George Washington, Maryland, and Mount Vernon: The Cultural Landscape

Luke J. Pecoraro, PhD Director of Archaeology, George Washington’s Mount Vernon

Late Archaic Period: 2500 –1200 BC

Contact Period: 1609 – 1675

Doeg Indians, Village of Tauxenant

The Washington/Spencer Grant:

1675/1677

Brent Map, 1690

The Broad Creek community: 1696

• Colonel John Washington patented what would eventually be called the Mount Vernon neck in 1677.

• Augustine Washington purchased the lands from his sister in 1726 and built the first house here in 1735 (and possibly two outbuildings, a dairy and a storehouse).

• Lawrence inherited Mount Vernon from Augustine in 1743 and possibly added outbuildings including a kitchen, wash house, blacksmith shop, and slave quarter.

• Married Anne Fairfax.

• Owned 37 slaves at the time of his death in 1752.

Phase I: c. 1735–1752 Augustine and Lawrence Washington

Nathaniel Chapman and Mount Aventine

• Chapman was an ironmaster who worked with Augustine Washington; Augustine owned an ironworks on Accokeek Creek, VA, 6 miles north of Fredericksburg.

• In 1747 Chapman and Lawrence Washington became founding members of the Ohio Company of Virginia; he then started the Chapman Company, which was begun to develop the seaport of Alexandria, VA (1749).

• In 1750 he purchased 580 acres in Charles County where he built a new home called Mount Aventine. He operated a ferry to Virginia, and Lawrence Washington and young George Washington were frequent visitors.

• After leasing Mount Vernon for a decade, George Washington inherited Mount Vernon in 1762.

• Married Martha Dandridge Custis in 1759.

• Because her first husband died intestate, Martha Washington received the lifetime use of 1/3 of his property (dower share).

Phase II: 1752–1783 George and Martha Washington

“To be SOLD for ready money, at Rover’s

Delight in Fairfax County, on Monday the 23d

inst. (October). A TRACT of valuable LAND

in said county, lying on Potowmack tiver,

adjoining to the land on which the subscriber

now keeps ferry, and very fit for farming. On

the premises is a large barn, 60 feet by 30,

framed and shingled; eight framed barracks 16

feet square; a large corn-house, and sundry

other houses, with a good fishery appertaining.

At the same time and place, and upon the same

terms, will likewise be sold, about twenty-five

choice SLAVES, consisting of men, women,

and children. Also, sundry horses, cattle, sheep,

and hogs; together with various kinds of

household furniture and implements of

husbandry. The money arising from the sales to

be paid into the hands of George Washington,

Esq. (Virginia Gazette 1769: October 19:2)”

Thomas Marshall and Marshall Hall

• William Marshall patents 500 acres in 1650; Thomas Marshall I (1696-1759) builds a brick house in c. 1725. He operates a store, and is a successful merchant.

• Thomas Marshall II (1731-1801) carried on the family business and became a close friend of George Washington. During the American Revolution he attended meetings of the Continental Congress and was active in politics.

• The Marshall Family records from the 18th century are amongst the best preserved in the region, as is Thomas Marshall II’s probate inventory; his estate owned 80 slaves at the time of his death in 1803.

Plantation Industry: Blacksmithing

Plantation Industry: Shad Fishing

St. John’s Episcopal Church (1766-68)

• Current structure goes up between 1766-68. Prominent area

residents involved in financing the work including Col.

Enoch Magruder, and members of the Addison and Lyles

families.

• During this period, Rev. Henry Addison (1717-1789) is the

rector of St. John’s, and also establishes a school.

• Addison visits Mount Vernon from Dec. 29-31, 1772; this

appears to be George Washington’s first mention of St.

John’s church

• Addison remained loyal to Britain, and left Maryland in

September of 1775. He returned to British-occupied New

York in 1781, and stayed until the evacuation in 1783. He

returned to Maryland in 1784.

Want Water and Col. William Lyles

• In 1779 Col. Enoch Magruder’s daughter Sarah marries Col.

William Lyles; they are granted Enoch Magruder’s “Want

Water”.

• William Lyles and his brother Henry are investors with

George Washington in the Potomac Company. Both Henry

and William serve in the Third Maryland Regiment in the

Revolutionary War.

• William Lyles rents a house in Alexandria in 1782; operates

a distillery and dry goods store. Multiple mentions of visits

to Mount Vernon while Washington is home in the 1780s.

Battersea/Harmony Hall

• Col. Enoch Magruder builds a brick house he names Battersea in 1769. In 1786 he leaves Battersea to his daughter, Sarah Lyles. It is *possible* that George Washington visited Lyles at Battersea.

• In 1792, John and Walter Dulaney Addison rent the house for one year from Lyles. Walter DulaneyAddison’s wife Elizabeth Hesselius Addison begins calling the house Harmony Hall.

• George Washington inherited 10 slaves at age 11 from his

father, Augustine. By his death in 1799, the community had

grown to 317 individuals. 41 of these individuals were

“rented” from a neighbor.

• George Washington’s slaves were emancipated in 1801

(123).

• Dower slaves were divided among the Custis grandchildren

upon Martha’s death in 1802 (153).

• Documentary research suggests that 660 people were

enslaved by the Washington-Custis families from 1743-

1799.

Phase III: 1783–1799 George and Martha Washington

Rev. Walter Dulaney Addison

• Reverend Addison's family descended from John Addison, who emigrated from England in 1677. The latter's son, Thomas Addison (1679-1727) built the family home, Oxon Hill, across the Potomac River from Alexandria. Several members of this large extended family had business and social dealings with George Washington.

• One of the four ministers who took part in George Washington’s funeral at Mount Vernon on December 18, 1799, was the Reverend Addison. The eldest son of Thomas Addison (died 1774 or 1775), of Oxon Hill, Maryland, and Rebecca Dulaney Addison, the daughter of Walter Dulaney(died 1773) of Annapolis, Walter Dulaney Addison was born in 1769, two years after his parents' marriage.

• Reverend Addison came to dinner at Mount Vernon with several other people on May 31, 1798. At the time of George Washington's death, Reverend Addison was serving as rector of the Episcopal Church in Oxon Hill.

• Addison bitterly opposed slavery, and freed the enslaved population he inherited in 1792.

Lives Bound Together Exhibit: 2016–2020