Happy Retreat

Last updated
Charles Washington House
Happy Retreat WV1.jpg
Front of the house
USA West Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationBlakeley Plaza, Charles Town, West Virginia
Coordinates 39°16′56″N77°51′35″W / 39.28222°N 77.85972°W / 39.28222; -77.85972
Area0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Built1780
Architectural styleEarly Republic, Classical Revival
NRHP reference No. 73001912 [1]
Added to NRHPJuly 2, 1973

Happy Retreat (also known as Charles Washington House and Mordington) is a historic property in Charles Town, West Virginia, which was originally owned and developed by Charles Washington, the youngest brother of George Washington and the founder of Charles Town.

Contents

Description

Happy Retreat is a 2+12-story white-painted brick structure, with two-story flanking wings. The main facade has a prominent Doric pediment with no colonnade. An elliptical fanlight is centered in the pediment. Below, the main facade is three bays wide, with a one-story flat-roofed porch supported by Doric columns. The wings are attached by short hyphens, and have stepped masonry gables. The wings predate the central block. The main block features a transverse entry hall across the width of the block. Apart from the massing, the exterior has been extensively altered using revival-syle details and elements. [2] [3]

History

Charles inherited land in the Shenandoah Valley upon the death of his older brother Lawrence in 1752. Charles was 14 years of age at the time, and living at Ferry Farm, near Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 1780, Charles and his wife Mildred moved to his land from Fredericksburg. By that time, he had constructed two one-story structures on the property, separated by a breezeway or portico, and had named the property "Happy Retreat.". In October 1786, by act of the Virginia General Assembly, Charles Town was established on 80 acres (320,000 m2) of Charles's land adjacent to Happy Retreat, and Charles played an important role in planning the streets and construction activities of the new town.

Although Happy Retreat is usually considered to have been established in 1780, there is reason to believe that Charles's land may have been farmed as early as 1768. This date appears on the cornerstone of the old kitchen at Happy Retreat, but has never been fully authenticated. The structure of, and materials used in, the kitchen and old brick smoke-house would indicate them to be pre-Revolutionary, and a clay-chinked limestone quarters which stood until recent years behind the kitchen and smoke-house possibly predated the kitchen. An octagonal wooden powder-house similar to the one at Mount Vernon exists today and is supposed to have held powder stores during the Revolution. Later it was used as a school house for Charles and Mildred's children.

On his visits from his home in Fredericksburg to his property prior to 1780, Charles Washington is said to have lived in a small house, since disintegrated, on Evitts Run, a small stream that flows along the base of the hill at Happy Retreat. From this temporary dwelling he could well have directed the work of brick-making for the residence he had planned, as there are claybeds along the Run. Stone and timber cutting could also have been supervised nearby, as the surrounding meadows are laced with limestone outcroppings, and the property included ample woodland.

General George Washington visited his brother at Happy Retreat several times. On June 1, 1788, while he was interested in the building of a canal up the Potomac River, he inspected the work at Great Falls and Seneca Falls, dined at Leesburg, proceeded the following day to what is now Harper's Ferry, and on the 3rd arrived at Happy Retreat, where he dined and spent the night. Other visits to Charles are recorded in the General's diaries for this period.

During the few months before his death in April, 1799, Charles transferred all his property to his son Samuel Washington and his heirs, which explains why there remained no property to be transferred in Charles' will. On February 23, 1800, Samuel Washington sold Happy Retreat, including the mansion and 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land, to Thomas Hammond. The property stayed in the Hammond family until 1837 when George Washington Hammond sold it to the Hon. Isaac R. Douglass, a circuit court judge and real estate investor. After his purchase of Happy Retreat, Judge Douglass completed the plans for the central section of the house and built a three-story brick structure, connecting the two old Washington wings. He renamed the completed mansion "Mordington," after his ancestral estate in Scotland. The house passed through the hands of a number of different owners, reverting to its original name of Happy Retreat, before its purchase by Mr. and Mrs. William Gavin in the 1960s.

