The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1931-02-06

distant eastward from Fredericksburg.
This property his father, Augustine
Washington, purchased on November
2, 1913, and there Augustine Washing
ton died in 1743.
George Washington lived there
steadily until his fathers death, aft
erward alternating his stays there
with his sojourns with his brother,
Augustine Washington, Jr., at Wake
field, and with his mother on her es-
tate at Little Falls on the Kappa
hammock. When he was sixteen, he
returned to Mount Vernon.
After passing some time Sin several
places essential to his social interests
in the counties of Fairfax, Stafford
King George, Westmoreland and Fred
ericksburg (including visit of three
months in the West Indies), and to his
professional duties as official surveyor
for the County of Culpeper and, at
large, for Lord Fairfax and others
in the upper northern neck of Vir-
ginia," as the historian expresses it,
he went back to Mount Vernon again,
having inherited it in 1852, and other
members of the family lived on at
Wakefield until the fire on Christmas
day in 1850.
Probably owing to it's comparative
inaccessibility in the past, Wakefield
has been neglected during most of the
years that it has been known as Wash
ington's birthplace. His step-son placed
a small tablet to mark the spot after
the fire. A farmer who later owned
the land saved it from the hands of
Virginia planned to build a memorial,
but the Civil war prevented this plan
from being carried out.
So far as the United States govern
ment is concerned, the first official &C.
ton came in 1879, when congress ap-
propriated $1,000 for a monument.
Two years passed. Then the resolu-
ton was redrafted, making the appro-
priation ten times as much. More
years passed. Finally, in the Dos, the
monument was DullC.
When the project for the bicenten-
NAL cOmmemoration was formulated it
was at once pointed out that the event
should take into consideration the
birthplace Of the man whose birth
is to be celebrated. Great Importance
has attached to the place where he
died, Mount Vernon, but it is his birth
that is to be commemorated in 1892
Until the Wakefield association be-
gan it's work seven years ago, this
historic estate had been sadly neglect
ed. AS a part Of its plan for the
restoration, the association secured
permission from the War department
to make excavations on the site of the
house, and these excavations estab-
lished the fact that the house was of
brick, not, as had ben enormously re-
ported. of wood. Quantities of brick
had escaped the hands of visitors Gag
er for souvenirs because it was buried
in the ground. 1t was established that
the brick had been made on the Wake
field estate. The bricks for the new
Wakefield will be produced from the
original clay pit. In fact, so close will
be the adherence to the model of the
past that bricks of peculiarly mot
tied surface, burned with a liquid
acid that forms a grayish fireproof
glaze, which were used where the heat
was greatest around fireplaces and
chimneys, will be reproduced just as
they were in the original.
The exterior view of the house was
decided upon only after research had
established the details. A frontage
about double the depth was indicated
by the extant foundations. These
walls extend down only few feet be-
low the surface, and the fact that the
surface at the present time averages
at least q foot above the level it had
when young George Washington ran