap- 
 pear on the landing. The picture of her gorgeous 
 theatre attire on that last fated night, comes in- 
 stantly to mind and how she had stood at the 
 steps, when the moon was shining full and had 
 stooped forward to pluck the hyacinths for Ha- 
 ward which he, in turn, reverently kissed and 
 pinned upon the folds of her gown with the gol- 
 den horseshoe, token of his journey to the *' End- 
 less Mountains" — a very sweet fiction! 
 The many-paned windows of this cottage are of 
 glass of a texture unmistakably ancient and of 
 a durability which has puzzled the most expert of 
 the modern manufacturers. One window is there, 
 bearing an inscription which has served to tanta- 
 lize every beholder and has suggested the material 
 for more than one story. On the diminutive pane 
 64 
 
The Site of the First Theatre in America, at Williamsburg. Va.—Seepage 64 
 
Old Bruton, Church of the Day Before Yesterday— ^eepag^e 66 
 
is written: ''1796— Nov. 23— O fatal day!" His- 
 tory has no record to tally with the fatal day and 
 the conclusion runs naturally to sentiment \^ An 
 overwhelming wish possesses one that from out the 
 ghostly procession of the past, might pause the 
 unhappy one who had written, ''O fatal day," to 
 whisper the secret never told. There are other ro- 
 mances belonging to this cottage and to other 
 edifices of the toy throne, redolent with memories 
 by residence and visitation of the distinguished 
 real and the witching unreal. There is enough to 
 pique the curiosity and tempt the historian and 
 tourist to stop for more than a day in this little 
 treasure-town of history. 
 
 Old Bruton 
 
 Church of the Day Before Yesterday 
 
 ^N the tranquil twilight of antiquity 
 stands Old Bruton Church of the little 
 Colonial Capital, It measures its length 
 on the Duke of Gloucester Street, 
 where an arm of the cruciform reaches 
 almost to the steps from the highway. 
 The end of the cross is toward the " Palace Green ' ' 
 and over it the ivy has wrought a tapestry of fade- 
 less weave, with only a break where a circlet win- 
 dow presents prismatic colors to the sun J- The 
 
 65 
 
tower loftily faces in the direction of William and 
 Mary College. The wooden belfry is set atop of 
 the brick square, like a telescoping beehive, and 
 while not structurally the same as the sanctuary, 
 the effect is in nowise incongruous. The rains of 
 years have washed the bricks to vanishing tones. 
 The great white shutters put up against windows 
 which frame the small, square panes in use in the 
 days of yore ^ Roundabout is the churchyard, 
 hemmed in by the seamed and weathered wall, an 
 ivy-covered boundary, fully one-third the length of 
 the *' Palace Green." 
 
 Unlike other reliquaries of the past, there is no 
 must, mildew or mold; nor is there gloom and 
 accompanying darkness about Old Bruton; it is 
 open on every side to the sun and air. Neither is 
 there anything awesome in the atmosphere — rather 
 is all sweetly sacred and of a serenity which sug- 
 gests the calm of moonlight. Architecturally, and 
 too, in the placing, the fine old structure has an 
 indefinable charm and invitation. I have been there 
 when the dead leaves matted the mounds, when 
 bare boughs strung crude celli for wailing winds — 
 when gray November was drear. I have been there 
 when was the wedding of the wild flowers, where 
 the trees arched a tender leafage and the birds sang 
 the marriage hymn. And, too, when the sensuous 
 summer was in full maturity and bestowing her 
 favors with a profligate waste and abandon, I have 
 looked down the flagstone path of the old church- 
 66 
 
yard ^ Again, I have been there in the dusk of 
 the night when the taper stars burned on the 
 high altar of the heavens, when phantom breezes 
 swung the flower-censers at the foot of Nature's 
 chancel, when cool and silvered was any gleam of 
 light in the enfolding shadows — still the varied 
 charm held. Aside from any hallowed associations, 
 in and of itself. Old Bruton is a lovesome thing! 
 
 0, Across the beautiful river of York, over in Glou- 
 cester County, that delightful old lord of the 
 manor, "Rosewell," advised his son to "Think it a 
 long art to die well," and further commented, 
 " You have but a short time to learn it; you can- 
 not be robbed by death of the time or years already 
 spent because they are already dead to you ; and 
 that which is yet to come is not yet yours." 
 
 It is fitting that this earnest and pious man, he of 
 the wise philosophy, should have been moved to 
 donate the ground whereon this sacristy of history 
 should be founded; wherein worshipped so many 
 who were adepts in the *'long art" — those who 
 were masters in the arts of living well and dying 
 well and all praise be to their great names forever ! 
 In the treasured old vestry book is this record: 
 
 1, John Page, doe oblige Myself My heires, Executors to pay 
 or cause to be paid, Twenty pounds sterling to the Vestry of 
 Bruton Parish, for and towards building of a Brick Church att 
 Middle Plantation, for ye sd Parish, upon demand. Witness my 
 hand this 14th, day of November, 1678. 
 
 67 
 
Also I do promise to give land sufficient for the Church and 
 Churchyard. 
 
 JOHN PAGE 
 Abraham Vinckler 
 
 T> o r Witnesses 
 
 Richard Curteen ) 
 
 This was two years after Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., 
 **The Rebel," had set *' James Citty" a-smoul- 
 dering. Of course there was an earlier church than 
 this one of brick for which John Page had con- 
 tributed the land. By an old vestry book is the ac- 
 count, 1665, when a structure in Bruton Parish 
 furnished the model for a place of worship in an- 
 other of the Virginia parishes. It is, however, to 
 the one to which John Page and his brethren had 
 subscribed their pounds sterling, and upon which 
 foundation the present structure stands, that our 
 interest is fastened. For the first of these, a certain 
 George Marable was the contractor. It was com- 
 pleted on November 29, 1683, and the edict issued : 
 
 Whereas ye Brick Church at Middle Plantation, is now fin- 
 ished. It is ordered yt all ye Inhabitants of ye said Parish repair 
 hither to hear divine service. 
 
 The dedication was on the 6th day of the follow- 
 ing January, with the Reverend Rowland Jones 
 in the pulpit. Three years after this, in 1686, a 
 committee was appointed to ascertain the cost of a 
 steeple and bells, and to procure donations for the 
 same. So is the complete picture of the first of the 
 brick churches for Bruton Parish. 
 And why is the name ? Even an alert memory fails 
 68 
 
of a clew, and we are forced to conclude that the 
 honor is to the Ludwells. A tomb at the door of 
 the Church records that: 
 
 Under this Marble lieth the Body of Thomas Ludwell, Esq. , 
 Secretary of Virginia, who was born in Bruton, in the County 
 of Somerset, in the Kingdom of England. 
 
 Because the malaria and the mosquitoes bothered 
 and Williamsburg was in every way more desirable 
 and healthful, the arbitrary Sir Francis Nicholson, 
 that governor remembered for his unfortunate love 
 affair, ordered the seat of government removed to 
 the embryo city of the Middle Plantation. In the 
 year 1699, the stamp of royal approval was im- 
 pressed, and now begins Bruton as the rightful 
 successor of the Jamestown Church and peerless in 
 its subsequent history as the Church of the Episco- 
 pal faith longest in continuous use of any in Amer- 
 ica. By the time of the removal of the Capital, the 
 little edifice, which had been dedicated fifteen 
 years earlier, had undergone many repairs and 
 frequent renovation. Before its age should be dou- 
 bled the worshippers became aware that the sanc- 
 tuary was not in keeping with the prestige of the 
 growing Capital. Considering the expense which 
 had been put on the old house, talk of a larger 
 structure was agitated, and a levy of twenty thou- 
 sand pounds of tobacco was ordered to go toward 
 the building of a new church ^ That gallant Sir 
 Knight of the Golden Horseshoe, Governor Al- 
 exandre Spotswood, was engaged in drawing plans 
 
 69 
 
which he submitted to the vestry with the record 
 that they were approved. 
 