A recent historical engineering analysis of Happy Retreat indicates that the home's development proceeded in three phases. Phase 1 construction consisted of the old stone kitchen and a portion of the west wing. Phase 2 consisted of the brick portion of the kitchen and the one-story east wing. Phase 3, which was undertaken in 1837 after the purchase of Happy Retreat by Judge Douglass, resulted in the addition of the 2nd stories to the two wings and completion of a large 2½ story central portion connecting the two wings.

In September 2014, the city of Charles Town began working toward purchasing the house to include it in its parks system. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House</span> Complex of buildings in Romney, Virginia

The Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House is a complex of three structures, built between the 1740s and 1780s, in Romney, West Virginia. The clerk's office, dating from the 1780s, is the oldest surviving public office building in West Virginia. The kitchen building is the oldest remaining component of the Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House and the oldest building in Romney. Throughout its history, the Wilson-Wodrow-Mytinger House has been known as the Andrew Wodrow House, the Mytinger Family Home, and the Mytinger House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Washington</span> American planter and politician

Charles Washington was an American planter and politician who founded a town in the Shenandoah Valley that was named Charles Town in his honor shortly after his death and that of his eldest brother, George Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Ball Washington House</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

The Mary Washington House, at 1200 Charles Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is the house in which George Washington's mother, Mary Ball Washington, resided towards the end of her life. It is now operated as an 18th-century period historic house museum, one of several museums in Fredericksburg operated by Washington Heritage Museums. Today it displays 18th-century furniture, and her personal possessions, such as her "best dressing glass”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenmore (Fredericksburg, Virginia)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Kenmore, also known as Kenmore Plantation, is a plantation house at 1201 Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Built in the 1770s, it was the home of Fielding and Betty Washington Lewis and is the only surviving structure from the 1,300-acre (530 ha) Kenmore plantation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Monroe Law Office</span> Historic commercial building in Virginia, United States

The James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library is a historic museum at 908 Charles Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It is located on the site of the James Monroe Law Office, used by future United States President James Monroe from 1786 to 1789. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966. It is now owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia and operated by the University of Mary Washington. The museum features original objects and memorabilia related to James Monroe, and includes items relating to other members of his family, including dresses worn by First Lady Elizabeth Monroe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rising Sun Tavern (Fredericksburg, Virginia)</span> Historic commercial building in Virginia, United States

The Rising Sun Tavern is a historic building in Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was built in about 1760 as a home by Charles Washington, youngest brother of George Washington, and became a tavern in 1792.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blakeley (West Virginia)</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Blakeley, near Charles Town, West Virginia is also known as the Washington - Chew - Funkhouser House, and was built in 1820 by John Augustine Washington II, great-nephew of George Washington and grandson of John Augustine Washington. It is a contemporary of its neighbor, Claymont Court, built across Bullskin Run by John's brother, Bushrod Corbin Washington. John Washington did not attempt to match the grandeur of Claymont Court, as he was in line to inherit Mount Vernon, and did so in 1829.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claymont Court</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Claymont Court, or simply Claymont, is a Georgian-style brick mansion, the grandest of several built near Charles Town, West Virginia for members of the Washington family. The current "Big House" was built in 1840 for Bushrod Corbin Washington, nephew of Supreme Court justice Bushrod Washington and grand-nephew of George Washington, to replace the 1820 main house on his plantation that burned in 1838.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harewood (West Virginia)</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Harewood is one of several houses in the vicinity of Charles Town, West Virginia built for members of the Washington family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altona (West Virginia)</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

Altona, near Charles Town, West Virginia, is a historic farm with an extensive set of subsidiary buildings. The original Federal style plantation house was built in 1793 by Revolutionary War officer Abraham Davenport on land purchased from Charles Washington. The house was expanded by Abraham's son, Colonel Braxton Davenport. During the Civil War the farm was a favored encampment. Generals Philip Sheridan and Ulysses S. Grant both used the house as a headquarters and meeting place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allstadt House and Ordinary</span> Historic house in West Virginia, United States

