Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-07-10
The Ancient Town of Dumfries, Va

A correspondent Of the n. Y. Commercial
Advertiser, writing from this place, says:
The soil of all this region was exhausted by
the early tobacco planters, but Of late years it
has been somewhat restored by the application
of guano, lime, and plaster, with a rotation
Of crops Fifteen bushels of wheat or thirty
bushels Of corn are regarded as a good crop.
Labor is scarce. as the slave popula-
tiOn is slowly diminishing in numbers
Accepting the offer Of saddle-horses and
himself as guide, from a gentleman before
whose estate our yacht was anchored this
morning during the ebb-tide, we came to this
almost deserted city. A hundred years since
it was a fourishing commercial port, with deep
water at wharyes on the inlet of the Potion ac
now almost entirely filed up. Upwards of a
hundred sail of fsquare-rigged vessels were then
employed in carrying to Europe the tobacco
collected in its ample warehouses, and ia
bringing return cargOes of the manufactures of
foreign lands, not at that time produced by
home industry. An old ledger preserved in
one of the brick mansions yet standing shows
how perfectly dependent the - Old Dominion"
was on the mother country for everything
Dry goods, hardware, medicines, groceries
indeed, Sll the necessaries and comforts of
life-were ordered each year by the planters
whose invoices were sent out by the Dumfries
merchants separately, and the goods came
back directed TO the purchaser, at whose plan
tation landing on the Potomac or Rappahan-
mock they were delivered. This enabled the
mereh hants here and the factors in England TO
each charge a commission, and thu y also chsrg-
ed for forwarding and selling the tobacco, with
interest on advances, dc. One charge against
nearly every planter having an account in the
ledger now at Dumfries is, I" for rowling to-
bacco." Roads were bad in those days, and
hogshesds were rolled to market, by putting
iron pins through the centre of each head as
an axle, TO which shafts were attached. Dunn
fries was settled by ''canny Scots" and while
they had their kirk and their school, they also
had theatre for the amusement of their cav
alier customers, which enjoyed u high histri-
Onic reputation in its time. Even now, the Ia
dies of the place tell how knigh hit of the buskin
woOed and won the heart Of the daughter of
one Of the very first families Dumfries
was the home Of that eccentric biographer
Mr.. l.. Weems, who was at one time settled
here as q clergyman, and was a jealous Free
mason, presiding over Lodge No. So The
courthouse, built in 1775, with hotel, and
a few mansiOn-h0uses, substantially erected,
defy the attacks Of time, but hundreds
Of buildings have gone to ruin, and sew
eral streets can be traced in fourishing
corn fields, by piles of brick, or by hollows
showing where cellars once were. A large and
thickly populated graveyard, with numerous
marble tablets, record the wealth and social
refinement of Dumfries in the days of its COM
mercial prosperity This whole region of coun-
try is rich in historical souvenirs There are
massive old churches, surrounded by monu-
ments which need the care of some Old Nor
tality; large or-halls, once the resort OF
the chivalrie and proud, are in ruins, or are
shorn Of their former splendor; and here we
have commercial port, deserted by its mer-
chant princes, and almost unknown by the
busy occupants Of places once its rivals.