 The year earher than this, 1710, the Reverend 
 James Blair was elected minister of Bruton. It is a 
 distinguished record which he left in being thirty- 
 two years rector of Old Bruton, fifty years Presi- 
 dent of William and Mary College, and fifty-three 
 years Commissary of the Colony. In his letter of 
 acceptance Dr. Blair acknowledges many obliga- 
 tions to the parish of James City, and explains that 
 only his impaired health, which he feared in age 
 might become infirmity, and the long winter jour- 
 neys, induced him to entertain the thought of 
 leaving the first settlement ^ We conclude that 
 Commissary Blair must have held fond memories 
 of Jamestown — possibly he was married in that old 
 church, for it was two years after he had been sent 
 over by the Bishop of London to become a mis- 
 sionary, that he wedded Sarah, the daughter of 
 Colonel Benjamin and Mrs. Hannah Harrison, 
 and there she was buried, departing this life con- 
 siderably in advance of her liege lord. This prob- 
 ably explains why he was entombed at Jamestown 
 despite his long ministry in Old Bruton and hon- 
 ored association with William and Mary College. 
 Q It is pleasing that through the vestry book and 
 certain State papers, the most minute and detailed 
 description of the dimensions, cost of material and 
 workmanship of the present church may be learned. 
 There seems to have been a trust among the brick- 
 70 
 
makers and a conflict with graft even in that early 
 day; but the Honourable Alexandre Spotswood 
 may be counted upon for prompt action in every 
 emergency. He proposed to deliver the bricks at 
 so much per thousand and so "beat down ye ex- 
 travagant prices of workmen." On December 2, 
 1715, is the gratifying report that: "At length the 
 new Church is finished." 
 
 Evidently the members had taxed themselves in 
 the building of this edifice, for shortly afterward 
 it was determined to repair the churchyard in the 
 cheapest manner; emphasizing the same by spelling 
 both cheapest and manner with capitals. Along in 
 1774, an organ was secured, and five years later 
 the wall was builded about the yard. More than 
 a score of years had passed before the belfry was 
 added, and it was near a century forward ere the 
 town authorities moved to have a clock placed in 
 the tower. The day is not remembered when the 
 wheels of the old time-piece ceased to turn. The 
 face crackled and the stiff hands pointed always to 
 the same hour, until a modern miracle was wrought 
 — a leap in time was made — the past overtook the 
 present; the sleeping clock awakened and the 
 dumb was made to speak. I chanced to be in Will- 
 iamsburg and I was told that the work of restoration 
 had touched the old clock and set it a-going; that 
 I might hear it strike that evening; after all these 
 years of silence. I almost feared to listen — I dreaded 
 lest a clangor or jarring note should ring out over 
 
 71 
 
Bruton churchyard; but, sweet and mellow as its 
 memories, sounded the stroke whose vibrations the 
 echoes hastened to gather and carry afar. 
 Bruton fell heir to Jamestown's few treasures. 
 Beautiful trophies in old silver, and the font from 
 which Pocahontas is said to have been baptized, 
 were bequeathed. The very first silver service was 
 given to Bruton in April, 1694, when his Excel- 
 lency, Sir Edmund Andros, Knight, was pleased 
 to present a fine silver server. The Jamestown com- 
 munion sett comprises a chalice of unusual size, 
 inscribed on the side: ** Mixe not Holy Thinges 
 with Profane," and under the foot the words: 
 '* Ex dono francisci, Morrison Armigeri, A. D. 
 1661." On the patten is the same inscription; 
 while around the rim of the Alms Basin, " for the 
 use of James City Parish Church," is the dedica- 
 tion. Dainty and exquisite is another silver service 
 in the custody of this Church — the "Queen Anne 
 Sett." The chalice is a true loving-cup with han- 
 dles and a cover *^ This and the patten are both 
 washed with gold and covered with a delicate 
 tracery of leaves, beautifully chased with device of 
 private arms. A third sacramental service is the 
 " King George Sett," which includes a tall flagon, 
 a chalice and an alms basin. They are engraved 
 with the royal arms between the initials, "G. Ill 
 R." and also bear the motto: *' Honi soit qui mal 
 y pense." 
 
 Other cherished relics are the old bell and the 
 72 
 
Beautiful Trophies in old silver, the Jamestown, the Queen Anne 
 and King George Sacramental Setts— See page 72 
 
Three-Fold Historic— the Grave of the Gust s Children 
 at the corner of Old Bruton, with the Font from which 
 Pocahontas is said to have heen Baptized, resting on 
 the Tomb— Set? page 74 +• + + *• * 
 
parish register. The bell has engraved thereon the 
 name of the donor and the date of the gift. It was 
 in 1761 that James Tarpley presented this bell to 
 Bruton Parish. A priceless treasure is the old parish 
 register which not long since was recovered from 
 a box of waste papers. It is believed to have been 
 hidden there for safe keeping in the vandal days of 
 civil strife. It is lamentable that leaves from the 
 front and back have been torn away, and so is the 
 record cut short. However, mutilated as it is, it 
 still preserves a precious register. From 1739 to 
 May 21, 1797, the baptisms are marked; from 
 April 13, 1662, to Decembers, 1761, is the record 
 of death. 
 
 The greatest ornaments of this church were the 
 illustrious men who worshipped here. Through- 
 out the regime of the English Governors there 
 w?s pomp and circumstance to please the most 
 ceremonious. The pre-Revolutionary period fur- 
 nished abundantly of the picturesque. It is not 
 alone with the picture but with the mighty results 
 that we are impressed »^^ It was an immortal 
 galaxy of men who here bended the knee in sup- 
 plication. The church took its turn as legislative 
 hall and provided the forum for master minds who 
 wrought first for freedom. The burning principle 
 flamed into inspired speech with the result that our 
 Nation is. Again, when another great issue was 
 decided by the sword, the sacred house turned 
 hospital to receive the wounded and dying of two 
 
 73 
 
armies — American. Q A notable vestry was that 
 which included the names of Daniel Parke, the 
 Hon. John Page, "The Immigrant"; Thomas 
 Ludwell, Secretary of State; Sir John Randolph, 
 Peyton Randolph, King's Attorney and Speaker 
 of the House of Burgesses; Robert Carter Nich- 
 olas, Treasurer of Virginia; and Major Robert 
 Beverly, Attorney and Clerk of the House of Bur- 
 gesses — these are listed for Old Bruton. 
 Worshipping here was Washington, serving his 
 first term in the House of Burgesses and just after 
 he had made the Widow Custis his bride. Two of 
 her small children, born to Daniel Parke Custis, 
 her first husband, and dying before her marriage 
 to Washington, are buried within an arm of the 
 cross which Old Bruton outlines in the church- 
 yard. The illustration is threefold historic, show- 
 ing the grave of the Custis children at the corner 
 of Old Bruton, with the font from which Poca- 
 hontas is said to have been baptized, resting on the 
 tomb. When Washington occupied the house of 
 the patriot, George Wythe, as his headquarters, 
 during the Revolutionary War, he was doubtless 
 a communicant of this church. 
 When the students of William and Mary were 
 assigned a special place in the gallery and, insur- 
 ing their presence throughout the service, were 
 locked therein, Thomas Jefferson was more than 
 likely of this number. Since church-going was the 
 vogue, Rebecca Burwell was probably prompt in 
 74 
 
attendance, and the lank, sandy-haired youth who 
 languished for love of her, presumably found his 
 temporary imprisonment more bearable since it 
 afforded the opportunity to gaze unrebuked upon 
 the object of his affections ^ How industriously 
 these lads employed their time and pocket-knives 
 is still in evidence upon the railing of the gallery. 
 Patrick Henry came in time to occupy the richly 
 canopied and elevated pew from which Lord Dun- 
 more had sulkily retired. James Monroe, John 
 Tyler, Chief Justice Marshall and Edmund Ran- 
 dolph all worshipped here, when not one had cap- 
 tured his title, but all w^ere studying at the ro3^al 
 college. George Wythe, William Wirt, George 
 Mason, Edmund Pendleton, Benjamin Harrison, 
 Bland, Lee, and other members of the Flouse of 
 Burgesses, made up the notable audiences. 
 The peace of the churchyard, so quaint and olden, 
 invites to a calm and meditation most solacing. If 
 ever you have chanced to be there in May or June, 
 when the leaves, all crinkled and tender, have pat- 
 terned a new tapestry and spread upon the sward 
 and over the white tombs, their intangible drapery 
 of lace; if you have walked down the flag-stone 
 path, through that ancient resting-place, and paused 
 to note the sun glint into the darkness of the dust}^ 
 green mantle of ivy, which overhangs and winds 
 about the oriel window of the old-time edifice, and 
 have stood by the graven tombs of those who have 
 so reposed for more than two hundred years; you 
 
