Today we present a (rather laboriously transcribed) follow up to the March 13th posting, an article from the Daily Dispatch on the Old Stone House on Ware Creek This article was written as a response to the previous one and was published one week later.
NB: Blisland is typically spelled with one 's,' that being the spelling of the original parish in Cornwall.
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| from Howe's Historical collections of Virginia(1852) |
LEAVES FROM THE PAST. ANOTHER VIRGINIA ANTIQUARIAN HEARD FROM.Something More About the Mysterious Old Stone House- The Devil's Wood-Yard-Some Interesting Points About Old Blissland Parish- Ancient Epitaphs.
To The Editor of the Dispatch:
In last Sunday's issue of the Dispatch your Williamsburg correspondent "W." writes of visit recently made by him to the Old Stone House in James City county, and gives an interesting description of this "mysterious relic of colonial days." His picture of the ruin and its wild surroundings has not been overdrawn. This writer has spent many hours on the wild, weird spot- not, however, in searching for Blackbeard's buried treasure, but in endeavoring to recall the traditions connected therewith, and in speculating upon the origin and history of the Old Stone House.
Before the war the "Devil's Wood Yard." surrounding the building, was a primeval forest, so dense and dark in its deep gorges that it was a favorite hiding place for runaway slaves. Local tradition made it the scene of many mysterious occurrences, and deeds of blood are said to have been enacted in its unexplored recesses.
The superstitious avoided the place where it was said the ghosts of Blackbeard's murdered victims walked in the dim daylight and held high carnival when the shadows changed to gloom.
In 1865 the north and east walls of the Stone House were in a state of preservation and the chimney end next to York river showed but little dilapidation. Many names, dates, and initials were carved in the the stones, but most of the dates were comparatively modern. One, however, over the fire-place, thus; "J. Mon--, 1775," left little room for doubt that it was carved by James Monroe, afterwards President of the United States, when he was a student at William and Mary College. The name was probably written out in full, but the stone containing the last three letters had been displaced.
Your correspondent '"W." revives the tradition that the house was built by the famous, or rather infamous, pirate BlackBeard. This, however, is nothing more than tradition without a particle of historical authority to support it. This theory of construction robs the ruin of much of its credit for antiquity. Blackbeard "ravaged the seas" about the years 1717-18, and the Stone House probably antedates this period by fully one hundred year.
In Howe's History of Virginia there is a cut representing the house and it also contains several pages descriptive of the ruin. The author quotes from an article written by C. C. (Charles Campbell, Esq.), in which that writer adduces proof wellnigh conclusive that this "fort " was built by a Captain John Smith, as early as 1608-'9.* If his theory of its origin is correct, then the stone house is the only remaining material monument of the labor and enterprise of the "Father of Virginia." and it is the ruin of the oldest house built by English hands in America. Howe, in 1845, erroneously locates the ruin in New Kent county. As stated by "W.," it is on the lower side of Ware Creek, and consequently In James City county. It was in New Kent until the year 1766, when the eastern boundary of that county was changed from Scimino creek to Ware creek. And just here it will be observed that "W.," gives to this latter creek the spelling adopted in our recent statutes, The proper spelling is not Weir, but Ware. The creek was named for Robert Ware, who patented large tracts of land on both sides of the stream in the early days of the colony, and this spelling is uniformly employed in Henning.
There are many other objects of interest to the Antiquarian in this section of the state. New Kent, although not one of the original shires, was one of the oldest counties in the Old Dominion, It was created in 1654, and extended from Scimino creek, some distance below Williamsburg, to the heads of the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers and thence down on the north side to Poropotank creek, embracing within these bounds the land included in in its present limits, the counties of Hanover, King William, King and Queen, and a portion of James City and Caroline, The county was divided into three parishes. Bishop Meade says: "On the north of the York and Pamunkey rivers there was a parish called St. John's, and on the south one called St. peters. About the year 1684 or 1685 a parish east of St. Peter's, on Pamunkey and York rivers, was formed by the name of Blissland, which continued to have a minister until alter the Revolutionary war."
He further says, page 388:
"Of Blissland parish a few words will suffice for the little we have to say of this. No vestry-book remains to tell its history. What has become of its church. I am unable to say. Perhaps I may yet learn."In the appendix on the last page of Volume two of the second edition of his work he continues:
"Since the first edition of this book I have received a fragment of the vestrybook of this (Blissland) parish * * *. The services of its ministers are supposed to have been divided between Warre church, so called from the swamp of that name about ten miles below New Kent Courthouse, which has entirely disappeared, and Hickory Neck church, in James City county, which is still standing."It will be perceived that Bishop Meade gives the year 1684 or 1685 as the date of the formation of Blissland parish, and states that it was formed from St. Peter' s parish. Blissland parish certainly existed before the dates here given, as the following extracts will show, and it is probable that St. Peters was formed from it.
