Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-03-20
LIGHT TURNED ON.
PEEP TAKEN AT uANCHEsTEt
TRADITIONS.
STORY OF The OLD TAVERN WE'LL.
one Who Drank OF II Would Return
to/ Manchester to Die - corr
washington
Mancbester n Seaport Town.

urged in Manchester That the ~soutn-siue
city is the elder Of the twin corporations
of the nobly muddy James. How true
may be the boast, Il matters not True
II is that few cities there are In Virginia
and in the South richer in unwritten
history and tradition than Manchester,
and with these this plain narrative deals.
There is the "old tavern WELL" the
haunted houses, her once stately man
sions. now crumbling to dust, or alto
gether gone: scenes at every hand or
bloody feuds and thrilling romance, and
on the outskirts Of the city are the desc
late and crumbling ruins OF a deserted
village. With all these interesting tradi-
lions are connected; but now, in the
lapse Of many years they are fast
losing hold upon the minds of her busy
people. Some have never heard them at
all; to others they are only half-forgot-
ten tales.
FATHER GEORGE WAS AT THE Raj
FILE.
The story of the settlement of the city
Is full Of interest. The tract Of land
where Manchester IS now was owned by
Colonel William Byrd, to whom also be-
longed the capital city site. He had the
iand-beautiful m sunny. and sloping
gently 10 the river-laid out In lots, each
Of a square in size. To sell them he
adopted the lottery plan, and many OF
the richest n most influential land
holders in the Colony took chances.
Among these was George Washington,
H. s4IN-4Ia- - Hi T1rNpfrNF -
As she had done before, and did so
many times after, Fortune smiled on his
little gambling scheme. Two excellently
located lots became Father Georges, and
only some forty years ago did they pass
out of the possession of his heirs. The
tracts are situated on what is now Porter
street. and, as everybody wanted to
live on or near George-in the event he
got burned out at Mt. Vernon and came
to Manchester TO live-Porter became
the fashionable thoroughfare Of the
town. and remains such to-day. When
George died he left his Manchester pos
sessions to the Randolphs, who lived
upon them for many years. The city plan
locates these lots pm the north side of
Porter between Eleventh and Twelfth
streets. However, instead Of building a
dozen or more houses on a lot then, as
now, q great mansion house was built
in the centre Of a square. These resi-
dences, the palaces Of their. time, were
called tenements, in which lived some
of the richest people in Virginia.
MANCHESTER A GREAT SEAPORT.
Manchester was a great tobacco market
then, and her fame reached to the other
side of the Atlantic. Virginia, and prin-
cipally the S%outhside. was the only sec
ton where the weed was cultivated for
market, and Manchester was the great
shipping port. The farmers crops were
packed into hogsheads, and when the
overgrown barrel had been firmly secured
by very strong and thick hoops, shafts
were attached, making it a great wheel
barrow, such as children make Of spools
and straws.
A HORSE DREW THEM TO THE CITY.
English ships met them at the water,
bringing from the Mother Country in re-
turn for tobacco, cloths, all kinds Of ar
ticles used in cooking and housekeeping,
and often bricks, which were used for
ballast, a number Of large houses still
remain which were built OF bricks
brought over in this way. This has, OF
course, all passed away, and one other
thing identified with it has passed, also.
Then six-teamed wagons came all the
way from Philadelphia to buy imported
goods. The "City Of Philosadelphos" had
nothing to offer the English but "brother-
" love- in the way of the necessities or
life, and as there was no great demand
for that commodity in the Court Of the
Georges at this time, English vessels did
not go to Philadelphia.
1t might be remarked right here that
when Manchester was in her infancy no
bridge spanned the James, but that logs
were laid upon the rocks, used by the
boys who came over 70 Richmond TO pick
b~lackberries in the summer and hunt rab-
bits in fall and winter.
THAT DIRTY CANAL.
But II Manchester is the older, as ira
and history says she IS, how is 1t
she did not make use Of the oppor-
tunity she had TO grow larger than the
city on the north side? 1t all happened
lust this way: When Manchester had her
-enements, or mansions, with squares OF
ground, the slope to the river was one OF
he most attractive and beautiful spots
he eyes Of man ever dwelt upon. There
we're no great mill-buildings, their red
walls wnl,ened with meal at the win
flows; no network of iron rails, and
)lackened railroad-shop. as now, but for
squares above to the very water-llne
where the little weaves sang among the
was a gently falling sward OF rich
st green, which 1t seemed a desecrat.on
# natures fairest work TO upturn with
he spade. The view up this river and
Town on moonlit nights, or in the morn
ng and evening sunlight, was exquisitely
beautiful, tr~anscending all powers Of ac-
,.vot1 lacorgntion THn uvotnF fnmhlp |
,mong the rocks, laughing as it fell, like
let out from school tumble
through the narrow doorway all at once.
iany a summer night the old men ana
n~atrons, gallant men n fair maidens,
gather upon the sward, their
and songs echoing back the
lusic Of the river, murmuring and sweet
n the distance. And so, when the cana
ompany came TO the landholders n
sked to be allowed to dig a canal from {
he mountains down the James TO Man
hester, they were told that a s~tagnant, :
itchlike stream, upon which would float I
barges drawn by mules, would
estroy the beauty Of their city, and it 7
lust not be. The canal was built on the
richmond side OF the river, and became
avenue Of the vast trade Of the in ]
srior and mineral and rich Valley section L
Z the State TO the ocean, the Atlantic \
and foreign countries. Vessels !
now on the north side, and in a I
w years Richmond was made. This Is
true history. 1t Is a common saying
mong the old mon of the city to-day,
The canal made Richmond"
THE OLD TAVERN WELL.
A tradition which seems to cling with {
1yielding hold upon he older people Is T
Of the "old tavern WELL" The old =