The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1873-08-01
Waahington,a nirthplaoe IN iefa

-
From its associations, and from
its natural beauties, as well, the
place was doubly interesting. Stand
ing half mile from the junction Of
Pope's Creek with the Potomac Riv-
er, it commanded view of the Mary
land shore, and of the course of the
Potomac for miles. The house was
a low pitched, single storied frame
dwelling, with four rooms on the
first floor, and huge chimney at
each end on the outside-the style
of the better class of houses of those
days. A stone, placed there to mark
its site by G. w. 2. Curtis, bore the
simple inscription: SEA a
"Here, on the 1ILh of February,
20. 81 1882, George Washington
was born" h
Such was its appearance in 1884
'erD 1886, when Howe visited it. Its
present condition may be gathered
from what the writer of a letter in
response to the London querist has
to say about the site itself, that be,
ing all that is left of a place so mem
orable, and so deserving of prepetu
alton:
Il have had no opportunity to OBJ
tain the sketch l promised you. In
deed, there is virtually no material
to make sketch of. The birthplace
is now simply an old field living
waste, with indistinct vestages of a
human habitation. An old chimney
stands, which belonged to an out
house (kitchen or laundry, some
remains of cellar, and the
foundation of house, in which ira
dition states Washington was born.
There was a stone slab, with a simple
inscription, placed on the spot some
sixty years ago, by G. W. P. Curtis,
to denote the place, but it was long
ago removed from its original posi-
tion, mutilated and broken, so that
only fragment remains"
That a place of such interest-one
might call it sacred should be left
to decay and obliteration is no new
thing for Virginia. Enemies might
we'll declare that neglect of her
mighty dead is characteristic of the
old commonwealth. The truth is,
she has a great many dead to care
for, and of late years all her time has
been absorbed in the care of her liv-
ing. But something has been done,
or attempted to be done, to rescue
Washington's birthplace from obliv-
ion. AS far back as 1853 an act was
passed by the General Assembly OF
Virginia, accepting from Louis
Washington q, grant of the "site
of the birthplace of George
Washington, and the home and
graves of his progenitors in Amer
ica," and appropriating five thou
sand dollars "to enclose the same in
an iron fence" etc.
Hon. Henry A. Wise, Governor oi
Virginia at the time this act was
passed, entered with zeal and alacri
ty upon the work, the execution o.
which was entrusted to him by thu
legislature-went in person to West
moreland, examined carefully tn,
sites, negotiated with the owner O
the adjacent farm for right of way
adopted a plan for the enclosure anC
tablets, and began a correspondence
with mechanics and artisans at tht
North with view to the speedy
completion of the work, and-jus
then his term expired, the war sooI
followed, ana the matter was o
course dropped.
The money appropriated, togethe
with the accrued interest, is now il
the treasury of Virginia, and al
though Governor Walker in his lat'
message did not bring the subjec
o the attention of the legislature
the long delayed work will be con
sumated sooner or later, and "a neal
iron fence" with a few plain slabi
will be erected on the halIowed spot
But it strikes the present writer tina
five thousand dollars, or even ter
thousand dollars, form rather a small
sum for such an object, and that ;
meat iron fence" is not exactly The
hing that the place and its memo
ries demand. But not a dollar more
may be expected from Virginia a
This time. She owes too much, and
has too little.
If one of the many Northern gen
tlemen who are lavishing their hun.
dreds of thousands on colleges and
other charities would come to West
moreland and put something little
better than a "neat iron fence
around the birthplace of Washing
ton, he would do a noble deed fol
himself and for both sections of his
lately estranged country.-Lip-
pincOtfs Magazine.