 75 
 
will bow to the benediction of beauty serene and 
 history hallowed. And in this plot of the day before 
 yesterday, it is sweet to wander about at will, no- 
 ting the elaboration of detail and the stilted, volu- 
 minous inscriptions on many of the tombs. Grief 
 has made its lament, faith has affirmed in confi- 
 dence, the sinner acknowledged his miserable 
 plight, and love has made its declaration in weather- 
 worn rhyme. When dear old Reverend Servant 
 Jones laid in her grave in Bruton churchyard, his 
 consort, in the first hours of his grief he framed a 
 fitting expression of his estimate of his departed 
 companion and pledged an abiding devotion .^ 
 He counted not that love's rebound is swift and 
 the means of transportation, in those days, deplor- 
 ably slow ^ So, when the inscription was finally 
 carved on her tombstone, it was shipped from 
 Richmond and a teasing trick, tradition has it, fate 
 did play, since on the self-same boat was the par- 
 son on his second wedding journey. Over against 
 the wall, under the shade of friendly trees, is set 
 up the monument and engraved in stone are the 
 unchanging words: 
 
 If woman ever yet did well 
 If woman ever did excell 
 If woman husband e'er adored 
 If woman ever loved the Lord 
 If ever Faith and Hope and Love 
 In human flesh did live and move 
 If all the graces e'er did meet 
 In her in her they were complete 
 76 
 
My Ann, my all my Angel Wife 
 My dearest one my love my life 
 I cannot sigh or say farewell 
 But where thou dwellest I will dwell. 
 
 Ch-rismatory of hallowed memories is Old Bruton 
 Church and the churchyard is the veriest garden 
 of peace — surely God walks therein! In this sacred 
 acre who shall say that death is lonesome ! 
 
 Imperial Richmond 
 
 [MPERIAL from the beginning, was 
 Richmond. The beginning, to us made 
 known, was after that kingly Ameri- 
 can, Powhatan, among the hills, by 
 the falls of the mighty river, then called 
 in his honor, had established one of the 
 many courts of his vast wilderness empire. 
 Imperial in histories Indian, Colonial, Revolu- 
 tionary, Confederate, and in ultimate peace, is the 
 hill-crest city on the James. From the regime of 
 the Royal Reds, the evolution of rule was to the 
 first and only Capital of Virginia after statehood, 
 and the second and last Forum of ihe Confeder- 
 acy. Monarch hills, seven in number, as for im- 
 perious Rome, provided the site. 
 It is not to the present, rich in fulfillment and with 
 a greater promise for the future, that my interest 
 
 77 
 
at this moment attaches; but, to the opulent past 
 — eager to trace from the time of savage enthrone- 
 ment to civiHzed supremacy. 
 
 Through the unmeasured domain of Powhatan, a 
 tortuous stream came meandering down, about the 
 wooded isles, gathering in volume and velocity, 
 until, by leaps and bounds, it spread a magnificent 
 breadth and length. It made its start in the moun- 
 tains and its waters are fresh. But one thing can 
 be complained of the James River and that is its 
 color — not mistily blue or a burnished shield 
 against the light, as is the York ! nor yet a tawny 
 tide over sands bleached to snow-white, as is fre- 
 quently found in the South ; but turgid and yellow 
 from the clay-worn banks, it matches the Missis- 
 sippi and the ** Big Muddy," and never settles to 
 transparency nor clears its face for the heavens' 
 reflection. 
 
 Along the Powhatan, which should shortly yield 
 this compliment of name to an English King, and 
 be forever after known as "The James," the Ad- 
 venturers made their first settlement. They were 
 out for gold. They did not wait to shake the wrin- 
 kles from their clothes, nor stop until the newly 
 arrived inhabitants of "James Citty" should feel 
 themselves at home ; or, at least, safe by barricade 
 from their unusual and too curious neighbors, 
 when a party of the impatient men set sail up the 
 river. Captain Christopher Newport was in the 
 lead. Several pots of the precious metal were at the 
 78 
 
end of the rainbow, which they beheved they 
 sighted; while an outlet to the South Sea was the 
 imaginary bridge which should pass them over. 
 ^ They found, instead, this heathen emperor's 
 throne; there, at the foot-hills, where the stream 
 that had come down from the mountains, was 
 tumbling and falling about in cascades «3* The 
 Jamestown landing was in May, the thirteenth 
 day, and the year was 1607. The year and the 
 month were the same when Newport's command 
 reached the*' Falls " ; the day was the twenty-first. 
 C( Nothing came of this venture, which might be 
 remarked of the majority of Captain Newport's 
 efforts. Whenever he took the direction of affairs 
 he usually met with ridiculous failure .^ Do not 
 make the mistake of calling him "Sir," he was 
 simply the captain of the vessel and evidently hired 
 for this service by the company in London. Even 
 three hundred years afterward, one reading the 
 old chronicles, resents his dallying, selfish meth- 
 ods and feels acute sympathy with those who suf- 
 fered from his interference and left him labeled, 
 "an idle, empty man." 
 
 Two years later, when Captain John Smith was 
 taking a hand in administrative policies, he con- 
 fessed that: "The better to dissipate their Hu- 
 mours and break up their Confederacies," he sent 
 Captain Francis West, with one hundred and twenty 
 men, to plant a new town. It appears that dissen- 
 sions prevailed at Jamestown — each capitalized 
 
 79 
 
letter of the quotation intimates the nettlesome 
 state of affairs. Captain West wasa weakhni!^. When 
 Smith followed to see them well placed, he met 
 the faint-hearted gentleman hy the way, returning 
 to the mother settlement j*- lie found the infant 
 colony not at "The h'alls," as he had advised, hut 
 "in a Place not only liahle to the River's Inuntla- 
 tions, hut also suhject to many other Intolerahle 
 Inconveniences." The offshoot citizens were in a 
 state of " Turhulency " to warrant the spellinp^ 
 with a hio; V. 
 
 Immediately Smith set ahout trading with Pow- 
 hatan for his place, just ahove, which had the ad- 
 vantai^es of <;c)ihI location, an Indian fort, houses, 
 anil considerahle land. Vov a hari^ain so desirahle, 
 a proportion of copper was offered and certain 
 protection to Powhatan's people from their race 
 enemies, the Manakins, who dwelt heyond the 
 mountains. There are historians who claim that a 
 small \vhite lad, Henry Spelman, was included as 
 good measure in this dicker. 
 
 " Ht>UvSes for lodi:;ings, nearly two hundred Acres 
 of 1/and, cleared aiul ready for Planting, with a 
 Savage Fort, ready huilt, anil prettily fortified with 
 Poles and Barks of Trees, and sufficient to have 
 defended them against all the Indians in the 
 Country," reads like a true home-seeker's pros- 
 pectus. Rememhering their miserahle plight, such 
 inducements should have appealed to theni as 
 highly desirahle and as offering "all the modern 
 ^ 80 
 
The Flag-Stone Path of the 01d£Churchyard— Secpag^e 75 
 
Where lofty trees lock their branches in memorial arch 
 
 above, on Church Hill, yet stands the cherished 
 
 little sanctuary of Old St. John's— See piige 87 
 
The Shingled Roof, ruffled and turned by a rough fUght of Time, fits 
 Wing-Like down over the sides.— See page 86 
 
conveniences." But the South Sea country with 
 its gold was the bauble which fancy dangled before 
 their eyes, and they had no mind for the petty 
 comfort and momentary advantage of a ready- 
 made house and fort, even if the decorative scheme 
 were "Poles and Barks of Trees," to mortgage 
 the future for to-day. To pledge themselves a power 
 against the Manakins was, in their belief, to bar 
 the door to the land they were seeking, for they 
 were of one opinion : that the Manakin region led 
 to the South Sea. 
 
