Jaybird's Jottings

The Alexandria Marine Railway

The sky is ruddy in the east,

The earth is gray below,

And, spectral in the river mist,

The ship’s white timbers show.

 

Then let the sounds of measured stroke

And grating saw begin:

The broad-axe to the gnarled oak,

The mallet to the pin!

--  "The Shipbuilders" by John Greenleaf Whittier

 

With the Providence tall ship and Marine Heritage Center opening soon (mid-June), we thought it a good time to dip our toes into a bit of the city’s shipbuilding history.   A marker at Ford’s Landing touches on the Alexandria Marine Railway and we can look at several other sources.    

We first turn to Henry Hall.  In his “Report of the Shipbuilding Industry," he gives a short summary for Virginia.   He tells us shipbuilding began in the colony in 1622.  Oak and pine were aplenty, but the gentry were content with planting tobacco and letting the firms in Europe build and take care of their own fleets of tall ships. 

Frederick Tilp (“This Was Potomac River”), our wise and seasoned skipper, is an invaluable source.   He echoes there was initially very little need for the colonists to build or own large ocean going vessels.  But by the second half of the seventeenth century, shipbuilding began in earnest in Virginia and some spots in Maryland.   

Small boats were put together as well as brigantines, sloops, and shallops.   Both Bladensburg and Alexandria were early players and Washington got in the game, too.   A lack of skilled labor was gradually overcome.   Even the small places such as Piscataway, Neabsco, and Coan had deep enough estuaries to build up to 100 footers.

Smith and Miller (“A Seaport Saga”) give us a cogent summary of early shipbuilding in Alexandria by pointing out it had been a part of the seaport's heritage from its earliest days.  They add that the shipyards probably did considerably more repairing than building.    

Nevertheless, Alexandria was a player in ship construction.  William Martin Kelso ("Shipbuilding in Virginia, 1763-1774," William and Mary) tells us Tidewater Virginia and Maryland became a “shipbuilding center second only to New England during the half-century proceeding the Revolution.”    The most prolific yard in the time frame was Norfolk (83).  Alexandria yards built at least eleven vessels, which was the second most productive locale.  1764 and 1765 were the highest totals with three, respectively. 

Diane Riker tells us John Carlyle (1752) paid for a four-gun scow Alexandria, the first large vessel built in the town.   Alexandria contributed to the American Revolution by building government vessels at a public shipyard.

Shipbuilding sites include West’s Point (Thomas Kirkpatrick), Point Lumley Park (Thomas Fleming), and the foot of Wilkes where John Hunter’s shipyard had a long and prolific run. 

The launch of a new ship was a big deal for the townsfolk and surrounding areas, and even George Washington got in on the act.  In 1760 he witnessed Captain Isaac Littledale’s 200-ton Hero splash the water for her maiden voyage to Whitehaven, England.    Washington also saw the launch of the Jenny on October 5, 1768.  Sounds like it was a lot of fun as he “stayed all night to a ball, and set up all night.”

Washington also had a schooner built, probably at Mount Vernon.  His diary in 1765 details some of the work.  Founders Online tells us it was “finished and rigged by December 1765 and launched the following February.”

Virginia was certainly a tobacco and planter society for many years, but the builders of ships could take pride as craftsmen.    In his article, “Shipwrighting,” Bert B. Shardlow gives us a look at the skilled labor required to build a tall ship.    The Master Shipwright looked over the work being done.  Sailwrights made the sails.  Caulkers worked with hemp and pitch to made the seams watertight.  The oakum boy assisted by bringing in the hot liquid.   The rigger measured the rope for splicing.   Other jobs included joiners, painters, carvers, coopers, sawyers, mastmakers, and common laborers.  

A marker at Jones Point Park touches on the rope work.  In 1833, Josiah Davis built a narrow 400-yard-long, two-story building.  Spinners unwound the strands of hemp and "spun the fiber in each hand to create rope."  Archaeology uncovered the remains of the ropewalk's foundations and a black stain, "probably from the tar applied to cordage." 

About a century after Alexandria’s founding in 1749, the Alexandria Marine Railway became the sixth ship yard. 

