VA -- Leesylvania State Park:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- LEE_050508_012.JPG: Freestone Point Earthworks
Blockading the Potomac
On August 22, 1861, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee issued orders to blockade the Potomac River by building a series of artillery positions that would command the sailing channel. One of these positions was on the grounds of his ancestral home, Leesylvania, also known as Freestone Point. For the next six months, military and political attention focused on the crucial Potomac River passage to the Union capital, Washington, D.C. The Virginia shore presented several prominent bluffs for artillery sites to control river traffic along a six-mile front. The northernmost battery at Freestone Point was used a decoy while more effective batteries were built down river at Possum Point, Cockpit Point and Evansport.
On September 25, 1861, Union gunboats from the Potomac Flotilla spotted activity at Freestone Point. They fired on the point to disperse the workers and in turn were fired upon by the Confederates. This action lasted most of the afternoon with little damage inflicted by either side. Sgt. Walter Curry of the Washington Mounted Artillery of Hampton's Legion noted in his diary that "...as soon as the eleventh shot was fired, our Guns opened on the Lincolnite men of war which were floating majestically on the Broad Potomac."
By December the Confederates had effectively closed the Potomac to commercial traffic. The impending spring movement by the Federals forced the Confederates to assume better defensive positions along the Rappahannock River. Thus the Confederate blockade of the Potomac ended on March 9, 1862. The Gun Battery is preserved at Freestone Point. This and other historical sites can be viewed along Lee's Woods Trail.
- LEE_050508_018.JPG: "At the Point of Rock":
"At the point of rock," the translation of the American Indian word Neabsco, describes clearly the high bluff of land in front of you known as Freestone Point. The location of Freestone Point is indicated on maps from the 18th Century and was an important landmark to river pilots when navigating the Potomac.
Freestone Point was actively quarried during colonial times. The sandstone was easily cut and transported by boat long the river. The abundant supply of inexpensive building material available at this site led early colonists to perceive it as almost "free stone." Sandstone quarried from the point was used as the foundation material for the manor house and other buildings of Henry Lee and his wife Lucy Grymes Lee when they settled here and established the Leesylvania Plantation around 1750.
- LEE_050508_033.JPG: The Freestone Point Hunt Club
The Freestone Point Hunt Club was established in 1926 by a group of businessmen from New York. The large waterfowl populations found along the Potomac, and the proximity of the railroad made Freestone Point both attractive and accessible to hunters from distant cities. In 1928, the Club was purchased by Gordon Wheelock and Percy Chubb and became known as the Wheelock Hunt Club.
Members of the Club maintained a comfortable two-story frame lodge at Freestone Point. Waterfowl taken by the hunters were refrigerated in lead-lined ice boxes located in a shed behind the lodge. The hunters used wooden decoys and hunted from blinds along the shore, and from boats or sink boxes in the river and creeks. Hunting at the Club was good, and records indicate that 1,544 ducks and geese were taken in 1928. However, decades of uncontrolled hunting and increased pollution in the area eventually resulted in a dramatic decline in waterfowl populations. Club records clearly reflect that decline, with only 272 ducks and gees taken during the1941 season.
The Club ceased to exist in 1957, when Freestone Point was purchased for the development of a waterfront resort. Gradually, the lodge fell into disrepair, and today all that remains is this chimney, located at what is now the park's amphitheater.
- LEE_050508_038.JPG: A Fight on the Potomac
A Fight on the Potomac took place here on September 25, 1861. According to Confederate Sgt. Wilmot Walter Curry, his unit was ordered to construct a battery at Freestone Point in order to deflect attention from larger, more permanent batteries downriver. The diary of Sgt. Curry recounts the event, beginning on September 20, 1861:
"Today a detachment from the Washington Mounted Artillery was sent down to Freestone Point for the purpose of erecting a Battery. The Battery will contain the two Rifled six-pounders from our battery and an eleven foot long thirty-pounder known as "Long Tom" which was captured at Manassas plains. It is a very handsome piece."
Finally, on September 25, 1861, the day of the event:
"This morning about 10 o'clock the enemy opened fire upon our Battery. Ten guns were fired by the enemy before our Battery opened. Several shot and shell struck out Battery but no damage done – as soon as the eleventh shot was fired, our guns opened on the Lincolnite men of war which were floating majestically on the Broad Potomac. No one was hurt on our side, although there were some narrow escapes."