 After remonstrating with them for nine days and 
 with such persuasion and force as he deemed wise, 
 Captain Smith, who was the recognized power by 
 the Indians, turned back to Jamestown. No sooner 
 had he set sail, so runs the dramatic story, than an 
 assault was made upon the settlers, who were so 
 affrighted that they made precipitate haste to be 
 away, nor stopped for their cloaks and swords. 
 This paraphernalia was specially prized by the 
 pursuers. Less than half a league out their ship ran 
 aground, and Smith, who was ever an emergency 
 man, embraced the occasion for further remon- 
 strance. The colonists were so terrorized that they 
 gladly ^sented to any proposition which prom- 
 ised protection, and thus the whimpering com- 
 pany were carried to the "strongest and most 
 pleasant place" that Captain Smith had seen in 
 this country, and for this reason they called it 
 "Nonsuch." The location was one of the resi- 
 
 81 
 
dences of Powhatan, the Emperor, and was the 
 beginning of Richmond. 
 
 The Indians complained that their EngUsh pro- 
 tectors were worse enemies than the Manakins 
 themselves; that they stole their corn, broke open 
 their houses, robbed their gardens and beat them, 
 and while they, the Indians, had borne all for love 
 of Captain Smith, they "desired Pardon, if here- 
 after they defended themselves." ^ The fractious 
 again took up their wrangling to the end that 
 ** Nonsuch " was abandoned. 
 
 Those who follow the misfortunes of the colonists 
 along the James River, have a lasting impression 
 of the wearying repetitions of factions, famine and 
 massacre — of the thousands who came over with 
 fresh hope, undaunted courage and the deathless 
 illusion that with them all would be well ; only to 
 contribute to the constant decimation. It is easy, 
 therefore, to understand how quite one century 
 and a quarter more had slipped by from the time 
 of the settlement of ** Nonsuch," before the pan- 
 orama of events brought again to view the cluster- 
 ing hills for special historical record. By this time 
 they emerge from the unstable past with the In- 
 dian name of '* Shoccoes." This year is set down 
 as 1733, when William Byrd, the second of the 
 masters of the splendid house of Westover to bear 
 that name, developed a pet project to found two 
 cities. He explains that the localities are naturally 
 intended for marts, and that one shall exchange 
 82 
 
the name of ''Shoccoes" for Richmond; while 
 the other, at the head of the Appomattox, is 
 the city of Petersburg. He fancifully continues: 
 "Thus did we build not only castles, but cities 
 in the air." 
 
 While Sir William Berkeley was governor — in 
 fact, the date is given, March 15, 1675-6, because 
 Captain William Byrd had introduced one hun- 
 dred and twenty-two persons into the colony and 
 later some negro slaves, he was rewarded by a 
 grant of land, some seven thousand and more acres, 
 beginning at the mouth of Shoccoes' Creek. Other 
 grants followed these, all in the same locality, so, 
 a later generation was indeed, possessed of suffi- 
 cient paternal acres whereon to found a city — 
 two of them. In 1742, by an act of the Assembly, 
 Richmond was established a town in Henrico 
 County and one of the perquisites was the * ' allow- 
 ing of fairs to be held therein, on the lands of 
 William Byrd, Esq., at the Falls of James River." 
 Q, Chance it was, and not deliberate choice, which 
 determined the first property owners of Richmond. 
 That pleasure-loving gentleman who founded the 
 city, at the same time instituted a lottery scheme 
 for the distribution of the lots. Naturally, his 
 friends were not all imbued with his enthusiasm 
 and faith in the venture, and, when invited to 
 invest, more as a courtesy and acknowledgment 
 of his fine hospitality, they responded. They pur- 
 chased the tickets which frequently were carelessly 
 
 83 
 
thrust into waistcoat pockets or with the idle pa- 
 pers of the desk — and forgotten. The possession of 
 one of these tickets was all the evidence of owner- 
 ship required for the lot of the corresponding 
 number. Generations afterward there arose a series 
 of complications; tickets lost, destroyed, never 
 presented, and the rise in real estate made the ac- 
 cidental finding of one of these a prize indeed. 
 Finally it was arranged that all the unclaimed 
 property should revert to the heirs of the Byrd 
 family. 
 
 Despite the crop uncertainties. Tobacco was King. 
 It was facetiously said "to be in the mouth of al- 
 most every man and boy, either for mastication, 
 fumigation, inhalation, or discussion." 
 The surplus of Captain Byrd's handsome crop was 
 heaped in great warehouses, there on the James, 
 where the well-selected site offered such excellent 
 advantages for storage and future deliveries. 
 The healthful and invitingly picturesque location, 
 blended with the exigencies of war, to induce the 
 removal of the Capital from Williamsburg to Rich- 
 mond, during the Revolutionary struggle ^ The 
 almost half century passed since the platting of the 
 city had failed to make it more than a mean little 
 town; as is shown by a letter of Mrs. Carrington's, 
 which Bishop Meade published. The social dis- 
 play must have been meager as compared with the 
 distractions of the mimic English court, enthroned 
 on the ''Palace Green" of the Colonial Capital. 
 84 
 
Concerning Richmond, Mrs. Carrington agrees 
 that: 
 
 It is indeed a lovely situation, and may at some future day be a 
 great city, but at present will scarce afford one comfort of life. 
 With the exception of two or three families, this town is made 
 up of Scotch factors, who inhabit small tenements here and 
 there, from the river to the hill, some of which looking, as 
 Colonel Marshall observes, as if the poor Caledonians had 
 brought them over on their backs, the weaker of whom were 
 glad to stop at the bottom of the hill; others' a little stronger 
 proceeded higher, while a few of the strongest and boldest 
 reached the summit, which once accomplished affords a situa- 
 tion beautiful and picturesque. One of these sturdy Scots has 
 thought proper to vacate his dwelling on the hill; and although 
 our whole family can scarcely stand up all together in it, my 
 father has determined to rent it as the only decent tenement on 
 the hill. 
 
 When two years later, in the winter of 1781, that 
 traitor to the Patriot Cause, Benedict Arnold, 
 marched at the head of the British troops upon 
 Richmond and applied the torch, the real loss must 
 have been in the planters' product rather than in 
 the fine buildings and dwellings. He found but 
 two hundred men to oppose him, for the best of 
 the army had been sent to the aid of General 
 Greene; and, really, there were not enough of the 
 Continentals to make a show. The fact, however, 
 that Jefferson, who was then governor of the com- 
 monwealth, did not muster a larger force and did 
 not more stubbornly resist, has been a matter for 
 contention for more than one hundred years. In the 
 April following, a mere lad, with twelve hundred 
 
 85 
 
of the Patriots, brought to a halt the troops, double 
 his number, advancing, under General Phillips, 
 upon Richmond, and forced them back to the hills 
 of Petersburg «3* There, the boy commander, the 
 Marquis de Lafayette, gave the salute of war; but 
 his adversary, whom Jefferson had said was * ' the 
 proudest man of the proudest nation on earth," 
 was stricken with fever and then wrestling with 
 death, the victor. A grave was made for General 
 Phillips in the quaint little churchyard of "Old 
 Blandford." 
 
 Flame and sword have wrought with Time for 
 change in the Imperial City. The miracle of mod- 
 ern progress has burst the bounds of the seven 
 hills and spread beyond. The mysterious thread of 
 electricity winds and unwinds the shuttle of speed, 
 until the two "cities in the air," promoted by 
 Captain Byrd, are caught in the mesh ; and inter- 
 woven, are the towns nestling along the river and 
 resting on the sunny slopes. What is there left to 
 mark the vanished past? Where are the haunts of 
 the astral years? 
 
 Thrust back by the presumptuous present, the new 
 shops press forward to hide a low, squat building. 
 The irregular stones of the walls refuse to yield 
 another inch to the crowding traffic of Main 
 Street. The shingled roof, ruffled and turned, by 
 a rough flight of time, fits wing-like down over 
 the sides. Two windows, in their rock setting, 
 stare vacantly forth, and the single door, usually 
 . 86 
 
ajar, is but a step up from the pavement. The 
 worn threshold is the dividing Hne betw^een the 
 long ago and the now^. From their vantage place 
 above, three dormer windows peep stealthily out 
 from beneath their hoods and two stolid chimneys 
 stand sentinel. A tablet by the door informs that 
 Washington had headquarters here and there is 
 the supplemental tradition that this old stone house 
 is the oldest in Richmond. It has another boast: 
 that it remained for generations in the possession 
 of one family, before the fate of decrepit and su- 
 perannuated buildings overtook it and it suffered 
 the mortification of being posted " For Rent." 
 This happened in 1858. The little old house, which 
 in its day of pride and use never knew for its in- 
 mates a swifter means of transportation than the 
 sail, the chaise and the gig, now lends its empty 
 walls to echo the whirr of steedless carriages, while 
 level with its floors are the tracks for invisibly pro- 
 pelled coaches. Within the house are being gath- 
 ered mementoes, relics and treasures of hoary lang 
 syne, and within this olden receptacle they will 
 form a museum for the curious and inquiring of 
 generations to follow. 
 