As defined by Rehler and Bottger (“Dry Docks Through Five Centuries,” The Military Engineer, Jan-Feb, 1964), a marine railway is a:

“permanently-fixed tracks system extending from a point on shore well above the water line to a point off shore well below the water line. It is equipped with a cradle on roller or wheels that carry a vessel along the track, and with a cable or chain and hauling mechanism for moving the cradle.” 

They tell us the first marine railway in the US was built in 1822 at the Washington Navy Yard, and was used to haul the 1,726-ton frigate Potomac out of the water in the presence of the President and members of Congress.   Boston had the first with a cradle with a planked deck and side frames. 

The Alexandria Marine Railway company had two phases, one before the Civil War (1849-1857) and one after (1874 to early 1920s).   The shipyard was located on a jut of land at the foot of Franklin Street and on the site of Keith’s Wharf (see map).

In those days, the shoreline south of the shipyard was a crescent shaped bay later called Battery Cove.   Archaeologists uncovered the site of Keith’s Wharf and the Alexandria Marine Railway in the early 1990s.  The resources remain in place, covered by the Ford’s Landing town homes.   The Ford Automobile plant was located there in the 1930s and 1940s.    A marker for the railway is located in a group of six along the riverwalk.

In November, 1850, the Alexandria Gazette reported the Alexandria Marine Railway “is doing a thriving business.  We observe a large steamboat, the Powhatan, on the ways for repairs.”  Edgar Snowden, editor of the paper, had a bird’s eye view from his brick home at 619 S. Lee Street.   The good times were tempered by the depression of 1857.

The operation, an inclined track serving as an alternative to a dry dock, included a steam engine of 12-horse power, a carpenter’s shed, and wharf.   

Schooners and pungy boats were the two main types of watercraft built.   Schooners were work horses and were “in great demand because of their practicality and speed.”   Tilp tells us their numbers were legion and they made up a fleet of “Water Stages,” carrying passengers and freight from Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria to Philadelphia and New York.   One of the main products the schooners shipped was coal that came down from Cumberland, Maryland along the C&O and the Alexandria Canal. Maine was the most common destination and ice was often the return load.

“Pongees” were oyster boats, described by one observer as “the most elegant and yacht-like merchant vessels in the world.”

Investors in the company included Edward Daingerfield, a well-known magnate in the city.  Nathaniel Goodhand (you can’t make that one up) served as first President.

Operations shut down during the Civil War, but General Herman Haupt’s Construction Corps of the US Military Railroad used the point of land seven blocks south of King Street.   Their work included making car floats.   

In the 1870s, schooners built in Maine were becoming larger with three and four masts.  In 1874, Robert Portner, known mostly for his massive beer brewery in the northern part of the city, re-established the shipyard.   One of his partners was Park Agnew, son of John Park Agnew (1819-1892), a coal dealer and an original member of the company in 1849.   Also on the board were business veterans W.A. Smoot and bankers Arthur Herbert and Joseph Broders.

In May, 1874, the Richmond Enquirer observed:  “The company bids fair to be one of the chief instruments in restoring ancient Belle Haven to its pristine marine vigor and former commercial importance.”   

Alexandria and Maine were connected in the story of the Alexandria Marine Railway.  In addition to the above mentioned coal trade, a few Maine businessmen leased the operations.   Previously, Alexandria had shipped timbers cut to size to the Maine shipbuilders.

The bread and butter of the outfit was repairing ships, mostly the schooners that plied the waters of the Potomac and whose manifests included coal, stone, ice and fertilizer.    It was the launch, however, of a large wooden vessel that drew in the crowds who filled the open space we today call Windmill Hill Park. 

Image:  Alexandria Marine Railway & Ship Building Company.  Used with permission, Alexandria Library, Special Collections.

In a time when the seaport activity paled in comparison to its better vanished days, the operation of the marine railway brought paychecks to Alexandria workers.    For eight straight years, an average of ten ships made the big splash.

Appropriately, one of the largest ships built was the three-masted Robert Portner (180-footer).   On October 30 of the centennial year, hundreds made their way to watch and wave.  With a load of coal from Cumberland, Maryland, the ship’s maiden voyage took it to Hoboken, New Jersey, across the pond to Italy (tobacco products), and then far, far from home to Rangor, India where it took on rice.   

