|
|
| History
|
|
|
|
|
| George Washington’s Town House. 508 Cameron Street |
| Aug 29,2008 |
 |
Email |
|
 |
Print |
|
 |
Share |
|
Del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Facebook
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Technorati
|
 |
Comments |
|
|
|
George Washington's Town House, 508 Cameron Street
When Alexandria was founded in 1749, the town ran west only as far as Royal Street. However, the town was doing so well by 1763 that several more blocks were added then. George Washington purchased this quarter-block lot (Lot 118) on May 9, 1763, for ten pounds, ten shillings. From 1769 to 1771, he had a plain dwelling, a stable, and other necessary buildings constructed here as sort of a town annex to Mount Vernon. The town house was the only house built by Washington for his own use. Prior to the Revolutionary War, he used it often when he was in Alexandria. During the war and his Presidency, the place was often rented or lent to friends and members of the family. Dr. William Brown rented the house for about ten years; Martha Washington’s favorite niece, Fanny Bassett Washington, lived here with her two boys for a little over a year in 1794-95; and Colonel Philip Marsteller, one of Washington’s pall bearers, lived here in 1797. A number of Washington’s letters refer to spending the night “at my own house.” Other letters order fencing for the property and give detailed directions for such things as repairing the fireplaces, laying a brick floor in the basement, papering the bedroom wall, and painting the exterior. He had the same trouble with contractors that we have today.
It is the first piece of property listed in Washington’s will, and it was the only piece of property that he left outright to his wife Martha when he died. At her death, Mrs. Washington left the property to her nephew, Bartholomew Dandridge. Unfortunately, the dwelling was demolished in 1855. In 1960, Gov. and Mrs. Richard Lowe (he was governor of Guam) had the house reconstructed based on existing accounts. No original plans are known to exist for the interior, but the reconstruction shows the outside of the house based on a contemporary drawing. The original half-acre purchase, bounded by the corner of Pitt and Cameron Streets, is now divided into seven lots. Some believe that George Washington’s town house kitchen building is incorporated into the rear of the 1817 house at 506 Cameron Street. The reconstruction of Washington’s town house is a private home. At one time, it was rented to Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac.
(Adapted from Walking with Washington, available in Alexandria museum gift shops)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
History Archives |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loading..