 Where trees lock their branches in memorial 
 arch above, where once was the residential quar- 
 ter, aristocratic Church Hill, yet stands the cher- 
 ished little sanctuary of old St. John's. In the midst 
 of tremendous material and social changes, this 
 survivor from an older period maintains a serene 
 
 87 
 
and stately dignity. The angular white building, 
 with its green blinds, leans hard against the square 
 tower, a diminuendo spire ^ The marble slabs, 
 which have served the double purpose of tribute 
 to the dead and record for the living, incline slant- 
 wise toward each other and the church ; not one 
 is upright. Over the hillside, the stones emerge 
 from a tangle of grass and wraith-like blooms, and 
 many unmarked mounds there are, mutely elo- 
 quent of the unknown. 
 
 The age of the church is but guesswork since tjie 
 records are missing «^ Its distinction, however, is 
 not so much in long-standing as in well-standing; 
 and in the fact that it furnished the platform for a 
 glorious speech. The familiar pictures of the orator 
 describe him as "Tall of figure, but stooping, with 
 a grim expression, small blue eyes which had a 
 peculiar twinkle." 
 
 We are also advised that this young man, just 
 twenty-nine, rode a lean horse. Jefferson said that 
 he spoke as Homer wrote and that *'he gave the 
 first impulse to the ball of Revolution." It was in 
 St. John's — the keeper will show you the pew — 
 that the lean, tall, slightly stooping young man, 
 under thirty, he who wore a "brown wig without 
 powder, a peachblossom coat, leather knee breeches 
 and yarn stockings," spake the thrilling, masterful 
 words : "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be 
 purchased at the price of chains and slavery? For- 
 bid it. Almighty God. I know not what course 
 
St. John's Church. Hampton, Virginia— See page 103 
 
others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or 
 give me death." 
 
 While you are in the church your attention will 
 be attracted to the graceful lines and modeling of 
 the baptismal font, and since you have a touch of 
 the antiquary fever, you will learn with pleasure 
 that it is very old. It belonged first to the parish at 
 Curl's Neck, on the James River. It was presented 
 in 1826, and the claim for its age is in the hundreds 
 of years, two, and some estimate it as nearer three. 
 During the Civil War it was lost, and later recov- 
 ered from some slaves in a miserable hut. They 
 were putting it to the practical but scarce religious 
 use of preparing hominy therein. 
 The oldest grave of which there is any record in 
 St. John's, is that of Robert Rose, who departed 
 this life in 1751 .^ The ponderous and exhaustive 
 epitaph is*herewith reproduced as an example of 
 the vogue in tombstone literature: 
 
 Here lyeth the body of Robert Rose, Rector of Albermarle 
 Parish. His extraordinary Genius and Capacity, in all the polife 
 and useful Arts of Life, tho equalled by few were yet exceeded 
 by the great goodness of his Heart. Humanity, Benevolence and 
 Charity ran through the whole course of his Life. And was ex- 
 erted with uncommon penetration and judgment upon their 
 proper objects without Noise and Ostentation. In his Friendships 
 he was warm and steady, in his Manners gentle & easy, in his 
 conversation entertaining & instructive. With the most tender 
 piety he discharged all the domestick duty of Husband Father 
 Son and Brother. In short he was a friend to the whole human 
 Race & upon that principle a strenuous Assertor and Defender 
 of Liberty. 
 
 89 
 
This credential surely must have passed with Saint 
 Peter ^ ^ 
 
 I confess to never have had the proper appreciation 
 of capital letters until I began the study of the old 
 manuscripts and tombs. There is an autobiographi- 
 cal epitaph in this churchyard which is most 
 amusing in its haphazard use and mis-use of the 
 capitals. Note how the significant article is dignified 
 by the use of the big letter and the distinction 
 denied the appellation of the Son of God, in the 
 stone story of Abraham Shield, a native of Durham, 
 Old England, a stone-cutter and brick-layer, who 
 died in 1798, and evidently felt his days cut short 
 but was manifestly submissive: 
 
 When I was young and in my prime 
 It pleased the Lord to End my Time 
 And took me to A place of Rest 
 where jesus Christ did think it best 
 
 Another stone reads : 
 
 Return my friends & cease to weep 
 Whilst in Christ Jesus here I sleep 
 Prepare yourself your soul to save 
 There is no repentance in the grave 
 
 Stop my friends as you pass by 
 As you are now so once was I 
 As I am now you soon must be 
 Prepare yourself to follow me. 
 
 This was graven in 1826, and seems to have en- 
 joyed quite a popular run. It is found in most of 
 90 
 
the old Virginia graveyards and even scholarly 
 Boston was attracted to its use. It is told that 
 under such an inscription in one of the Boston 
 cemeteries, some wag added the pertinent lines: 
 
 To follow thee I am not content 
 Unless I know which way you went. 
 
 On the 24th day of June, 1786, with imposing 
 ceremonies, a corner-stone was laid in Richmond. 
 The site where this dedication took place has 
 come down in history with a twin record of 
 mirth and tragedy. No less distinguished a person 
 than the daughter of Benjamin Franklin was the 
 enthusiastic patroness of the project for an "Acad- 
 emy of Fine Arts, in the United States of America, 
 established in Richmond, the Capital of Virginia." 
 This ambitious title was bestowed by the founder 
 and president, Chevalier, Quesnay de Beaure paire. 
 At this time, Patrick Henry was Governor and the 
 enterprise had enlisted his support and that of the 
 elite of Richmond and many other cities. Evidently 
 the Chevalier, Quesnay de Beaure paire was a 
 dreamer of dreams, for the Academy which had its 
 foundation laid in the 5786th year of light, evolved 
 a theatre. The site became known as "Theatre 
 Square" and there was established the first play- 
 house of Richmond. It was reserved for memora- 
 ble scenes of patriotic celebration and a final 
 holocaust. 
 
 Within two years of the founding there was a 
 
 91 
 
famous convention of sages, patriots and states- 
 men, who there ratified the Constitution of the 
 United States as framed in Philadelphia. So in- 
 tense was the interest felt in the question itself and 
 so renowned were those engaged in its discussion, 
 that the theatre was thronged day and night, and 
 forgetful of any and all discomforts of the oppres- 
 sive throng, the highly wrought audience hung 
 breathless upon the words of the speakers. Supreme 
 occasion was that when James Madison, James 
 Monroe, Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe, 
 George Nicholson, Edmund Randolph, George 
 Mason, Grayson, Innis, Lee and Patrick Henry 
 were reasoning together concerning the mighty 
 instrument of a New Republic. 
 For several years the theatre which had its three- 
 fold distinction as academy, forum and play-house, 
 maintained its character and then was burned to 
 the ground. Later a fine brick theatre was builded 
 in the rear of the old Academy on Theatre Square 
 and furnished the altar for an appalling sacrifice 
 of human lives. It was the night after Christmas, 
 1811, when the house was filled with the flower 
 of the Capital City to witness two plays, "The 
 Father of Family Feuds," and the curtain-raiser, 
 " Raymond and Agnes, or the Bleeding Nun." 
 It was during the second play that the scenery 
 caught fire from a chandelier and the awful 
 tragedy ensued when seventy-two men, women 
 and children were burned to death; among them 
 92 
 
It was deemed that a Church, forever Dedicated to Divine Worship, would be a 
 fitting Monument to the Memory of those who Perished— 5ec page 93 
 
A Corner of Old Saint Paul's, Norfolk. Showing the 
 Cannon Ball Embedded in the Wall 5ee page 98 
 
were the Governor of the State, George W. Smith, 
 United States Senator Venahle, Benjamin Botts, a 
 celebrated lawyer and his wife, together with 
 many other ladies and gentlemen of the old Rich- 
 mond families. Their names are engraved on the 
 cenotaph in the south portico of the Church. 
 It was deemed that a church, forever dedicated to 
 divine worship, would be a fitting monument to 
 the memory of those who perished. Robert Mills, 
 who had designed the Treasury Building in 
 Washington, was called to Richmond to draw the 
 plan. It is an enormous octagon of stone, massive 
 and singular in design. The memorial windows, 
 the mural decorations, and the entire arrangement 
 and appointments of the church, are most un- 
 usual. Above the reredos is a realistic painting of 
 the Resurrection Morning. The figures are all 
 more than life size. In the subdued light of the 
 sanctuary the three crosses on Calvary are seen in 
 the distance and the three women at the tomb 
 appear with most effective force. The ceiling of 
 the lantern shows an angel heralding the " Ever- 
 lasting Gospel." The figures in the panels of the 
 dome represent the Four Evangelists and the 
 Major ^Prophets. The church was finished in 
 1814, arid had among its worshippers many dis- 
 tinguished men; with them was Chief Justice 
 John Marshall. 
 