In the 1st volume Calender of Virginia, State Papers, page 11, a copy of the following document may be found :
"At a Gen'l Court held at James City April 29th, 1679- present, &c., * * *_ the Parish of Blissland petitioning yt, by unanimous consent of ye whole pariah a division by sufficient men by them chosen is made of ye s'd, p-'ish and praying that ye Division be confirmed, and ffowre of ye vestry appearing and affirming that ye Division was made by consent of ye parish, this court therefore confirmed the s'd Division. "
Vcr. cop. teste: W. P. EDWARDS, e'l'k Gen'l C't."
That Blissland was the mother parish of the county is more than probable, and this view is strengthened by the fact that the first settlements were made in the lower end, or that portion of the county nearest to "James City" (Jamestown) and Williamsburg. While on a recent visit to lower New Kent the writer determined to ascertain, if possible, the exact location of the church alluded to by Bishop Meade, Accompanied by Mr. A. P. Richardson, who is probably better acquainted with the country than any other inhabitants, search was first made for Warren church. Its exact location is known to but few, and it was only after persistent questioning that Old Peter, an octogenarian darky, was "brought to his remembrance," and piloted by him through thick undergrowth, the spot was finally reached.
The site selected for the church is on a commanding eminence about two miles west of Eltham. On the brow of the hill, in a beautiful grove of oaks, were wen unmistakable evidence which marked the spot where, more than two hundred years ago, our forefathers met to worship God. Portions of the foundation walls still remain, and the form and size of the building could easily be traced. The church was built of English bricks, and was 36 by 60 feet, with a transept at the northern end 25 by 20 feet.
The course of the wall which surrounded the church could also be traced, it enclosed something more than half an acre, which was the burial-ground, and two well-preserved granite slabs marked the spot where two sleepers slept.
There are probably other tomb-stones, but if so they have been covered by the leave and trees and debris of more than a century.
The epitaphs on these stones are as follows:
"Here lies interred the body of Mr. John Long, of Ramsgate, in the county of Kent, in Great Brttain, late commander of the ship John and Mary, who departed this life the 24th of July, 1736 aged twenty five years."
Above this epitaph is the coat-of-arms, which the Writer will not attempt to describe in technical language, because he does not know how to do so. It represents a helmet with flowing plume resting on a shield, in the centre of which is a lion rampant. No motto or other device than that described can be perceived. The other is as follows:
"Here lyeth interred the body of Doctor Thomas Arnott, who departed this life the 29th day of .January, 1745, aged thirtyeight years."
Here, as at the Stone House the work of the "vandal hand" may seen. The Old church has been entirely demolished, and all the whole bricks above the surface of the earth, even those supporting the tombstones, have been carted away. These bricks, imported from beyond the seas to serve the pious purpose of erecting a temple for the Lord, have all been "appropriated" to serve the "utilitarian spirit of the age" in paving a barnyard or erecting a kitchen chimney.
The church at Hickory Neck, in James City county, about twelve miles from Williamsburg, is still standing and well preserved. Around this church there are two tombstone of black marble containing the following inscription;
"Here lies Interred the lindy of Col. John Taliaferro, of Snow Creek, in the county of Spottsylvania, who departed this life the third day of March, A. D. 1744,, in the 57th [or 87th] year of his age. He left issue 2 sons and 3 daughters."
The second reads:
"Here lies the body of Lawrence Taliaferro, son of Col. John Taliaferro, of Snow Hill, in Spottsylvania county, who departed this life the first day of May, 1748, in the 27th year of his age, He married Susan Power, daughter of Maj. Henry Power, of James City county, and left issue by her one daughter.”
Much more might be written of other places of interest in this section of the state- of Eltham, the seat of the Bassetts, where George Washington and his charming bride were entertained by old time "dinging" on the day succeeding their marriage; of the Brick House opposite West Point, the seat of the Lewises and later of the Robinsons, with its desecrated family vault, and the solitary tombstone in a corn-field of Captain John King, who was buried in 1701: but this communication is already to lengthy, and probably is enough of the past to be of any interest to those of the busy, bustling present.
D. C. R.
*The conclusions about John Smith should be treated as skeptically as the claims in the previous article about Black Beard.
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