In 1881, the Alexandria Marine Railway reorganized.  Coal magnate John Park Agnew (1819-1892) headed up a family affair with his son Park Agnew as Vice President and another son A. H. Agnew as Treasurer.   The Agnews lived at Mount Zephyr, an old country seat between Alexandria and Mount Vernon.      At one point, the name of the company changed to the Alexandria Marine Railway, Ship Building and Coal Company.     

Shomette tells us that Alexandria as a robust seaport was fading away in the 1880s.   But for the graybeards there were a few swan songs to talk about.  One of the largest wooden ships built was the William T. Hart (four masts) in 1883.  On July 22nd, the Alexandria Gazette splashed some ink, saying it was:

“… trimmed with flags on her decks crowded with people, in the presence of a goodly number of spectators.  In addition to the multitude in the yard and on vessels near by, Wind-Mill hill and all contiguous eminences were thronged by people, as were porches and windows wherever a view could be secured… The wedging up having been completed at an early hour, the remaining work, that of cutting the blocks and props from under her —  was begun… there was a snap and gentle crash of some proportions of the stocks, when cries of “here she goes” rent from the air, amid the hurrahs of thousands, the blowing of whistles, ringing of bells, glided into the water."

 

The last large ship constructed at the railway was the Henry S. Culver, which launched on October 27, 1883.   In some ways, it was a last hurrah of old time excitement.    Repair work continued, but as Shomette points out, there were fewer and fewer large wakes at Alexandria. 

Some pride, however, was taken, with the building of longboats.   Tilp tells us these “tough, little schooner-rigged sailers could be seen unloading every day at Washington.”   Their main loads was cordwood that was always in high demand.  After the turn of the century, they also delivered sand to Alexandria from St. George Island.  The bottle manufacturers such as Belle Pre Glass also used the sand.

Henry Hall described the schooners: 

“The boats are shallow, flat on the floor, have round rides, straight bodies and a sharp bow.  They are only fit for river use, being too flimsy for rough water.”   

According to Tilp, the only known photograph of a Potomac longboat was taken 1912 at the Agnew Shipyard.   

After the turn of the century, shipbuilding shifted to Jones Point.  Battery Cove was filled in around 1912.   The Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation ushered in a new era of excitement with their launches of steel cargo ships.   A number of markers at Jones Point Park touch on this history. 

Although young people under the watchful eye of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation still put together small boats, ship building has long since disappeared in Alexandria.   But if you walk along the waterfront, you can catch glimpses of the past with markers and a new sign for Shipyard Park.   And soon the Providence will take patrons out for a ride. 

Watching over it all, is “The Shipbuilder,” a seven-foot tall bronze statue in Waterfront Park sculpted by Michael Curtis.  One sees his work clothes, a mallet in hand, and we bet he will be pleased to see the Providence slipping in and out of a city that can take pride in knowing about its shipbuilding past.

 

Sources

Alexandria Gazette

A Seaport Saga, William F. Smith and T. Michael Miller

A Timeline of Alexandria’s Waterfront, Diane Riker

Founders Online

Historical Marker, Alexandria Marine Railway

Maritime Archaeology at Keith’s Wharf and Battery Cove (44AX119)

Maritime Alexandria, Donald Shomette

Report of the Shipbuilding Industry, Henry Hall

This Was Potomac River, Frederick Tilp

The Shortest Dynasty, 1837-1947. The Story of Robert Portner, Michael Gaines

The Tall Ship Alexandria

 

“Close your eyes and imagine. It is the 19th century. The thriving seaport of Alexandria is teeming with activity. Ship bells ring in the distance…” — Brigid Schulte, The Washington Post, “Waterfront’s Past, and Potential, Come Alive,” June 23, 2005.

 

“They sail to renew the ancient mariner’s timeless compact with the sea. They work to preserve history and traditions nearly lost in a world of rapid technological change.” — Randolph P. Smith, describing nine-member crew of the Tall Ship Lindo (“Crew Forsakes Present Comforts to Preserve Past,” Newport News Daily Press, June 3, 1984.

 

“It’s the finest vessel that I have ever sailed. The ship’s of a vanishing fleet… the last breed because it was built to carry cargo.” — Bert Rogers, Captain of the Tall Ship Alexandria, “Chipper Skipper steers ritzy ship to Bay Days date,” Newport News Daily Press, September 15, 1985.”