 It is told that the massive silver baptismal basin, 
 placed in the antique marble font, was first used 
 
 93 
 
in the church at Jamestown. It is of curious shape, 
 which by the provisions of the deed of gift, may 
 never be changed. The entrance is through a 
 portico, supported by great Doric columns and 
 within this are the sacred ashes of the victims of 
 the horrible fire. The sealed vault is just inside 
 the portal to the " Monumental Church." 
 
 Just Touching Upon Norfolk 
 
 [HERE the Chesapeake Indians had 
 once a favored hunting ground, is the 
 site of that Virginia city which is now 
 known as "The Mother-in-law of the 
 Navy. 
 
 It was in the year 1680, that the Vir- 
 ginia Assembly authorized the purchase of fifty 
 acres in lower Norfolk County. The owner was a 
 certain Nicholas Wise; the purchase price was 
 "ten thousand pounds of merchantable tobacco 
 and cask" — fifty years had considerably advartced 
 the prices of real estate in the Colonies; for it was 
 in 1623 that twenty-four dollars and a few glass 
 beads, had secured the whole of Manhattan Island. 
 That deal was put through by that very shrewd 
 trader, the first of the Dutch Governors, Peter 
 Minuit. And now, half an hundred acres in the 
 tide-water territory of Virginia were bringing a 
 94 
 
handsome price in the currency of the Colony ^ 
 QThe weed, which was introduced for extensive 
 cultivation by Governor Yeardley, within the first 
 decade of settlement, became the staple of Vir- 
 ginia; and the warrant why cities should be 
 founded. To advance the carrying trade and con- 
 centrate the business, this new town was located 
 across from the mouth of the James River. It had 
 its name first from the county, which, in turn, 
 reverted back to the Mother Country — to that 
 county in Old England which had as its capital 
 the city of bloaters, which Dickens rendered im- 
 mortal through his memories of the Peggotys, 
 Little Em'ly and the woeful, doeful Mrs. Gum- 
 midge ^ ^ 
 
 And so, for a less amount of the precious plant 
 than was afterward accounted a year's salary for a 
 parson, the site of Norfolk was purchased. The 
 modern city has been too valuable for purposes of 
 commerce to withstand the over-sweeping tide of 
 modern progress; not so very much of the past 
 remains in evidence. He who goes a-seeking after 
 the <:oast lines of old-time places is usually forced 
 to trace them in dusty streets, walled in by brick 
 and stone; for the greedy land continually en- 
 croaches upon the sea until the new made terri- 
 tory adds several blocks to the original sinuous 
 shore. Particularly is this true of Norfolk, which 
 is situated on one of the ravelled peninsulas which 
 tasselate Hampton Roads. The waters of Black 
 
 95 
 
Creek used to flow around about where the Court 
 House now stands, and places now well inland 
 once stood upon the brink of the stream. 
 There is royal indication in the names of the 
 streets, which even he who runs may gather. No 
 one could doubt the derivation of Bute, York, 
 James, Queen, Botetourt, Grandby, and Charlotte; 
 or the suggested picture and pageantry of Plume 
 Street. They carry an unwritten story of the ones 
 for whom they were called and the episode or 
 place which they commemorate. 
 Norfolk has a dramatic memory for Lord Dun- 
 more, the last but not the best of the Colonial 
 Governors. After the fiasco at Williamsburg, when 
 he had the powder removed from the Powder 
 Horn, and had been forced to return the same 
 and further found it wise to take to the English 
 ship, lying in the York River, he went over to 
 Norfolk and made that city his headquarters ^ 
 Governor Dunmore fortified himself with such 
 cannon as he could secure and bade defiance to the 
 Committee of Safety, or any measures which they 
 might adopt. This Committee of Safety had a 
 string of illustrious names destined for immortal 
 remembrance: Edmund Pendleton was the first 
 President and others of the directory were : John 
 Page, Richard Bland, Thomas Ludwell Lee, Paul 
 Carrington, John Mercer, George Mason, Dud- 
 ley Diggs, William Cabell, Carlton Braxton and 
 John Tabb. Patrick Henry was the commander- 
 96 
 
in-chief of the Virginia forces. C, Out from Nor- 
 folk, about ten miles, at Great Bridge, Lord 
 Dunmore, marshalling the Tories in Virginia, 
 met those of the Patriots who had assembled there 
 under the leadership of Colonel Woolford. It did 
 not require more than one short half hour to 
 bring victory to perch on the banner of the Vir- 
 ginians. A remarkable feature of this first of the 
 prominent events, leading up to the American 
 Revolution, was the fact that it was a victory 
 achieved without loss of life on the Patriot side. 
 On New Year's day. Lord Dunmore, who was 
 considerably amazed and much chagrined at the 
 result of the Great Bridge encounter, determined 
 to bombard Norfolk. After disturbing and un- 
 settling the places along the Chesapeake, making 
 open war and bringing wanton waste, the irate 
 Governor made a warm call, with shot and shell, 
 on the first day of a memorable year, 1776, upon 
 the city of Norfolk. 
 
 It is a contended point as to who applied the torch 
 to the city. Some records hold Dunmore guilty, 
 while others relate that the inhabitants, anticipat- 
 ing his action and with the wish to deny him the 
 satisfaction of being the instrument in the destruc- 
 tion of the town, themselves started the fire. 
 However that may be, Norfolk was burned and 
 while the bombardment was on the citizens took 
 refuge within the church. 
 
 Walled in by places of commercial activity and 
 
 97 
 
like an island of the past in the sea of the present, 
 is Old St. Paul's, of Norfolk. It is a brave old 
 sanctuary which stands on the street called Church. 
 It had been built on the most traveled road leading 
 out of the town. It provided a shelter for the terri- 
 fied men, women and children, who fled there 
 for protection from the cannon and shell of Dun- 
 more' s fleet. It withstood the siege and is today 
 standing, a revered and holy symbol of the right 
 which is inighty and inust prevail. It is the trophy 
 of the initial war of the Colonists. It is the shrine 
 of the past which offers to the visitors and the 
 antiquarian an untiring interest. The Church is 
 hung with a mantle of ivy and over each grave 
 and every tomb are matted the thick green trap- 
 pings of leaves. The old walls have been reinforced 
 and a new tower has been added with rooms set 
 apart for the use of the vested choir. Proving its 
 staunchness and how well it withstood the siege, 
 there is imbedded high up in its walls, one of the 
 balls fired by the British on that tragic New Year's 
 day. The ball fell from the socket which it made 
 in the bricks and years afterv/ard was replaced. A 
 tablet tells the martial story. 
 
