Happy Retreat (also known as
Charles Washington House and
Mordington) is an historic property in
Charles Town, West VirginiaCharles Town is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States.Charles Town is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States....
, which was originally owned and developed by
Charles WashingtonCharles Washington was the youngest brother of United States President George Washington. He was a son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington....
, the youngest brother of
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
and the founder of Charles Town.
Charles inherited land in the
Shenandoah ValleyThe Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bound to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
upon the death of his older brother
LawrenceLawrence Washington was a soldier and prominent landowner in colonial Virginia. As a founding member of the Ohio Company of Virginia, and a member of the colonial legislature representing Fairfax County, he was chiefly responsible for securing the establishment of the town of Alexandria, Virginia...
in 1752. Charles was 14 years of age at the time, and living at
Ferry FarmFerry Farm, also known as George Washington Boyhood Home Site or Ferry Farm Site, is the name of the farm and home at which George Washington spent much of his childhood...
, near
Fredericksburg, VirginiaFredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., and 58 miles north of Richmond. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 19,279. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Fredericksburg with neighboring...
. In 1780, Charles and his wife Mildred moved to his land from Fredericksburg.
Happy Retreat (also known as
Charles Washington House and
Mordington) is an historic property in
Charles Town, West VirginiaCharles Town is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States.Charles Town is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States....
, which was originally owned and developed by
Charles WashingtonCharles Washington was the youngest brother of United States President George Washington. He was a son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington....
, the youngest brother of
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
and the founder of Charles Town.
Charles inherited land in the
Shenandoah ValleyThe Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bound to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
upon the death of his older brother
LawrenceLawrence Washington was a soldier and prominent landowner in colonial Virginia. As a founding member of the Ohio Company of Virginia, and a member of the colonial legislature representing Fairfax County, he was chiefly responsible for securing the establishment of the town of Alexandria, Virginia...
in 1752. Charles was 14 years of age at the time, and living at
Ferry FarmFerry Farm, also known as George Washington Boyhood Home Site or Ferry Farm Site, is the name of the farm and home at which George Washington spent much of his childhood...
, near
Fredericksburg, VirginiaFredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., and 58 miles north of Richmond. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 19,279. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Fredericksburg with neighboring...
. 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 of 1786, by act of the
Virginia General AssemblyThe Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The General Assembly is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Virginia House of Delegates, with 100 members, and an upper house, the Senate of Virginia, with 40 members...
, Charles Town was established on 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 corner stone 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 VernonMount Vernon, located near Alexandria, Virginia, was the plantation home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The mansion is built of wood in neoclassical Georgian architectural style, and the estate is located on the banks of the Potomac River.Mount Vernon was designated...
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 RiverThe Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately 383 statute miles long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles . In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the...
, he inspected the work at
Great FallsGreat Falls is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,549 at the 2000 census.Although primarily a bedroom community for Washington, D.C., one major attraction is Great Falls Park which overlooks the Great Falls of the Potomac River, for which the...
and Seneca Falls, dined at
LeesburgLeesburg is a historic town in, and county seat of, Loudoun County, Virginia, United States of America. Leesburg is located approximately west-northwest of Washington, D.C. along the base of the Catoctin Mountain and adjacent to the Potomac River...
, 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 the 23rd of February, 1800, Samuel Washington sold Happy Retreat, including the mansion house and 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 "
MordingtonMordington is an agricultural parish in the extreme south-east of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders region. It is five miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed and borders Northumberland to the east, and south , Foulden to the west, and Lamberton to the north. The parish is bisected by the A6105 Berwick to...
," 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 2-1/2 story central portion connecting the two wings.
Mr. and Mrs. William Gavin, the current owners of Happy Retreat, have decided to sell the historic estate, which consists of , the large manor house, a colonial-era stone and brick kitchen/storehouse, and the old school house. Being within the Charles Town city limits, the property is ripe for development, although the Gavins would prefer that the property be preserved in its entirety for the enjoyment of future generations. Recognizing the threat to this historic property, a group of preservation-minded individuals has formed the Friends of Happy Retreat, Inc. (FOHR), a non-profit corporation dedicated to acquiring, preserving, and utilizing the property for public benefit.
See also
- Harewood (West Virginia)
Harewood is one of several houses in the vicinity of Charles Town, West Virginia built for members of the Washington family. The house was designed by John Ariss for Samuel Washington in 1770. Washington moved from his farm on Chotank creek in Stafford County, Virginia to Harewood, accumulating ...
- Claymont Court
Claymont Court is a Georgian style brick mansion, the grandest of several built near Charles Town, West Virginia for members of the Washington family...
- Blakeley (West Virginia)
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 son of John Augustine Washington. It is a contemporary of its neighbor, Claymont Court, built across...
- Cedar Lawn
Cedar Lawn, also known as Berry Hill and Poplar Hill, is one of several houses built near Charles Town, West Virginia for members of the Washington family. Cedar Lawn was built in 1825 for John Thornton Augustine Washington, George Washington's grand-nephew. The property was originally part of...
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