- LEE_050508_053.JPG: We're viewing the Potomac from the high bluff here, known as Freestone Point. The Indians called it "neabsco" ("at the point of rock"). The sandstone here was so abundant and easy to quarry that it was almost without cost which led to the name "freestone".
- LEE_050508_061.JPG: On September 25, 1861, the Confederate battery here was shot at by a Union ship, the Seminole. The battle ended without much damage to either side.
- LEE_050508_065.JPG: Civil War Naval Cannon 32 Pounder:
This Artillery Piece is Similar to Those Used by the Confederate Army to Blockade the Potomac River from October 1861 to March 1862.
- LEE_050508_091.JPG: A view across the water into town and the railroad bridge
- LEE_050508_103.JPG: Fairfax Family house. The house was built in 1803. In 1825, Henry Fairfax purchased the nearly two-thousand acre Leesylvania property from Alfred Lee, grandson of Henry Lee II, and moved in. They died here in 1847 and the property was willed to two of his children, Martha and John Walter. John and his wife lived in Oak Hill in Loudoun County until the Civil War, when John joined the Confederate army and served in James Longstreet's staff. In 1877, shortly after his wife died, he returned to Leesylvania and rebuilt his father's residence. He died in 1908 and the home burned shortly thereafter.
- LEE_050508_115.JPG: The Fairfax Family has been a part of Leesylvania history since 1825, when Captain Henry Fairfax purchased the nearly two thousand-acre property from Alfred Lee, the grandson of Henry Lee II. The home that Henry brought his family to was built in 1803, about 500 yards east of the original Lee home. Henry, along with his third wife Elizabeth, lived and raised seven children here from 1825 until their deaths in 1847. They are buried in an enclosed cemetery located along Lee's Woods Trail. The property, with an assessed value of $16,253 in 1849, including twenty-four slaves, was willed to his two children, Martha and John Walter. John inherited the portion of the plantation property that is now Leesylvania State Park. in the early 1850s, he married Mary Jade Rodgers and moved to Oak Hill in Loudoun County. He and his wife lived at Oak Hill until after the Civil War. During the Civil War, John Walter Fairfax joined the Confederate army and became an important member of General James Longstreet's staff. In 1877, shorted after his wife's passing, he returned to Leesylvania and rebuilt his father's residence. Fairfax lived here until his death in 1908, his home burning shortly thereafter.
- LEE_050508_127.JPG: Leesylvania Plantation became a part of the Lee family legacy upon the marriage of Laethin Corbin to Richard Lee II in 1675. The name "Leesylvania," meaning "Lee's Woods," was appropriately given to the heavily wooded peninsula by Henry Lee II and his wife Lucy Grymes. In about 1750, Henry chose a site high on this ridge overlooking the Potomac to build his home. Though very little remains of the original structure, it is thought to have been similar to Rippon Lodge, a neighboring home built around the same time. Although Henry had many political obligations, his primary duty was to the plantation. Here he oversaw farm and fishery operations until his death in 1787. The home burned not long after, around 1790.
The location of the Plantation along the Potomac, and the difficulty of lengthy travel made for greater interaction between neighboring plantation owners. Among these neighbors was a certain George Washington of Mt. Vernon, about fourteen miles upriver. His diary records numerous visits to Leesylvania Plantation, beginning on October 19, 1768:
"Set off on my Journey to Williamsburg and reached Colo. Henry Lees to Dinner."
Again on October 30, 1769, with his wife Martha and daughter Patsy:
"Set out on my Journey to Williamsburg and reached Henry Lees to a Late Dinner."
Finally, on the 27th of November, 1772: "Set off from Fredericksburg and reached Colo. Henry Lees where we lodged."
Leesylvania Plantation remained in the Lee family until 1825, when it was sold by Alfred Lee to Henry Fairfax. The legacy of the Plantation continues. In addition to the name, a few of Lucy's flowers, including daffodils and daylilies, still bloom in the surrounding woodlands.
- LEE_050508_133.JPG: This is the area where the Lee family mansion was. Its foundation was largely destroyed by a new road path that was cut through here in the late 1950's. Only one corner of the foundation remains.
- LEE_050508_137.JPG: The Lee Home Site:
In the late 1950s, a road was built here which cut through this ridge. The ruins of the plantation home of the Lee family were destroyed. Only one corner of the home's foundation survived.
- LEE_050508_144.JPG: They're trying to show you where the original foundation of the Lee mansion is still found.
