1720

Falmouth, Va. Historic Falmouth Towne and Stafford County Incorporated

Written by Mrs. Margaret L. Smith

The old town of Falmouth, situated at the mouth of the Falls of the Rappahannock, in Stafford county, VA, was first build on fifty acres of land purchased of Major William Todd in 1720, and regularly laid off in streets, squares and lots. Its government was vested in seven trustees appointed by the House of Burgess of Virginia. The original trustees as given by the old town record book were Robert Carter, President; Nicholas Smith, John Fitzhugh, Charles Carter, Henry Fitzhugh, John Warner, surveyor; and William Thornton.

In 1773 by an amendment of its charter, these trustees were made elective by the qualified voters of the town and their President empowered to act as Mayor.

At the head of navigation of the Rappahannock river its situation made it formerly the market of all that section of the country lying above it between the Blue ridge Mountains and Tidewater, which supplied it with grain for a great milling business and for export trade, for in those days Falmouth had a regular trade with foreign countries, a ting impossible for a great many years on account of the filling up of the river to an extent, rendering it no longer navigable to sea-going vessels.

Wagon trains, miles in length loaded with grain, were frequently seen approaching it from the mountains, merchant ships anchored at its warf to purchase flour and other products, and sea captains and sailors moved constantly through its streets. Its storage capacity was not equal to its trade, and hogsheads of sugar and molasses lined its streets and the road to Gordon's store near the wharf. Basil Gordon, its owner, was the first millionaire in the United States. He built for his home the large brick house nearest the bridge, the tradition being the the bricks, brass locks, etc., were brought from England in his returning ships.

It was also prominent in military matters. The Falmouth Blues were led in the famous charge upon the redoubt at Yorktown by their brave commander, Captain William Payne. He was a citizen of Falmouth and raised the company referred to for the Revolution. He was given 3000 acres by Virginia for his services during the war.

Above the town stood the residence of Col. Robert Carter, one of the first members of the municipal commission; below it the home of Augustine Washington, President of the Principia Iron Mines of Stafford -- the home of the boy whose greatness had not yet flowered.

George Washington was born in Westmoreland, but reared in the present county of Stafford and received at school in Falmouth intellectual training which prepared him for his future career as liberator of his country. In a sketch of family history written by Washington, himself, the only mention made of scholastic advantages is that he attended school there, and it has been well said that no other municipality, ancient or modern, has the distinction of having begun the education of the father of so magnificent a Republic. In this connection will say when Gen. Washington made his celebrated march from Long Island to Yorktown his troops came by the old stage road through Falmouth to Fredericksburg, thence to Yorktown.

Hon. Alexander H. Seddon, Secretary of War of our Confederacy, was one of its citizens and it furnished distinguished offers and brave soldiers to the Lost Canse. Among the officers Col. William Green, of the 47th Virginia Regiment, while marshalling his forces, not far distant from where his grandfather (Captain William Paye above mentioned) led his nearly a century before; Capt. Jack Forbes and Sergeant George Kelly gave their lives as a tribute to the Confederacy.

The grandmother of the Duchess of Marlboro was born in Falmouth in the house afterwards occupied by Dr. Rose. She was a relative of the "Fall Hill" Thorntons and the Forbes.

The old Dunbar house, completely effaced by fire about 25 years ago, was famous for its beautiful grounds and frontal garden and conservatory, wood work and exquisite furniture. The last owner, of the name Miss Anna Dunbar, a great-granddaughter of Lady Spottswood, died there in extreme old age and it passed to others.

"Belmont," on the edge of the town, now owned by the celebrated artist, Gara Melchers, was built for Susannah Knox, nee Fitzhugh, by her father, Fitzhugh, of Chatham. Her tomb is still in Falmouth cemetery. Between this and the present brick church, there was an old colonial church, long since moldered to decay. It was of wood, built in the form of a cross, and above the Carter pew the family coat of arms was blazoned. It was destroyed by fire or time's ravages more than a hundred years ago. In this same cemetery is buried one of the officer of Napoleon, a French Nobleman, Count Heard, who fought through all the Napoleon wars, and was exiled by Louis XVIII, as recorded on his tombstone. He and Lafayette embraced and kissed each other when they met on the occasion of Lafayette's visit here in 1824. Another old grave is that of Jean de Baptist, merchant. At that time Falmouth was a busy mart of commerce and strangers from many nations drifted into it.

The poet, Campbell, lived in Falmouth for nearly a year as clerk in his brother's store, when a youth, but doubtless prosaic commercialism irked his budding genius and he returned to England. The tradition of the place is that he wrote the poem, "Lord Uhlin's Daughter" seated on a large rock near the bank of the rive about a hundred yards from the bridge. Perhaps a high freshet suggested the foaming torrents.

An aged lady of this city, who died about forty years ago, said she went to a large ball when she was fifteen years old at the Falmouth tavern or inn, given in celebration of some important occasion, probably the victory and peace of 1816, as the dates would correspond. Being her first ball she was particularly impressed by the beauty of the costumes worn by the ladies. She was Mrs. R. H. Carmichael.

Besides the extensive milling operations of wheat and corn another important industry of Falmouth of former times was the manufacture of cotton goods. A large crick cotton factory was build and owned by Duff Green.

Moncure D. Conway, the eminent author, was a Falmouth man, and this able and reliable antiquarian in Magazine of American History, Vol. 27, No. 3 page 186, says that the fort on the Rappahannock river was on the north side of the rive and that Falmouth was the center of the military district commanded by Major Lawrence Smith. He was empowered to execute "martial discipline among the soldiers so put in arms" both in times of war and peace and with "two others of said privileged pace," he was to hear and determine all cases, civil or criminal that should arise in said limits, as a county court might do, and to make by-laws for the same.

The historic lustre of Falmouth and its business importance belong to the past, but doubtless a few years in the future it will be incorporated in a Greater Fredericksburg, even as Manchester has been absorbed by Richmond, for this city is slowly but surely building out to meet it.

Mrs. Margaret L. Smith.