Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-08-07
Washipstonui's Birthplace in 1878.

natural beauties Al we'll, the place was
doubly interesting. Standing half .
mile from the junction. Of Pope's Greek
with the Potomac River, it commanded
aview Of the. Maryland shore and of
the course of the Potomac for many
miles. The house was q alow-pitched,
single-stored frame dwelling, with foul
rooms on the FIRST floor, and huge
chimney at each end on the outside
the style of tho better class of houses
of those days. A stone, placed there
to mark its site by g. w. p. Gusts,
bore the simple inscription:
"HRRE, ON THE 11TH of FRDRuARY
60. s:) 1882, GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS
BoRN.". 80, ~
Such was its appearance in 1884 ol
1885, when Howe visited it. Its pres
ent condition may be gathered from
what the writerof the letter in response
to the London querist has to say about
the site itself, that being all that is lef,
of place so memorable and so deserv
ing of perpetuation f@.. =.
"I have had no opportunity to oh
tain the sketch I promised you. In.
deed, there is virtually no material tc
make = sketch -nf. The birthplace il
now simply an old field lying waste,
with indistinct vestiges Of q human
habitation. An old chimney stands
which Belonged to an outhouse (kitcheu
or laundry, some remains of q cellar,
and the foundation of house in which
tradition states Washington was horn.
There was q stone slab, with q simple
inscription, placed on the spot some
sixty years ago by g. w. p. Custis, to
denote the place, but it was long ago
removed from its original position,
mutilated and broken, SO that only Z
fragment remains. -:s:,:
That y place of such interest one
might call It sacred be left to
decay and Obliteration is nonew thing
in Virginia. Enemies might we'll de:
clare that neglect of her mighty dead
is characteristic of the old common
wealth. The truth is, she has great
many dead to care for, and of late years
all her time has been absorbed in the
care Of her living. But something has
been done, or attempted to be done,
TO- rescue Z, Wsshington's birthplace
from oblivion. :, As far back az 1858 an
act was passed by the General Assem-
bly, of Virginia, accepting from Lewis
Washington q grant of the t'site of the
birthplace Of George Washing
ton, and the home and graves
of !: his Al :progenitors =, in Ameri-
ca" and appr0priating five thou
sand dollars % to enclose the same In
an iron fence, etc. Hon. Henry A.
Wise, Governor of Virginia at the time
this. .act was passed.. entered with zeal
and alacrity upon the work, the execu.
tion of which was entrusted to him by
the legislature-went in person ia
Westmoreland, examined carefully the
sites, negotiated with the owner Of the
adjacent farm for right Of Yay, adopt
ed 4 plan for the Enclosures and tablets,
and began q correspondence with me
chanics and artisans at the North viii
. view to the speedy completion of thu
work, and, Just then his term expired
the war soon followed, and the matter
was of course dropped. ,rsz;
The money appropriated, togethe
With the accrued interest, is now II
the treasury of Virginia, and although
Governor Walker, in his late message
did not bring the subject to the atten
ton of the Legislature, the long-de
layetl work will be consummated sooner
or later, and "a neat iron fence will
q few plain slabs Will be erected on th'
hallowed: spot. But it strikes tha
present writer that five Thousand dol
lars, or even ten thousand dollars, form
rather a small sum for snch an object
and that sc neat iron fence" is mo-
exactly the thing that the place and it
memories demand. But not . dollal
moro may be expected of Virginia q
this time. She owes too much, and ha'
too little. If one of the many Northern
gentlemen who are lavishing thei
hundreds of tousands on colleges ant
other charities would come to West
morelald and put something a lit.
better than - . neat iron fence" aroun,
the birthplace of Washington, he woul'
do noble deed for himself, and fo
both sections of his lately estrange'
oouutry.-Lippiacotts Magazine 70
Aug,tst.