 The quiet churchyard is truly God's Acre. Going 
 in through the Church Street gate, just to the 
 right of the walk, is a flat marble slab, which 
 marks the grave of Elizabeth Bacon — not the wife 
 of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr., The Rebel, but that of 
 his relative, Nathaniel Bacon, Sr. Both of these 
 98 
 
men married women named Elizabeth and this is 
 generally believed to be that of the young English 
 girl, the daughter of Sir Edward Duke, who, 
 despite the opposition of her father, married Na- 
 thaniel Bacon, who was later to figure so dramat- 
 ically in Virginia history. He brought his young 
 wife to America and they settled at Curl's Neck 
 on the James River. Four stormy months were 
 the period of the rebellion and then Elizabeth was 
 left to mourn her fascinating husband, dead and 
 buried no one can tell where. But this is not her 
 grave, here under the wide-spreading shelter of 
 the trees in Old St. Paul's; for "Betty" married 
 again. She became the wife of Captain Jarvis who 
 owned much land in Elizabeth City County and 
 it was upon their holdings that Hampton was 
 established the same year as Norfolk. Betty Bacon 
 Jarvis sailed away with her captain and I am told 
 that it is in Providence, R. I., that she sleeps in 
 her narrow bed ; far away from the scene of tur- 
 moil, swift change and perilous undertaking, 
 which she must have suffered in sharing the spec- 
 tacular performances of her first husband. Eliza- 
 beth, wife of Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., departed this 
 life the second of November, 1691, in the 67th 
 year of her age — so says the old slab, under the 
 tree, beside the gate, in Old St. Paul's. 
 The church was builded in 1739, and the oldest 
 grave of which there is any record, lies close to the 
 wall with the mutilated stone, rudely hacked and 
 
 99 
 
worn by time into the crude outlines of a coffin. 
 It is Dorothy Farrell who "heere Ues." Set in the 
 clustering ivy by the door of the church, is the 
 fragment of a tombstone which was brought from 
 We3^anoke, on the James River, from the ruins 
 of an old colonial church, and placed as a tablet 
 on the walls of St. Paul's. The inscription is half 
 obliterated but it records the death of one William 
 Harris, who departed this life "ye 8th of March, 
 1687-8," in the thirty-fifth year of his age. The 
 skull and cross bones are carved beneath in mel- 
 ancholy memory. 
 
 Dear trophy of other days is Old St. Paul's: It 
 was the first Mayor of Norfolk who contributed 
 the grounds. His initials with the date of the 
 building of the church, are wrought in with the 
 brick work of the walls and at his death his body 
 was buried in the churchyard. Within the sanc- 
 tuary, which is cruciform, are four beautiful me- 
 morial windows. The marble font is said to be a 
 copy of the one given by " King Carter " to one 
 of the Virginia churches in 1734. The Holy table 
 was copied from a very old one • in Yorkshire, 
 England, which bears the date of 1680. The font 
 and the table were both the gifts of the late Mrs. 
 Sarah F. Pegram. Another cherished treasure is 
 an old maliogany chair in the vestry room. It was 
 presented by Mrs. Miller,' wife of the Reverend 
 Benjamin M. Miller, once rector of St. Paul's. 
 Mrs. Miller was the daughter of Col. Thomas 
 100 
 
Set in the clustering ivy, by the door of the 
 Church, is the fragment of a tombstone 
 placed as a tablet— 5ec page 100 + + 
 
The Norfolk Academy, Patterned After The Theseus at Athens— See pag-e 101 
 
M. Bayley, of Accomac County, Virginia, who 
 had bought this chair in which John Hancock 
 sat when he was signing the Declaration of In- 
 dependence. There is too, an old vestry book, 
 reaching back to 1749. It bears a record as follows: 
 " 1751 — received into the vestry of Captain George 
 Whitehall, commander of his Majesty's ship 
 Triton, a silver plate as a compliment for his wife, 
 being interred in this church." 
 The Custom House and the City Hall are reck- 
 oned with the oldest buildings of Norfolk and are 
 examples of the style of architecture before it had 
 been thought to turn a bridge upon end and make 
 of it a skyscraper. They were builded nearly sixty 
 years ago. But far more interesting is the old 
 Norfolk Academy, which really dates from 1804, 
 when authorized by an act of the Assembly. The 
 land was originally set aside for a rectory for St. 
 Paul's, but, after the Revolution it was diverted to 
 the present purpose. Very fine is the setting, on 
 the corner of Charlotte and Banks Streets, where 
 in an enormous green four hundred feet square, 
 stands the fine old building patterned after the 
 Theseus of Athens, a splendid specimen of the 
 Grecian Doric. 
 
 There is a treasured memory of the visit of the 
 Irish poet, Thomas Moore,' when he occupied a 
 miserable little dwelling now given over to the 
 demands of business, but still standing at the foot 
 of Main Street. The Great Dismal Swamp is near 
 
 101 
 
enough to Norfolk to have excited the Hveliest 
 interest in Moore and to have inspired with its 
 weird legends and impenetrable thickets, the poem 
 which introduces Lake Drummond, with its most 
 unscientific basin. Moore's lines begin with a 
 shivering suggestion : 
 
 They made her a grave too cold and damp 
 
 For a soul so warm and true ! 
 
 And she's gone to the lake in the Dismal Swamp 
 
 Where all night long by a fire-fly lamp 
 
 She paddles her light canoe ! 
 
 Norfolk has very much of the modern to interest 
 
 and much more of the ancient days to fascinate — 
 
 this little sketch is just touching upon Norfolk — 
 a mere shred of its history. 
 
 St. John's Church, Hampton, Virginia 
 
 IRST foot-prints — usually buried in 
 ashes and over-builded by the progress 
 of repeating years — I was^seeking to 
 retrace these in Hampton, Virginia, 
 when I came suddenly upon this sacred 
 bit of the past, in the cram'pe'd thor- «^ 
 oughfare of Queen Street. Here a majestic weep- 
 ing-willow stands, sentinel-like, calling a halt to 
 the importunate present, commanding back the 
 crowding stores and waving aside the noisy traffic. 
 102 
 
It drops from its huge arms the trailing tassels of 
 its foliage to screen the vulgar gaze of a curious 
 world; at the iron gate it draws back its fringed 
 folds that those really interested may enter there. 
 From without the railing, a hand stretched through 
 may rest upon a grave so near, to the clamorous 
 cry of the city, sleep the unheeding dead of St. 
 John's churchyard. 
 
 I wandered in and out among the graves wishing 
 for some one to give me information with refer- 
 ence to the historic plat. I had heard that here 
 was the third oldest of the Episcopal Churches in 
 America; that the walls had stood since 1656; 
 antedating by fifty years "Old Trinity," and 
 builded fully one hundred and fifty years before 
 the edifice now standing at the head of Wall 
 Street. The grant of the "Queen's Farm " to the 
 English Church on Manhattan Island, was the 
 gift of Queen Anne in the remnant years of 1600, 
 while ' ' Elizabeth City Parish ' ' was established 
 the span of near one century earlier, in 1615. 
 I came upon a man doing the mason's work in a 
 new-made grave. He was carrying on an animated 
 conversation with a woman friend who stood 
 watching him. I stopped to ask him if he could 
 give me the history of the church. 
 " No'm, I can't," he replied, "but, thar's a nig- 
 ger 'round here that know^s more about this here 
 church than anybody — he jest knows all thar is to 
 know, I reckon." 
 
 103 
 
Striking his trowel upon the ground by way of 
 emphasis, he enthusiastically added : 
 " Bolivar kin tell you more about this here church 
 than George Washington — you jest send for Boli- 
 var — thar goes one of his children now — Hi ! 
 look'y here !" he shouted and gesticulated with 
 his trowel, to a little mulatto child playing near 
 the edge of the grounds. *'Here, ain't you one of 
 Bolivar's children ?" 
 *' Yaas Sir," she idly answered. 
 *' W'll you cum here; you go and tell your father 
 thar's sum'un here wants to see him." 
 " I kaint, I'se got sumfin else to do." 
 *'Sure, you mind what I tell you — go tell your 
 father thar's sum'un waitin' here." 
 The little girl ran along and the man explained 
 to me that Bolivar is '* a yaller nigger with a slick 
 tongue." 
 
 When I intimated my fear that from such a source 
 the information might not be reliable, he assured 
 me that Bolivar was to be depended upon for the 
 facts. 
 
 While I waited, he and his companion resumed 
 their talk, and so I learned that only for the de- 
 scendants of the families buried therein, is the sod 
 of St. John's churchyard ever overturned. From 
 their gossip I gathered about the open grave the 
 threads of a tender tale of loving, wooing, win- 
 ning, death-parting and the bitter grief of a young 
 widowed heart. 
 104 
 
'*Wall," looking toward the sun, *'I reckon it's 
 about time for me to knock off." 
 ** What time do you quit ?" inquired the woman. 
 "Wall, five o'clock is schedule time; but, I jest 
 knock off any old time — y' see, I'm working for 
 myself." 
 
