Evening star., 1952-11-30

way, uuteQ columns, q ran llgnl
and a stone arch above. 1t is
owned by George A. Meerdink, a
retired Treasury official.
Recalls Horse Races.
DR.. Samuel Boiling Milford. q
dentist who is 88 and lives alone
in one of the row houses which is
also his Office, remembers when
there was horse racing Saturdays
on the road through the town with
"a 10 of betting. The big changes
he has noticed have been in the
!modesty of women, the probity OF
men and in education. And they
have all been for the worse, he
said.
There were 80 rules in the old
grammar. he said, land you had
to learn them by heart"
BENJAMIN White. cashier at the
Poolesville Bank, which is a
branch of the Farmers Bank &
Trust Co. of Rockville, confesses
he hates to see the town change
but he supposes it is inevitable
He is a nephew of Col. Elijah
White, who organized Company
B of the 35th Virginia Battalion
Whites Rangers" which was
made up mostly of men of the
Fcolesville area. who frequently
crossed the river to raid their ma
tive county.
Most of the men of Poolesville
were Southern sympathizers, a
circumstance which influences
politics to this day. The Pooles-
vile area elected Democratic COM
mlssloners when all other districts
were electing Republicans.
Amazing Memory.
William Aud told us about the
beginnings of Poolesville. He is
a big. tall, strong man, weather
beaten from his years of farming
He is SO years old and once served
as sheriff of the county. The sur
prising thing is the way he can
relate from memory the names
and the acreages of the early land
grants.
The Pooles were the first settlers
in Poolesville, he said. no doubt
about that. There is a 1859 deed
conveying a 70-acre tract from a
John Poole to a Joseph Poole,
Joseph Poole's house is still stand
ing, white frame structure be-
lieved to have been built in 1893
Most of the Pooles' holdings were
on the north side of the road.
Two prominent Scotch families
from Georgetown developed the
acreage south of the road after
the Revolution. They were the
Dunlops and the Peters. Robert
Peter, one of the early land own
ers, was Mayor of GEORGETOWN
Thomas Peter, who married a
granddaughter of Martha Custls
Washington. wife of the first
President, acquired land along Big
Seneca Creek in 1894. The his
torical sign along the road ap-
preaching Poolesville says that II
was given to the couple by George
Washington. but research by Mr.
Farquhar shows that it was
acquired in settling a mortgage
from. man named Ellis. Monte
video. built about 1925 by Peters
son, is one of the many historical
houses around Poolesville.
Mr.. Aud had a wealth of stories
of the old houses.
One is about the frame house
near Poolesville known as Kill
main II. built about 1912 and now
occupied by Rear Admiral l.. A.
Abercromble. U. S. N. Cretired)
About 1870 it was occupied by a
member of the Society of Friends
Basil Peasants. Basil made him
self a pair of wings and prepared
to fly. He climbed out on the root
of the three story structure and
before a gathering of fellow Quak-
ers. jumped off. His wings didn I
work. The agonized Quakers
shouted. FLAP thy wings, Basil!'
But Basil fell straight to the
ground and broke a leg.
The most impressive house in
the neighborhood is Stoney Castle
a huge house of native stone with
an imposing portico. 1t was pur-
chased three years ago by Cornelis
de Starkenburg, a Hollander
whose wife is the former Countess
de Chastel of Belgium. Mr.. Stark
enburg was in the diplomatic
service of his country. Today
the former countess and her
young daughter spend much OF
their time in dungarees working
the farm.
The oldest section of Stoney
Castle was built before 1900 by
the Dunlops or the Peters. It was
owned for three generations by
the White family-from 1881 to
its recent sale. The last White