the Beagle Log, 10 October 2007 - Historic Landmark

Good Morning Chatters,

We've had a few unseasonably warm days, but now temperatures are back in harmony with the season. The weather is great for tourists.

The picture below is a favorite tourist destination for visitors to Washington DC. It is located in Northern Virginia, 10-15 miles outside DC's city limits. It was the home to General Cornwallis's nemesis.

Who's home was this and what is its name?

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Don

Hola Don!

Well obviously it is The White House! or even Casa Blanca! However I don't think it is the one where we find George Bush.

What a beautiful house. It looks sort of Georgian and I can certainly see why it is a tourist attraction. I realise that I have a lot to learn about your part of the world, is that a river behind the house?

I look forward to hearing more.

Hasta la vista Gillian

Hi Don and Gillian,

Yes its beautiful, isn't it!! It reminds me of those houses you see on American historical films, such as were lived in by the owners of the cotton plantations?

Yes, I look forward to hearing more too.

Carole :wave2:

Hi

Is it anything to do with the War of Independence? or the American Civil War.

It is a lovely house but owners of cotton plantations, were slave owners too!

JFS

Hi JFS,

Yes that's true, and it did actually put me in mind of the house that was in a long running American series a few years ago - which was a fabulous series - I think it was just called "Roots" - Though a real tear-jerker. It told the story of several generations starting with the African man Kunta-Kinte, then his daughter or grand-daughter Kizzy, I think, - and there was "Chicken George". It was a fabulous series, I wish they'd screen it again on TV. It ends up where the modern-day descendent goes to Africa and finds the place which Kunta-Kinte had been from.

Carole wave

No winners today :ck-sad: although some interesting guesses. Gillian, yes that is a river in the background - the Potomac River.

This is a picture of Mt. Vernon. It was the home of George Washington, the first president of the US. He was the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He served two terms as president and set the two-term precedence. Only one president served more than two terms. That was Franklin Roosevelt during the depression and into WWII. Cotton was not grown at Mt Vernon, that is grown in the deep south. Washington grew a variety of crops; the cash crop being tobacco. He had slaves, as did most large estate owners.

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Don

Hi Don,

We all didn't do too well today with the Beagle Log did we?
Have a Washington Website in my favourites list. As you probably know George's ancestors were from the North of England - Durham, Cumberland and Lancashire.......

Here are some snippets from the webpage........
HISTORY OF THE FAMILY OF "WASHINGTON"

"Over a thousand leagues of sea
Rich in promise of things to be
From a Durham Village the seed was blown
And in far Virginian field was sown
Little seed of a mighty tree"

Quote:

The earliest "Washingtons" were descended from Conan the Thane, the King of the Cumbrians and the ancient Earls of Northumberland.........

.......... John Washington (1633-1677) was about 19 years of age when his father died, and two years later when his mother died he went to London, probably taking his brother Lawrence with him. The brothers saw the new opportunities in trade with the American colonies, and John, already married, sailed for Virginia in 1656 as mate and voyage partner of Edward Prescott, owner of the Sea Horse of London. His first wife died, and he re-married the daughter of an American planter, Lieutenant-Colonel Nathaniel Pope. Their wedding present was a 700 acre estate at Mattox Creek where their eldest son, Lawrence, was born in 1659 and the American line of the Washington Family was established..

Although, during their family history, the Washingtons moved to different places in England, their roots lie in the north, in the "Original" Washington in England and in Warton in Lancashire. George Washington. First President of the United States' grandmother lies peacefully at rest in Whitehaven, Cumbria.

from History of the Family of "Washington"
http://www.ancestryuk.com/WashingtonAncestry.htm

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Carole, Smith Project/Smith Chat Admin
Nothing is too small to know, and nothing too big to attempt (William Van Horne)