 

“Sailing is the ultimate physical skill.” Annette Kokurewicz, Crew member, Lindo. - The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 13, 1982.

 

In mid-June, the tall ship Providence, a replica of the USS Providence, a sloop-of-war in the Continental Navy, will make her maiden voyage from her new home at the foot of Prince Street. As it turns out, this was not the first time a tall-ship in Alexandria gave rides and glimpses of the seaport past. 40 years ago, a 125-foot tall ship arrived for a more than a decade long stay.

 

In December, 1996, hearts sank in the city and elsewhere when they read Ken Ringle’s story (December 16) in The Washington Post. The “handsome three-master” Alexandria had dipped below the water off the Cape Hatteras, ending a run of 57 years for the 125-foot schooner.

 

Built in 1929, the ship would have three names - Yngve, 1929-1970, Lindo, 1971-1983, and Alexandria, 1984-1996.

 

Art Carey (Philadelphia Inquirer, June 13, 1982) tells us Karl Anders Ogard of Sweden had the schooner built as a cargo vessel with “lines made sleeker and faster.” He named it the Yngve after his son. For forty years the vessel hauled lumber, salt, fish, and timber around the Baltic and North Seas.

 

In 1970, the Yngve was damaged off the coast of Sweden and sold for salvage. In 1976, the ship got a rebuild and the new name, Lindo (“Island of linden trees”). Tommy Stinson detailed the story (“Rebuilt Swedish Ship Has Naples Connection,” Naples Daily News, March 21, 1976).

 

Brian Watson, the son of a local art merchant in Florida, had fallen in love with sailing. He went to Denmark to recondition the ship. The work included a new engine and prop, replacing the mast, spars, and the old wood. The new sails were “bright red and the hull jet black.” Stinson noted “the level of boat craftsmanship in Denmark is still very high.”

 

The pride had prevailed with the ship Ogard had built.  In Carey’s article, he described the Lindo as, “immaculate and the Bentley of the Baltics.”

 

In his (1978) book, “This Was Potomac River,” Frederick Tilp devotes a chapter to “The Great Schooners.” Washington’s growth as a city owed something to the workhorses and their bulk cargoes of stone and lime. A bond of sorts was built with New England and the Maine ice firms who took in West Virginia coal.

 

Tilp also writes that the last great schooner on the Potomac was the Constellation (nee Sally Persis Noyes). In 1932, Robert L. Royall of Boothbay, Maine refitted the four-master for nautical school training. Interest was low, however, and it sank in Bermuda in 1943.

 

Mostly in the second half of the nineteenth century, some schooners were built in Alexandria at the Marine Railway at the foot of Franklin Street. Perhaps the worker’s chests swelled the most with the construction of the William T. Hart. The largest vessel built in Alexandria, she was a four-master launched there on July 21, 1883. Ford’s Landing covers the site of the shipyard and a marker provides a summary.

 

1976 was a banner year for tall ships and their crews. The SouthStreet Seaport Museum (“Celebrating Sail”) tells us about some of Operation Sail (OpsSail) Bicentennial events. A fleet of 200 boats and vessels, including the Lindo, filled the New York Harbor. The Lindo had warmed up by sailing from Plymouth, England to the Canary Islands, then on to Bermuda. The Bicentennial celebration in the Big Apple “helped to revive the spirits of the city, which had suffered from a gloomy year of financial tribulations.”

 

Two years later, the Lindo placed third in the “Trans Atlantic Tall Ships Races” from England to New York. In May 1980, it took part in Operation Sail in Boston. The Patriot Ledger wrote, “If you watched the tall ships parade into Boston Harbor four years ago, you’ll remember how the Lindo’s colorful red sails stood out from the crowd.”

 

On Memorial Day Weekend, 1980, the vessel participated in “HarborFest” in Norfolk. It was the largest of the tall ships there and led the Chesapeake Bay Challenge Sail Race that started in Fort Monroe.

 

On its voyages, the Lindo retraced some of the old routes taken by the tall ships in colonial days. In June 1983, it certainly added to that dimension when it came up the Potomac and sailed into Alexandria for a new berth. Rechristened in June 1984 with ceremonies, the new name was “Alexandria.”

