Where Have You Gone George Washington?

Today marks the 206th Anniversary of the passing of our first President, George Washington. After spending most of the morning and early afternoon riding through snow and sleet on his daily rounds of his 8000 acre Mount Vernon plantation, George neglected to change his clothes before sitting down to dinner with his family. Within 48 hours he was dead, at the age of 67, from a throat infection that caused asphyxiation.

I had the privilege of touring the Audley Estate in Clarke County, VA this past weekend as part of an annual holiday house tour. George's adopted daughter (Martha's granddaughter), Nelly Custis, spent the last 13 years of her life here in the home of her son. The structure is rather unassuming - a one-story, painted brick, H-shaped country house. Upon entering, however, you find yourself in a rather large (at least 45' x 20') reception hall with very high ceilings (~15') and the type of intricate woodwork one would expect from a late 18th century plantation home.

To those not familiar with the Northern Shenandoah Valley, the impact of George Washington and his family on the area is quite striking. George got his start in the Virginia militia in Winchester. His first cousin, Warner, lived nearby on a plantation called Fairfield. George's surveying trips in the late 1740s and his eventual purchase of over 2000 acres of his own in what is now Jefferson County, WV no doubt was influential in his half-brother Lawrence's purchase of a large amount of nearby acreage. When Lawrence died in 1752, he willed much of this acreage to his three half-brothers (George's full-brothers): Samuel, John, and Charles. Charles relocated his family to an estate he named Happy Retreat and, on the remaining acreage, developed the site of what is now Charles Town, WV. Samuel built an estate he named Harewood where he, and his succession of wives - five in all, raised a large family. John never relocated to the Valley as his wife inherited substantial property in Westmoreland County. Two of John's grandsons, however, did come west. John Augustine Washington II, who eventually inherited Mount Vernon, built Blakeley and right across the street his brother, Bushrod Corbin Washington, built Claymont Court. Another Washington descendant, Lewis William Washington, was taken hostage by John Brown during his raid on Harpers Ferry. Lewis William's parents were both Washingtons. His father was a descendant of George's half-brother, Augustine, while his mother was the granddaughter of George's full-brother, John.

And don't think it was just George's brothers. His sister, Betty, married Fielding Lewis and lived at Kenmore in Fredericksburg. Betty's son, Lawrence, was the one who married Martha's granddaughter, Nelly Custis. After getting married at Mount Vernon on George's last birthday, they inherited part of the Mount Vernon estate after George's death and built their home, Woodlawn, nearby. Their son, Lorenzo, eventually moved out to Audley to manage the estate and it is here his mother, Nelly, came to live after her husband's death in 1839.

For a fabulous summary of the Washingtons and all of their homes in the Valley, John Wayland's 1944 book, The Washingtons and Their Homes, is invaluable. For more information on historic sites in Clarke County, VA and Jefferson County, WV, visit the Potomac Pedaler Touring Club historic site page.