The Allstadt House and Ordinary was built about 1790 on land owned by the Lee family near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, including Phillip Ludwell Lee, Richard Bland Lee and Henry Lee III. The house at the crossroads was sold to the Jacob Allstadt family of Berks County, Pennsylvania in 1811. Allstadt operated an ordinary in the house, and a tollgate on the Harpers Ferry-Charles Town Turnpike, while he resided farther down the road in a stone house. The house was enlarged by the Allstadts c. 1830. The house remained in the family until the death of John Thomas Allstadt in 1923, the last survivor of John Brown's Raid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Downtown Charles Town Historic District</span> Historic district in West Virginia, United States

The Downtown Charles Town Historic District comprises the commercial center of Charles Town, West Virginia. The district centers on Washington Street and includes the Jefferson County Courthouse and the New Opera House, themselves on the National Register of Historic Places. Other structures include the Market House, the Independent Fire Company building and the Post Office. A few very early buildings are included, such as the Sheetz House, dating to 1797.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colross</span> Georgian mansion in Princeton, New Jersey

Colross is a Georgian style mansion built around 1800 as the center of a large plantation in what is now the Old Town neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia, and moved circa 1930 to Princeton, New Jersey, where it is currently the administration building of Princeton Day School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fall Hill</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Fall Hill is a plantation located near the falls on the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Though the Thornton family has lived at Fall Hill since the early 18th century, the present house was built in 1790 for Francis Thornton V (1760–1836). The land on which Fall Hill is located is part of an 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) land patent obtained by Francis Thornton I (1657–1727) around 1720. The present-day town of Fredericksburg, Virginia is located on that original patent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Braehead (Fredericksburg, Virginia)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Braehead is a historic house located in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The 6,000 square foot house was built in 1858-1859 by George Mullen for John Howison, born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, in 1809. John Howison's sister was the now-famous Civil War diarist, Jane Briggs Beale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Chimneys (Fredericksburg, Virginia)</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

The Chimneys is a historic house located in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The house was constructed around 1771–1773. The house is named because of the stone chimneys at each end. The Georgian home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1975. Of note are the interior decorative woodwork in the moldings, millwork, paneling indicative of building styles of the period. The decorative carving on the mantelpiece as well as on the door and window frames is particularly significant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smithfield Plantation (Fredericksburg, Virginia)</span>

For the plantation in Port Allen, Louisiana, see Smithfield Plantation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Hammond House</span> Historic house in South Carolina, United States

The Charles Hammond House, located at 908 Martintown Road, North Augusta, South Carolina, was built on a bluff overlooking the Savannah River between other Hammond plantations, New Richmond and Snow Hill. The Charles Hammond House was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 2, 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greyledge</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Greyledge is a historic home and national historic district in Botetourt County, Virginia. It encompasses 13 contributing buildings, 2 contributing sites, and 2 contributing structures, as well as woods and cropland. Although less than a mile from Interstate 81, the house seated on a knob 1200 feet in altitude is not visible from the interstate highway, nor is the highway visible from the house. Purgatory Mountain is visible to the west of the house, which has views of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the south and east. Purgatory Creek drains much of the property and flows into the James River several miles south in the town of Buchanan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valley View (Romney, West Virginia)</span> 1855 Greek Revival residence and associated farm

Valley View is a mid-19th-century Greek Revival residence and farm overlooking the South Branch Potomac River northwest of Romney, West Virginia. The house is atop a promontory where Depot Valley joins the South Branch Potomac River valley.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. McGee, Ted (March 9, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Washington, Charles, House" (PDF). National Park Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  3. Chambers, S. Allen Jr. (2004). Buildings of West Virginia. Oxford University Press. pp. 541–542. ISBN   0-19-516548-9.
  4. DeMello, Chelsea (2014-09-19). "Estate resolution goes to parks and recreation committee". The Journal . Retrieved 2014-09-19.