University of Virginia Library

VII. How Materials Were Procured

If we except the marbles imported from Italy, the
fundamental materials for the construction of the pavilions,
dormitories, and hotels were obtained in the
neighborhood of the University. There was a quarry
nearby which afforded a great quantity of stone; the
quality of it, as we have seen, unfitted it for conversion
into capitals and bases; but it served very well for foundations
and for the sills which were required for so many of
the doors and windows. As this local stone was too hard
and flinty for more pretentious forms, the Board endeavored
to find a better sort in other Virginian deposits; and
with that object in view, one of the Italians was sent, in
October, 1819, to Bremo, on the James River, to examine
General Cocke's freestone quarry, and to report whether
or not the blocks were suitable for Corinthian capitals.
He was ordered to bring back a load of four thousand
pounds. Cocke gave him the sample solicited, but he
wrote the proctor that he had no confidence in its real
adaptability to such a purpose. He thought, however,
that the freestone which was to be found in large quantities
on Mt. Graham in his neighborhood, could, with
ease, be used in the carving of Ionic capitals.

Brockenbrough, concluding that it would be cheaper
to purchase in Richmond the stone that was needed, requested
Thomas R. Conway,—who was interested in a
quarry situated near that city,—to send him a sample of

a Tuscan base and capital made of his product, and also
asked him to blast out blocks suitable for the Corinthian
and Ionic capitals. The Italians were so successful in
carving a beautiful Corinthian leaf out of this stone that
Brockenbrough wrote to Cocke in November (1819)
that he had no doubt of his ability to obtain in this new
quarter all the capitals wanted. On December 8, two
blocks were sent from Richmond by Conway, one of which
weighed 5,572 pounds, and the other, 2,856 pounds.
They proved to be very difficult to chisel, and the capitals
fashioned from them were decided to be too brittle to
withstand the disintegrating influence of heat and cold.
But that hope of procuring the right material in Virginia
was not yet relinquished was disclosed, a few months later,
by the search which Gorman and one of the Italians together
made in Augusta, and probably in other counties of
the Valley, for stone better adapted to the carving of
Corinthian capitals. All the specimens, however, which
were tested in this excursion, turned out to be disappointing.

As early as October, 1819, Cocke had urged the dismissal
of the Raggis, and the importation from Italy of the
marbles required. His prediction that this course would
have to be pursued was fully verified in the end. In
April, 1821, the Visitors received from Thomas Appleton,
the American consul in Leghorn, a statement showing
the cost of Ionic and Corinthian capitals delivered on
shipboard in that harbour; and it was found that these
marbles, in spite of the wide ocean, could be transferred
from Europe to the University for a sum smaller than
the one that had been dissipated in the attempted use of
the Virginian stone. The committee of superintendence
were, therefore, instructed to procure from Carrara all
that should be thereafter needed.

The bricks used in the buildings were moulded and
burnt in the neighborhood, as it was too expensive to
transport them from a distance. The chief manufacturers
were Perry, Thorn, Carter, Phillips, and Nathaniel
Chamberlain.

The lumber required by the contractors in such large
quantities was purchased from the numerous sawmills in
the thickly wooded surrounding region. Perhaps, the
most productive of these was the Hydraulic Mill, owned
by Perry, who, through it, was able to supply, not only
himself, but the other contractors with lumber. He also
furnished for use at the University a large quantity of
plank in such manufactured forms as scantlings, ceilings,
joists, rafters, floorings, and sills. Nelson
Barksdale, the former proctor, provided lumber of all
sorts for the same general purpose; so did several members
of the Meriwether family; so did Thomas Draffin,
Warner Wood, and David Owens, of Albemarle, and
William Mitchell, of Orange. The greater part of the
glass and hardware was obtained from firms in Richmond,
the most prominent of which were John Van Lew and Co.,
and Brockenbrough and Hume. The painting and glazing
were principally the work of Edward Lawber, of
Philadelphia, through skilful assistants like John Vowles
and Angus McKay. The ornaments for the entablatures
that adorned the pavilion drawing-rooms,—the ox-heads
and flowers, the rosettes, lozenges, female heads, flowers
on pannels and friezes,—came from the expert fingers
of W. J. Coffee, an artisan from the North.

Among the most expensive items in the general account
for the building of the pavilions, dormitories, and
hotels were the charges for transportation. Many articles
used in their construction were brought overland from
Richmond, and as the number of wagons on the road increased

and fell off with the seasons and the volume of
trade, tedious delays were thus often caused in obtaining
even indispensable materials. The principal highway
from the Valley passed through Rockfish Gap, and thence
zigzagged westward by way of Charlottesville to the
capital of the State. Caravans of lumbering, canvascovered
vehicles jolted along in spring, summer, and autumn,
backwards and forwards, over this road; and the
waggoners were as well known on their route as the coachmen
who drove the tallyhoes between London and Oxford
in the early part of the last century, were on that
great turnpike, or the captains of the Mississippi steamboats,
in more modern times, were on that stream.
Many belonged to the German stock that had settled on
the banks of the Shenandoah, as their names, Jacob Craft,
Jacob Shuey, Philip Koiner, and the like, indicate. Kegs
and barrels made up the freight usually conveyed in these
wagons, while small articles were put in the heavy stages
that carried passengers to and from Richmond. All ponderous
goods were necessarily transported by the lines
of batteaux that navigated the James River; some of
these batteaux, when of light draft, were poled up the
Rivanna to Milton, where their cargoes were unloaded,
to be sent to the University by wagon; but, in many cases,
the boats stopped at Scottsville, on James River, and
from thence their large packages were carted up to Charlottesville
overland.

In the course of the building, the University had use
for the labor of many hired slaves. In 1821, the number
employed there in different ways was thirty-two, some of
whom were still under age. The terms for which they
served did not run over one year, although, doubtless, the
contracts with their owners were most often renewed at
expiration. The overseer in charge was James Herron,

who was responsible for the safe keeping of the necessary
supplies for the men and horses, and also for all the
carts and tools. There seems to have been a large garden
full of vegetables under cultivation for the benefit of the
laborers; and the overseer was required to have it properly
sowed, planted, and tended in season.