Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-03-31
The Hygiene of Old Alexandria

i The advanced thinker of today is
Won't to regard with amusement ana
Disgust, the apparent neglect OF ny
kiene by our ancestors OF few gen
rations ago. Yes from the very in
&eption of the town of Alexandra,
Efforts were made to make it healthy
place. By reason of its elevated posi-
lion on the banks of the Potomac
ZACH rainfall carried impurities into
he water, thus, naturally tending to-
lard clean streets. When the found
&rs Of Alexandria, constituting a
bard of trustees, met in July l149.
y fter selling the lots, and conferring
ecds for the same, one of the tlrst
measures adopted was for the care of
he streets. The town was divided
INTO two wards, north and south, a
trustee being appointed to oversee
ZACH. The bvways and lanes, Tor
HEY were hardly streets, were TO be
Eept free from rubbish and nuisance,
j Ind for any neglect of duty the war
len was fined 20 Shillings. the fines
10 be used for the benefit of the town.
R'he trustees had little real authority
but were generally supported by the
Virginia Assembly, but not always.
kn 1852 the trustees ordered John
West to survey the marsh at the north
last of the town, through which the
Drinoka Greek flowed towards the
liver. This stream was once navlgat-
bible as far as Lannon's corner, it took
ITS rise from spring near the inter-
6ection of Princess and Pitt streets.
The survey was made in order to
kecure an act of the Virginia Assembly
compelling its drainage. But the mea-
sure did not receive the Kings en-
6orsement, and the marsh remained a
menace to the towns health, fer many
years. The people called it in de-
vision "King Georges Meadows" Not
|far from the low grounds OF the Orl-
|noka and just under the banks OF the
lold canal, was Chalybeate Spring
supposed to be of great medicinal
value. 1t was protected by the town
and heavy penalty imposed upon any
Ione bathing, washing clothes or in any
way rendering the water impure.
Within the memory of our older cltl-
|zens, this spring was still valued for
its health giving qualities, but dur
ing the civil war it seems to have
failed and to have passed into OBJ
livion.
Previous to the Revolution. so in
innate were the relations between
church and state, that in many mat
tiers apparently appertaining to civil
law the church had sway. The church
wardens under the direction of the
vestries levied upon all free holders
for The benefit and maintenance Of the
poor, the crippled and blind. linden
lures were made binding orphan child
rem to those who pledged themselves
to teach them to read and write and
prepare them for a trade. The re-
cords of Old Christ Church Alexan-
dria begin in 1865, and on the first
page we see that VIM. Payne and John
Dalton had care of the poor of the
parish. As at that time there had
been no home established for the ac-
commodation of the poor, they were
Quartered on the people, who boarded
and cared for them and rendered their
bills for expenses to the church war
dens. DR.. VIM. Ramsey was appointed
physician in f765 and his semi-an-
nua! account of 10 Pounds, Is Shill-
ings and 6 Pence was ordered paid
Margaret Payne and Jemima Copper
assisted as nurses and made salve for
the wounded soldiers brought here
during the Revolution. The burial
permits issued between 1887 and 1796
number 452, of these 1873 were men,
l22 women and 1913 children, showing
a deplorable mortality among infants
during the summer months. The
Presbyterian Register between 1889
1915 gives about the same average. In