Evening star., 1936-03-16

The Mclean House at Appomat
has been stolen, brick by brick.
has been getting harder and harder
to CLEAN even starvation living.
Houses have deteriorated into unbe-
lievahly sordid human habitations-
some sheltering families of from 10
to Is persons. Taxes have gone un-
paid. 1t has been hopeless strug-
gle, doomed to defeat from the first.
Bought by Government.
The Federal Government has pur-
chased the land. All the sales have
been voluntary. For each family taken
off the land Mr.. Andrews and his
agents have been able to locate a
suitable small farm in the general
neighborhood where it will be possible
to make a living with anything sp-
preaching intelligent farming. The
question of paying for these new
homes is something else again. Usu-
ally the checks received from the
Federal Government for the land
taken over are sufficient, Mr.. Andrews
says. to meet at least the down pay
ment. From then on, he believes. it
will be possible for most of the fami-
lies to keep up the payments them
selves. Otherwise, he has arrange
ments in mind for Federal loans of
some sort. The whole procedure here
Is still indeterminatt. In any event
the people have gotten something on
which they can make living for
-. 1r>f
possibly make living.
The big forest park will be turned
over to the State eventually to form
part Of the Virginia park system.
MIR. Andrews is trying to turn it into
q model State forest and expects 1t
to pay for itself many times over in
q few years. The only crop nature
ever intended 1t for, he says, was
| wood. Trees. he contends, are one
Of the best possible crops anybody
can raise-only poor man can't wait
for the harvest.
It so happens that the deserted
Appomattox Court House and the sur
render grounds themselves were not
in the sub-marginal land area itself.
They were covered by some pretty
fair farms. But they were contingent
on the eroded. deforested area and
| one must pass through them to get
into the new forest. 1t was found
that the land could be purchased for
q reasonable price, the investment
promised to be one of the best ever
offered and it was a patriotic duty
to get the land into public ownership.
The forest-park. which was being set
up anyway, offered a magnificent
background for it.
Restoration Plans.
National Parks Service personnel
will direct the restoration work, and
probably administer this part of the
project when it is completed. That
is why the Resettlement engineers
have been puttering around among
| the ruins to find what is left. 1t is
planned to restore the principal houses
of the village, including the Mclean
house and the court house. approx
mately as they were at the time Of
the surrender. A few farms will be
| allowed to remain. with the object
of restoring an agricultural scene SIM
liar to that of Civil War days.
10 At that time the Resettlement Ad-
ministration engineers have found
out, the present thriving county seat
of Appomattox Court House-which
! many tourists mistake for the scene
of the surrender itself-was a tiny
crossroads settlement called Nevada.
The ancestor of one of the engineers
was the first settler there. Some time
before the war he had started out
with his family to settle in Nevada.
At this point his wagon broke down.
The roads were hub-deep in mud.
Guess thisll have to be Nevada
for me-" he muttered, as he sadly un-
packed.
Then the Norfolk & Western Rail-
road came through. Nevada was on
the line, the court house village wasn't.
After the war judges of the circuit
objected to travelling on horseback
through the mud to the county seat.
The agitation to move it grew. Late
in the last century the court house
burned. Then the site was abandoned
and Nevada became Appomattox Court
House.
Everybody forgot about the old site
except the Daughters Of the Con-
federacy and q few veterans. The
buildings, were abandoned and tun-
bled down. The place disappeared
about as completely as Babylon or
/ hi,
neglected historical shrine in Amer
ica-only a monument there erected
by the Daughters of the Confederacy-
until the present movement.
Forester by Profession.
| Mr.. Andrews Is, by profession,
forester. Near the ruin Is magnifi-
cent hickory tree-the only one IN
that part of Virginia.
Some of the old folks have told him
how 1t got there. He doesn't believe 1t,
but it makes a good story, neverthe-
less.
| Gen. Lee, it seems, cam sadly down
the steps of the Mclean house and
mounted Traveller, his horse.
well, Traveller" he said, ''the wars
over. / guess we won't need Q whip
any more"
At that he threw his hickory crop
over the fence into the front yard of
one of the houses. Now, according to
the story told by an old settler named
Bob Browning, who lived in the house
until his death a few years ago, the
stick stuck upright on the ground,
took root and grew into tn fine speci.
men that stands there today.
In any event, that treA legend and