 "Not now, I hope," she answered. 
 "Wall, no; not jest this here piece of work." 
 With that they both laughed; then he scrambled 
 out of the pit and they went away. 
 Alone in the fading light, by the empty grave, my 
 tearful sympathy went to seek that one who on 
 the morrow should stand there desolate, bereft. 
 * ' You wish to see me, maam ? ' ' 
 I turned and straightway knew that it was Bolivar. 
 I followed him to the vestibule. He opened the 
 doors with a flourish and bade me enter. He be- 
 gan a recital of the history of St. John's Church. 
 I interposed a question or two, but, with due 
 deference, he advised me that he would "relate 
 the history of dis church," and if after he had 
 finished I had any questions to ask, he would be 
 pleased to answer them, signifying that his record 
 fully covered the ground. I dropped to a seat and 
 listened. Bolivar was very conscious of the dignity 
 of his serious calling; and, standing a few pews in 
 front of me, with his eyes cast toward the ceiling; 
 and his hands clasped before him, he made his 
 recital. 
 
 I was so interested in the manner of the man and 
 
 105 
 
his evident attachment and veneration for the old- 
 time structure, that I became w^holly absorbed, 
 and quite forgot to pay the sHghtest attention to 
 the facts of history embodied in his recitation. 
 **Can you say that again, BoHvar ?" I inquired. 
 "Yaas'm. I reckon I repeats it many times as 
 high as fifty times a day." 
 
 *' Will you say it again for me, Bolivar, word for 
 word, and let me take it down ? I want that 
 speech of yours." 
 
 " Yaas'm. Ef you'll come here eny day an' bring 
 yo' paper and pencil, I'll say it slow and easy-lik', 
 and you kin write it down." 
 
 " How will to-morrow do, at eleven o'clock ? I 
 asked .^ .^ 
 
 "No, dat won' t do, " he said, ' * f or dey' 11 be holdin' 
 ob a funeral here at dat hour; but," thoughtfully, 
 *'yo' come to-morrow afternoon at two o'clock." 
 Bolivar had a keen sense of dramatic effect, and 
 he continued: 
 
 '*No, yo' better come at haf pas' two o'clock to- 
 morrow afternoon. De youn' lady will be here a 
 practicin' ob de organ, an' with yo' settin' right 
 ober dar in President Tyler's pew, I'll say dis 
 histry foh yo', word foh word, an' it am de truf, 
 lady." ^ ^ 
 
 That was an appointment which I could not fail 
 to keep. At the stated hour I found Bolivar wait- 
 ing to assist me from the car. He conducted me 
 into the church and led me to President Tyler's 
 106 
 
pew. Without knowing of the pre-arranged role, 
 the young lady was at the organ. BoHvar's pro- 
 gram was complete. 
 
 '* First, I wants to tell yo', lady, dat my name 
 ain't Bolivar, dat's jest a nickname. My name's 
 R-i-d-d-i-c-k — Riddick Watson," and he carefully 
 spelled the first name in order that there might be 
 no future error. Assuming the solemn mien, as of 
 yesterday, Riddick began his tale as follows: 
 " I am pleas' to tell yo' dat yo' has foun' a church 
 wid a sexton what am proud ob his charge. I hav' 
 liv' in a stone's throw ob des walls foh thirty-seven 
 years ob my lif and I'm fifty-seven years ole. I've 
 acted as sexton twenty-four years, nine months 
 and eight days — yaas, dis am the eighth day ob de 
 month; and come nex' January, I'll be twenty- 
 five years sexton ob dis church ob de second set- 
 tlemen' on Virginny soil." 
 
 **Dis is Elizabeth City County, Hampton, Vir- 
 ginny. De first buildin' was called Elizabeth City 
 Parish, and was 'rected in 1615. I dun no whether 
 it was a log house or what. I feels sorry when I 
 has to tell yo' lady, dat only de walls is all dat is 
 lef ob de ole buildin' what was 'rected in 1656, 
 an' attached on to de same old parish, but called 
 St. John's Church. De woodwork was 'stroyed 
 from it in 1776, an' again in 1813; set fire by de 
 British each time; but, de walls stood each time." 
 "I am prepared to give yo' de day and de hour, 
 when by command of General McGruder, de 
 
 107 
 
church was de third time 'stroyed by fire. On de 
 nineteen day of Angus', 1861, between eight and 
 nine o'clock ob de night, de town ob Hampton 
 was burned by our own people — de confederates — 
 an' dey wasn't anything lef standin' in Hampton 
 'cept de walls ob de ole St. John's Church an' the 
 cote house walls, and de walls ob Mr. Kennon 
 Whiting's house on the lower end of King Street." 
 " De church den laid in public ruins from de 
 nineteen of Angus' in '61, up entil April, '67; 
 wid de blue sky showin' froo de roof in de day, 
 and de stars at night, if not cloudy, wid a public 
 road from Queen Street enterin' in at de south 
 do' and passin' out froo de north do' ob de church, 
 reachin' Lincoln Street, which was about the dis- 
 tance of seben hundred an' fifty feet. Yo see, dar 
 was no way to drive 'roun' because ob de railin's 
 ob iron about de graves. An' here dey was a drivin' 
 of horse carts, an' ox carts, an' haulin' ob de wood 
 an' de coal an' eny kine of traffic froo de do's ob 
 dis ole church. Dis las'ed up entil 1868. Den de 
 hammer and de nails begin to ring, an' we had a 
 roof back on dese ole walls; makin' de fourth 
 roof on dis church; 'kase, yo' see dey mus' o' had 
 a roof on de fust church here, and de church has 
 three times been 'stroyed by fire, so I make it dat 
 dis is de fourth roof ober dis church. All de im- 
 provements has been made sence by de flesh-coat- 
 ing ob de walls and de placin' ob de stained glass 
 an' de 'morial windows. De passin' froo de ruins 
 108 
 
ob de church was stopped by Bishop Whittle; an* 
 dese walls has stood two hundred and forty-nine 
 years." ^ .5* 
 
 "I feel jes as proud ob de church as ef I owned 
 ebery brick and nail in it. Dis is considered de third 
 ol'est Episcopal church in dis country. Hampton 
 was settled in 1610, three years after Jamestown, 
 an' was de second ol'est parish, 1615. 
 "We has a 'morial tablet put here in 1903, rep- 
 resenting twenty-one names ob de ole Colonial 
 clergymens. Dat pew yo' settin' in, de fourth on 
 de lef' from de chancel, was President Tyler's spot 
 and position in dis church. De pew nex' back ob 
 yo' was Dr. Semple's, a gemmen ob de vestry an' 
 warden ob dis church for ober fifty years — yo' will 
 obserbe de tablet on de wall. President Tyler's ole 
 summer residence is 'roun' de creek from Hamp- 
 ton on de right, de second house." 
 '* De ole 'munion service was presented by de 
 King to dis Church in 1619. We keeps it fer safety 
 in de care ob de senior warden, an' ebery third 
 Sunday in de month an' de first Sunday, it is car- 
 ried here alon' wid de new set, but we don't use 
 it no mo'. We also had a bell presented by de 
 Queen, but it was 'stroyed in de fire of '61. De 
 ol'est grave in dis cemetery is now standin' to show 
 fo' itsel'; it is Captain M. Wilson, 1701; eny 
 older den dis has been 'stroyed an' los' sight ob." 
 '*Now, lady, I hab give yo' de histry ob dis 
 church, word for word; dese facts are my own 
 
 109 
 
experiments, 'ceptin' what Bishop Whittle and 
 
 Bishop Meade done tole me." 
 
 ** Riddick, I would like to have your picture with 
 
 this old church," I ventured when he quickly 
 
 responded : 
 
 ** Yaas'm, ef yo' don min' I'd lik' to have it tak'n 
 
 out in de churchyard. Yo' see, dey done giv' me 
 
 a lot in dis here yard and I keeps it all clean an' 
 
 prutty an' set out wid flowers an' vines, an' ef yo' 
 
 don't min' I'd lik' to have yo' take my picture 
 
 right out dare a pintin' to my firs' wif's grave." 
 
 110 
 
So here then endeth the volume entitled SHREDS 
 AND PATCHES OF HISTORY, as written by 
 Mildred Beatty Pierce, and the whole done 
 into a book by The Roycrofters at their Shop, 
 which is in East Aurora, New York, mcmv 
 
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