 

The Washington Post covered its arrival (“Tall Ship Arrives,” Michael Marriott, June 21,1983). For the previous five years, the ship (with “reddish-brown sails”) had been cruising the Caribbean. Two New Jersey owners donated it to the Alexandria Seaport Foundation. The private, nonprofit organization, a source of pride for the city still today, had been established in 1982.

 

As noted at their website, the foundation was formed to facilitate acquisition of the Lindo. Their desire was also to promote public interest in the city’s history as a seaport. Their search for a tall ship had taken almost ten years.

 

The foundation was considering building a replica of a topsail schooner when it learned the Lindo was for sale. ASF volunteers spent four months scraping off old varnish, repainting, and re-caulking decks built of 3-inch planks on 8-inch double-sewn oak frames.

 

Bert Rogers (1956-2018) served as one of its skippers. The OldSlatBlog provides a brief bio on him. Rogers parlayed his experience as a rigger and mate to become a captain. He later served as the long-time Director of Tall Ships America. In 2017, Rogers received the National Maritime Historical Society’s Distinguished Service Award.

 

The initial crew consisted of four professionals, six volunteers, and a cook. Its accommodations were five staterooms, a full galley, and a dinette that sat a dozen hungry tummies.

 

Under the steady guidance of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, the Alexandria helped spawn a maritime apprentice program. The program, which continues to this day, was aimed at teaching up to 10 young residents of Alexandria the fundamentals of boat building and sailing.

 

In 1984, Theresa Longstreet, a 14-year-old student at T.C. Williams High School, signed up as an apprentice. Others included Craig Judy, a 16-year-old student from Annandale High School. The instructor was Brad Lester.

 

Rick Allen (“Learning the Ropes,” The Washington Post, July 25, 1985) wrote about Glenn Woodson, Marilou Veillard, Thomas Longstreet, Claud Wash, and Cary Lerner, also students at T.C. Williams High School. As cadets, they sailed on the Alexandria. Allen pointed out, “Since the sail training program was begun by ASF last September, about 35 students from Alexandria’s schools have learned sailing skills.“

 

The program continued as well as the sailing of the Alexandria. Its rise in attention paralleled that of Alexandria’s Waterfront Festival, which debuted in 1982. Tall Ships from around the world arrived, drew crowds, and helped raise money for the American Red Cross. Scheduled to appear was the Providence, the 110-foot sloop that will soon moor in Alexandria at the new Maritime Heritage Center at the foot of Prince.

 

Anyone researching the Alexandria will benefit from good coverage by The Washington Post. Chip Brown wrote a six-part series (“Aboard the Alexandria”) in June/July 1986. Headed for Norfolk and then New York for the Parade of Sails, a photo shows the ship leaving the city with the old Wilson Bridge in the background. He described the ship - “…whose black oak hull and ox-blood sails lend her a piratical air.”

 

Brown spent six days and nights with the crew.   He described Greg Birra, the skipper — “He looks right out of an Old Spice ad, with a full, sun-bleached beard and autocratic blue eyes.”

 

Inside, his cabin was a “comfortably appointed niche with pictures of tall ships on paneled walls and the spacious main saloon contained a small library of sea tales and classics.”

 

Brown also gave small insights on the crew — boatswain Gunnar Christiansen (boatswain), Karen Kraus (steward), Jim Crum (helmsman), Mike Waters (First Mate), Robert Foster, Franchette Greene, Chris Barlow, Charlie Birney, Dominque Frusciante, and Jodi Jacobsen (deckhands), and Bruce Peoples (Cadet).

 

Foster was a 23-year-old native of Alexandria and survivor of the sinking of the Pride of Baltimore (136-foot replica of a nineteen century Baltimore clipper) that May. The tall ship, built in 1976, had been a part of a rebirth of the city. After a four-day ordeal on only one life raft, eight of the crew were rescued, while four, including the captain, perished.

 

The West Indies has a place in the maritime history of Alexandria. As Donald Shomette tells us (“Maritime Alexandria”), a lot of flour was sent there and rum and sugar brought back in the early 1770s, a time when the seaport “had grown to dominate the maritime commerce of the Potomac.” Crew member Franchette Greene was a native of Nevis, West Indies. Brown quoted him as saying, “I have two friends - the wind and the ocean.”

