University of Virginia Library

It was in 1758 that Washington, attired in a military undress, and attended by a body
servant, tall and militaire as his chief, crossed the ferry called Williams's, over the Pamunkey,
a branch of the York River. On the boat touching the southern or New Kent
side, the soldier's progress was arrested by one of those personages who give the beau
idéal of the Virginia gentleman of the old régime, the very soul of kindness and hospitality.
It was in vain the soldier urged his business at Williamsburg, important communications
to the governor, &c. Mr. Chamberlayne, on whose domain the militaire
had just landed, would hear of no excuse. Col. Washington was a name and character
so dear to all Virginians, that his passing by one of the castles of Virginia, without calling
and partaking of the hospitalities of the host, was entirely out of the question. The
colonel, however, did not surrender at discretion, but stoutly maintained his ground till
Chamberlayne, bringing up his reserve, in the intimation that he would introduce his
friend to a young and charming widow, then beneath his roof, the soldier capitulated, on
condition that he should dine—only dine—and then, by pressing his charger and borrowing
of the night, he would reach Williamsburg before his excellency could shake off
his morning slumbers. Orders were accordingly issued to Bishop, the colonel's body
servant and faithful follower, who, together with the fine English charger, had been bequeathed
by the dying Braddock to Major Washington, on the famed and fated field of
Monongahela. Bishop, bred in the school of European discipline, raised his hand to his
cap, as much as to say, "Your orders shall be obeyed."

The colonel now proceeded to the mansion, and was introduced to various guests, (for
when was a Virginia domicil of the olden time without guests?) and, above all, to the
charming widow. Tradition relates that they were mutually pleased, on this, their first
interview—nor is it remarkable; they were of an age when impressions are strongest.
The lady was fair to behold, of fascinating manners, and splendidly endowed with
worldly benefits. The hero was fresh from his early fields, redolent of fame, and with
a form on which "every god did seem to set his seal, to give the world assurance of a
man."

The morning passed pleasantly away, evening came, with Bishop, true to his orders
and firm at his post, holding the favorite charger with one hand, while the other was
waiting to offer the ready stirrup. The sun sunk in the horizon, and yet the colonel appeared
not. " 'Twas strange, 'twas passing strange;" surely he was not wont to be a
single moment behind his appointments—for he was the most punctual of all men.

Meantime, the host enjoyed the scene of the veteran at the gate, while the colonel
was so agreeably employed in the parlor; and proclaiming that no visitor ever left his
home at sunset, his military guest was, without much difficulty, persuaded to order
Bishop to put up the horses for the night. The sun rode high in the heavens the ensuing
day, when the enamored soldier pressed with his spur his charger's side, and speeded on
his way to the seat of government, where, having dispatched his public business, he retraced
his steps, and, at the White House, the engagement took place, with preparations
for marriage.

And much hath the biographer heard of that marriage, from the gray-haired domestics
who waited at the board where love made the feast and Washington the guest. And
rare and high was the revelry at that palmy period of Virginia's festal age; for many
were gathered to that marriage, of the good, the great, the gifted, and they, with joyous
acclamations, hailed in Virginia's youthful hero a happy and prosperous bridegroom.

"And so you remember when Colonel Washington came a courting of your young
mistress?" said the biographer to old Cully, in his hundredth year. "Ay, master, that

I do," replied the ancient family servant, who had lived to see five generations; "great
times, sir, great times—shall never see the like again!" "And Washington looked
something like a man, a proper man—hey, Cully?" "Never seed the like, sir—never
the like of him, though I have seen many in my day—so tall, so straight! and then he
sat on a horse and rode with such an air! Ah, sir, he was like no one else. Many of
the grandest gentlemen, in the gold lace, were at the wedding; but none looked like the
man himself." Strong, indeed, must have been the impression which the person and
manner of Washington made upon the "rude, untutored mind" of this poor negro, since
the lapse of three-quarters of a century had not sufficed to efface it.

The precise date of the marriage the biographer has been unable to discover, having
in vain searched among the records of the vestry of St. Peter's church, New Kent, of
which the Rev. Mr. Munson, a Cambridge scholar, was the rector, and performed the
ceremony, it is believed, about 1759. A short time after their marriage, Colonel and
Mrs. Washington removed to Mount Vernon, on the Potomac, and permanently settled
there.

"This union," says Sparks, "was in every respect felicitous. It continued forty
years. To her intimate acquaintances and to the nation, the character of Mrs. Washington
was ever a theme of praise. Affable and courteous, exemplary in her deportment,
remarkable for her deeds of charity and piety, unostentatious, and without vanity,
she adorned by her domestic virtues the sphere of private life, and filled with dignity
every station in which she was placed."

Previous to his acquaintance with Mrs. Custis, Washington had been pleased with
other ladies. The author above quoted on this point says, that in 1756, "While in New
York, he was lodged and kindly entertained at the house of Mr. Beverley Robinson, between
whom and himself an intimacy of friendship subsisted, which, indeed, continued
without change, till severed by their opposite fortunes twenty years afterwards in the
revolution. It happened that Miss Mary Philips, a sister of Mrs. Robinson, and a
young lady of rare accomplishments, was an inmate in the family. The charms of this
lady made a deep impression upon the heart of the Virginia colonel. He went to Boston,
returned, and was again welcomed to the hospitality of Mr. Robinson. He lingered
there till duty called him away; but he was careful to intrust his secret to a confidential
friend, whose letters kept him informed of every important event. In a few months intelligence
came, that a rival was in the field, and that the consequences could not be
answered for, if he delayed to renew his visits to New York. Whether time, the bustle
of a camp, or the scenes of war had moderated his admiration, or whether he despaired
of success, is not known. He never saw the lady again till she was married to that
same rival, Captain Morris, his former associate in arms, and one of Braddock's aids-decamp.

