The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-02-18
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owned and cared by the Society Preservation
Virginia Antiquities The superintendent is r. c. Beale
who with his wife, occupies the house.
The big living the ground floor and to the
left of the entrance is that in which Mrs. Washington
died. AS nearly possible it is preserved Mrs.
Washington kept it. old mahogany tester bed
stands that of the floor where stood Mrs. Wash
ingtons bed.
The walls lined with steel engravings which be-
longed to Mrs Washington and Of these her
property when she Mary Ball before her marriage
to Augustine Washington, and from her girhood
home, "Eppng Forest" in Lancaster county, about 30
miles from Fredericksburg The In the rear OF
this living and sleeping the dining and
the same table around which the Washngtons ate
stands in the middle Of the floor The dining room is
bare of carpets or and was In Mrs. Washingtons
time. The furnishings are plain and simple.
1t was four months before the death of Mary Wash
ngton that George Washington took his final leave OF
This directly before his departure for
New York for inauguration the first president News
his mothers death to him in letter from COL
Burgess Ball. The president was at dinner with Baron
Won Steuben and Gov St. Clair. The letter handed
president by his nephew and private secretary Rob-
Lewis After slowly reading 1t, Washington retired
to his private and remained there for time
He wrote this letter to his sister, Betty Washing
ton Lewis, at Fredericksburg:
my Dear Sister: Col. Balls letter gave the first
account of my mothers death. Since that have
ceved Mrs. Carriers letter. written at your request and
previous both prepared for the event by advces
of her illness coming from your son Robert
lawful and affecting the death of a parent Is,
there is consolation in knowing heaven has
ours to an age which few attain and favored her with
the full enjoyment Of her mental faculties and much
bodily strength usually falls to fourscore. Under
these circumstances and in the hope she Is
lated happier place. it the duty OF her relatives
to yield submission to the decree of the Creator.
when was last in Fredericksburg took final leave
of my mother never expecting to see her more.
"Your afectionate brother
GEORGE WASHINGTON"
Three DAYS after her death Mrs. Washington was
buried The grave dug in the grounds of her daugh
ter Betty The site of the grave near group OF
jutting out of hillside overlooking tranquil
olyohrro and Morv
Heights one boodiest battle ridges of the civil
war This little group of rocks was favorite spot
with Mrs. Washington
She retired there in fair weather knit pray and
read her Bible of this association with Mrs.
Washington these called the "Oratory rocks.
They are shaded by heavy oak trees. It shady
place the of Mrs Washington and the trees that
shielded from the survived till 1852, when they
death by the storm OF shot that rolled over
the grave mother of George Washington in the
between the Army OF Northern Virginia and the
Army of the Potomac
Susan REVERE Hetze, in history of the Mary Wash
ngon association. writes OF Mrs. Washingtons funeral
follows:
Business was suspended in the city of Fredericks
burg; Grape hung from the houses. The church was
thronged with her friends and neghbors Her body was
followed by her loving daughter and grandchildren to
place chosen by herself be her resting place the
granite powders called the Oratory rocks. where
loved to retire and for her beloved son during
the troublesome days of the American revolution The
coffin carried from the church mems shoulders
the knoll where the grave dug covered by the
of spectators they mad lOst
not only mother of the president but old and be-
loved friend.
THE mourning general all the country. Press
and pulpit made note of the event. Members Of con-
gress Grape for 80 days for distinguished off,
cal Congress passed resolution to erect monument
to the mother of Washington and to that resolution
President Washington responded in note of thanks
adding:
81 attribute all my in life to the moral in
teecua and physical education which received from
my mother"
for the resolution Washngtons administrations
hamperad by Indian wars, the whisky insurrection
and Shay's rebelion Adams term taken up with
the Frpnch troubles the threatened with the
directory Jeerson's administration filled with the