 

The number of sails on the Alexandria was 12, the color of the lights were green to starboard, red to port. For the Parade of Sales in New York it moored at Staten Island. The biblical total of boats for the event was 40,000. Of the 22 ships, standouts were the Queen Elizabeth 2, the battleship Iowa and the aircraft carrier, John F. Kennedy. In the air roared the pride of the Navy, the Blue Angels.  Among the special guests from the city of Alexandria were Mary Jane Malone, director of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation and mayor James P. Moran.

 

It’s hard to know how much of a role the Alexandria and tall ships played in the revitalization of the waterfront. The resurgence of interest in tall ships has been traced back to 1976 and the Bicentennial celebrations and events. The Washington Post (“Tall Ships Riding New Winds of Interest,” June 24, 1985) quoted Diane Bechtol of the Alexandria Tourist Council - “Until 1976, I hadn’t even heard of a tall ship.” In 1985, The fourth annual Waterfront Festival drew 15 tall ships, along with the Alexandria.

 

Albert Amore (“Tourism and Urban Regeneration”) writes that the Inner Harbor in Baltimore represents the first ever waterfront regeneration project. It began on the heels of a Tall Ship display in 1976.

 

Gayle Jennings (Water-Based Tourism) adds to our knowledge by writing that although tall-ships are expensive to maintain they have benefits such as symbolic value, are tourist attractions, and have minimal environmental impacts.

 

There’s an old saying on the water - “The two happiest days in a sailors life are the day he buys his boat, and the day he sells it.” Translation - money and time sink. The Alexandria Seaport Foundation loved the Alexandria, but the costs and repairs were always a concern.

 

To raise money, the non-profit rented out the Alexandria to businesses and organizations for dockside receptions. Suits were collared and asked for money from private donations. In 1987, Union Street Public House hosted the first annual “Sailors Ball Benefit” to raise funds for the refitting of the schooner Alexandria. In 1988, the ship sailed to Norfolk for a nine-month stay and $150,000 worth of repairs. They included replacing the framework of the keel, installing fiber glass, and replacing some of the sideboards.

 

Paige Williams (“Schooner Ships Visitors Back in Time,” The Washington Post, August 7,1988) covered the return of the Alexandria. She quoted Shomette — “A tall ship is representative of the intentional aspects of the maritime trade and of the international character of the community.”

 

The Alexandria brought city and region residents together in a number of ways. One of them was the need for volunteers. At one point, the count of hours tallied up to more than 26,000. One of those volunteers was Alexandria resident and author Ted Pulliam. 

 

He recalled:

 

“Someone with the foundation took me below decks into what looked like the main cabin. There he put me to work sanding some wood around a mast. It was kind of exciting to be below decks on an actual old sailing ship.”

 

In 1991, the economic recession put a dent in the fund raising and forced the four person crew to be disbanded. In 1992, the foundation almost went bankrupt and the Alexandria was put up for sale.

 

To the rescue came Peter Hall, more volunteers, and financial support from the non-profit, BOAT/US Boat Owners Association of the US. But it would all prove to be merely a patch.

 

In 1993 the Alexandria got a helping hand from Hollywood. It made its way into the gothic horror movie, “Interview with the Vampire,” starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

 

The Associated Press covered some of the story. The movie makers offered ASF $10,000 for its use, with a setting in New Orleans. On the trip home the main pump broke. After returning to New Orleans, the decision was made to wait until spring to head back to Alexandria.

 

Ellen Nakashima (The Washington Post) wrote about the Alexandria in June, 1996. It had become “one of the most distinctive waterfront features.” The nagging worry, was, however, its age, condition, and the cost to repair (as much as $1.3M).

 

Joe Youcha, the Alexandria Seaport Foundation’s executive director, was quoted as saying, “She's not dead yet, but she's in a situation where if we don't take action now, then it will be too late.” Youcha had helped start the boat building program in 1992 and served as executive director until 2010.

 

With the exorbitant price tag for repairs, the ASF sought a new owner who would be willing to restore the 67-year-old ship. The foundation also continued to desire a maritime history center on the waterfront, one that would “symbolize the days when the city’s port welcomed sailing vessels from around the world.”