"He had before felt the influence of the tender passion. At the age of seventeen, he
was smitten by the graces of a fair one, whom he called a `lowland beauty,' and
whose praises he recorded in glowing strains, while wandering with his surveyor's compass
among the Alleghany mountains. On that occasion he wrote desponding letters
to a friend, and indited plaintive verses, but never ventured to reveal his emotions to the
lady who was unconsciously the cause of his pains."

The Stone House is distant from the mouth of Ware creek five miles, from Williamsburg
fifteen, and from Jamestown twenty-two. The walls and chimney, which remain,
are composed of sandstone. The house is eighteen and a half feet by fifteen in extent.
It consists of a basement room under ground and a story above. On the west side is a
doorway six feet wide, giving entrance to both apartments. There are loop-holes in the
walls, measuring on the inside twenty by ten inches, on the outside twenty by four.
The walls are in the basement two feet thick, in the upper story eighteen inches thick.
The masonry bears marks of having been executed with great care and nicety. The
house stands in an extensive waste of woods, on a high knoll or promontory, around the
foot of which winds Ware creek. The structure fronts on the creek, being elevated one

hundred feet above its level, and standing back three hundred feet from its margin.
The spot is approached only by a long circuitous defile, the comb of a ridge, in some
places so narrow that two carts could not pass abreast. This defile is, besides, involved
in such a labyrinth of dark ridges of forest and deep gloomy ravines, mantled with
laurel, that it is said to be next to impossible to find the way without the aid of a guide.
Nor is the place more accessible by water. The surrounding country is described as
the most broken and desert tract to be found east of the Blue Ridge.

Ancient Stone Structure on Ware Creek.

The singular structure of the old "Stone House," and its wild, secluded, desolate site,
have naturally given rise to several traditions and conjectures as to its origin and purpose.
It is said that there is a neighborhood tradition, that the house was erected as early
as thirteen years after the landing at Jamestown—and that it was built by the famous
pirate Blackbeard, as a depository of his plunder. This hypothesis, however, involves a
serious anachronism; since it is well established that Blackbeard did not figure in the
waters of Virginia until about the year 1717—more than a century after the landing at
Jamestown.

Another fanciful conjecture is, that the "Stone House," like the cave where Dido
entertained Æneas, was a sort of rendezvous meeting-place of Captain Smith and
Pocahontas! This is rather too romantic.

Another conjecture, much more plausible than either of those above mentioned, is that
the house was built by the adherents of Bacon in his rebellion, who, after their leader's
death, still held out so pertinaciously against Governor Berkeley. This surmise, however,
would seem to be unfounded. Firstly, it is well known that those followers of Bacon
occupied West Point at the head of York River, strongly fortified it, and made it their
place of arms. That post in their hands actually proved impregnable against repeated
assaults of the governor's forces under Ludwell. And Sir William Berkeley, at length
fatigued by their resolute defence, in order to induce their surrender, was obliged to offer
the rebels there a general pardon, which nothing less than the last necessity could have
extorted from him. The position occupied by Bacon's adherents at West Point being
so strong and every way convenient, there could have been no motive to prompt them
to build another fortification on Ware creek.

In the next place, it is altogether improbable that the vindictive vigilance of Berkeley
would have suffered Bacon's followers unmolested to erect such a work as the "Stone
House," whose elaborate construction would seem rather to indicate that it was built in
the leisure of peace, than in the anxious precipitancy of a hard-pressed and hopeless
rebellion.

Lastly, of Bacon's rebellion there are several minute circumstantial accounts, and it
is improbable that Beverly, T. M., and others, would have omitted a fact so interesting
as the erection of a fortified work on Ware creek, when they were detailing so many
other particulars of less consequence.

So much for these conjectures. I now beg leave to suggest another, founded on the
following passage:

Upon lately meeting with this passage in Smith, I was forcibly struck with the
coincidence between the fort thus spoken of by him and the "Stone House." If the
conjecture be well founded, it will entitle that structure to the claim of being the oldest
house in Virginia, if not in the United States, as the fort mentioned by Smith was
erected about the year 1608-9, only two or three years after the landing at Jamestown,
which would make it about two hundred and thirty-four years old. Smith says, "We
built also a fort for a retreat;" that is, a retreat from the Indians in case Jamestown
should have been overpowered. "Neere a convenient river." The "Stone House" is
about a hundred yards from Ware creek. "A convenient river,"—by the description
given above, it is seen that no situation could have been more eligible. It may be worth
while to observe that the name of the river is not given; now, in all probability, Ware
creek at that early day had not been named by the English, being an unimportant
stream. "Upon a high commanding hill;" this answers exactly to the site of the
"Stone House." "Very hard to be assalted and easie to be defended;" all the descriptions
of the "Stone House" fully confirm these particulars. "But ere it was finished
this defect caused a stay," &c. * * "But this want of corne occasioned the end of
all our works," &c. Now the "Stone House" is apparently incomplete, and there is
neither roof nor floor; this unfinished appearance seems to have puzzled some of its
visitors. Smith's statement, however, that it was left unfinished, may at once solve the
enigma.

From all these corroborating circumstances, there seems to be good reason to conclude
that the "Stone House" is the fort mentioned by Smith. Its antiquity, the associations
connected with it, the superstitious fancies to which it has given rise, and its
wild and sequestered situation, all conspire to render the old "Stone House" an attractive
object to the tourist and the antiquary, and, perhaps, not uninteresting even to the
novelist and poet.