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 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 Brockenhrough 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, canvas-covered 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.