- LEE_050508_153.JPG: The Lee and Fairfax Family Cemetery
The Lee and Fairfax Family Cemetery is located on this ridge top overlooking the Occoquan Bay. The Lees established the cemetery with the death of Henry Lee II on August 15, 1787. His wife Lucy Lee, the only other member of the Lee family to be buried here, died shortly after in 1792. The Virginia Journal and Alexandria Advertiser noted Lee's passing with an obituary: "Died on the 15th Instant, at the seat of Mr. Richard Bland Lee in Loudoun County (sully Plantation), Hon. Henry Lee, Senator for the District of Fairfax and Prince William, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, thirty of which have been assiduously devoted to the service of his Country."
Captain Henry Fairfax, who purchased the plantation from the Lees in 1825, and his third wife Elizabeth are buried in the enclosed portion of the cemetery. Captain Fairfax passed away on the sixth of October in 1847. Elizabeth died a month later in the same year.
The Lee family stones have long since disappeared. They were replaced with a bronze plaque donated by the Society of the Lees. The Fairfax headstones were relocated in 1969 to Union Cemetery in Leesburg, alongside the tomb of their son John Walter Fairfax. Their remains still rest within the enclosed cemetery.
- LEE_050508_157.JPG: This is the burial site of Henry Lee (d. 1787) and his wife Lucy Grymes (d. 1792). They were married in 1753, and their home, Leesylvania, stood on the ridge to the east. Henry Lee was County Lieutenant and Presiding Justice of Prince William County for many years. He also represented the county in the House of Burgesses, the Revolutionary Conventions, and the State Senate during the years from 1758 until 1788. Among their eight children born at Leesylvania were "Light Horse Harry" Lee, Revolutionary War hero, Governor of Virginia, and father of Robert Edward Lee; Charles Lee, Attorney General of the United States; Richard Bland Lee, the first Congressman for Northern Virginia; and Edmund Jennings Lee, Mayor of Alexandria.
- LEE_050508_160.JPG: Lee and Fairfax Cemetery. The cemetery was established when Henry Lee II died in 1787 (at the Sully Plantation). His wife and he were buried here. Henry Fairfax and his third wife Elizabeth, both of whom died in 1847, were also buried here. The Lee family stones were stolen, being replaced by a bronze plaque donated by the Society of the Lees. Although their bodies are still here, the Fairfax headstones were reloaded in 1969 to Union Cemetery in Leesburg, alongside the tomb of their son John Walter Fairfax.
- LEE_050508_163.JPG: A Railroad Runs Through It
The railway line that lies between Neabsco and Powells Creek was completed in 1872 by the Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railroad. This was no easy taks considering the steep terrain, which required numerous deep cuts and fills to maintain a gentle grade along the line. Over the years, this resulted in several landslides and train derailments. The first year of its operation, the Alexandria Gazette reported one such event, "Owing to the washing of the A&F Railroad, the passenger and baggage car of the train due here yesterday evening from Quantico ran off the track in a deep cut at Freestone Point. A repair train was sent down immediately and the track is now in good order again." An incident that occurred at about the same time recalls an attempt to stabilize tracks along a slide. A temporary timber trestle was constructed and secured to trees further up the hill. Delayed by the incident on the way to Fredericksburg, P.T. Barnum, along with his circus, commented that he had been all over the United States, but this was the first railroad he had ever seen tied to a tree.
- Wikipedia Description: Leesylvania State Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Leesylvania State Park" is located in the southeastern part of Prince William County, Virginia. The land was donated in 1978 by philanthropist Daniel K Ludwig.
History:
At the time of early English settlers, Leeslyvania was believed to be the site of an Algonquin village, overlooking Neabsco Creek.
Henry Lee II settled on the land from 1747 until his death in 1787. He and his wife had eight children at their home, including Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, Revolutionary War hero and future father of Civil War general Robert E. Lee. George Washington mentions visiting the Lee House three times in his diaries. In 1825 the property was sold to Henry Fairfax, and later passed to John Fairfax in 1847. The land was also used as a small Confederate force and gun emplacement during the Civil War.
Today, only a small corner stone of the Lee House remains. The house and it's path were completely bulldozed in the 1950s to make way for a road. A restored chimney of the Fairfax House remains. Henry Lee II and his wife, along with Henry Fairfax and his third wife are buried on the property. The sites and the cemetery are accessible by trail.
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