 

With no one coming forward with a reasonable offer, the city sold the ship to Yale Iverson of Iowa for $50,000. In December, gale winds and strong waves beat up the Alexandria as it headed from Hampton Roads to Beaufort, North Carolina. The story is detailed at the Schoonerman website. An inexperienced, shorthanded crew fought hard, but lost the battle. December 1996 coast guard iverson

 

Eric L. Wee wrote the obit for the Alexandria (“Schooner Sinks off NC,” December 10, 1996). The Coast Guard rescued the seven crew members in 45-knot winds about 50 miles southeast off the coast of Cape Hatteras. Two were stranded in the tossing waters for more than five hours.  One was Harold Phinney, 62, of Alexandria, who was the last to be rescued. He was retired from the Air Force (1952-1974) and Washington’s Metro (1974-1994) and had served as one of the volunteers for the Seaport Foundation.

 

As reported by OceanNavigator, Phinney (1934-2008) later spoke before several marine organizations about the sinking and his experiences. He related how the primary bilge pump failed and they were unable to “prime the two auxiliary gasoline pumps.”

 

Phinney spent five hours adrift in 12 to 20 foot seas. He told Angus Phillips (“A Lucky Survivor Talks of a Death”), “She went down majestically. It was spine-chilling. I’m really going to miss her.”

 

From time to time in the past twenty-five or so years, a tall ship has sailed into Alexandria for a brief stay. In 2004, The Kalmar Nyckel, the Sultana and the Gazela drew eyeballs and visitors. In 2015, the visit of the the Hermione drew long lines. Three summers later, the Godspeed had a magnetic force.

 

That love affair with tall ships will be rekindled next month when the Providence begins what will hopefully be a long stay. In some ways, its presence is the cherry on top of the cake for the redevelopment of the waterfront. The Tall Ship Alexandria provided some of the icing on that cake.

 

 

Highway 301 and The Tobacco Trail

“By car to Florida is like a trip on a magic carpet.  For the scenes that unfold before your eyes are as if touched by a magician’s wand.  It’s a delightful trip that will linger in your memory.”   “By Auto,” Ad in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1939. 

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country coast to coast without seeing anything.”  Charles Kuralt.

 

You’ve probably heard of Tobacco Road, the novel and the term for college basketball in the piedmont of North Carolina.

But have you heard of the “Tobacco Trail?”

Let's take a look at its story...

In the 1930s, more and more Americans were hopping in their cars.   Horse and buggies were part of a vanished time, and in some places like Washington and northern Virginia, even the electric trolleys were disappearing.   By 1930, more than half of all families owned a car.

In the previous decade, there were, as the book “Florida’s Snowbirds” described it, a mishmash of road options to get to and from the Sunshine State.   Travel from New York to Florida took between four to six days and no doubt included getting lost.

A single highway became desirable, leading to the completion of the Atlantic Highway.  Going through the major cities, it became US Route One, the spine of travel along the Eastern Seaboard.  

A major milestone to help motorists was the US Numbered Highway System in 1926.  By the end of the 1930s, more signage and continued paving had improve the traveling experience.  A map published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (December 10, 1939) showed other options for north to south travel.   In addition to Route One and closer to the coast was the Ocean Highway, the combination of Route 13 and 17, and taking the ferry (bridge/tunnel competed 1964).     

In 1940, Highway 301 also become a good option.   Its first leg had been part of US Route 17-1, which ran from Petersburg to Wilmington, North Carolina.   Perhaps it was so named as it ran between 1 and 17.  217 was also on the map from about Dunn through Fayetteville.  The highway joined 17 near Florence, South Carolina. 

With the building of the Highway 301 bridge over the Potomac in 1940, and completion of that road to Baltimore, motorists could bypass Fredericksburg, Alexandria and Washington by using Highway 301.

Around 1940, an association of businessmen and Chambers of Commerce in eastern North Carolina began a campaign for Highway 301.  They dubbed it the “Tobacco Trail” and touted 301 as the shortest and safest way, with no toll bridges or ferries and few grade crossings.    

A report in the Boston Globe had this to say:

Now officially begins at US 301 in Baltimore.  The tourist coming from New York and Maine may come down US 1 to Baltimore and then are off at Baltimore and go around Washington and Fredericksburg by way of Glen Burnie, La Plata, and Bowling Green, VA, thus doing away with the traffic congestion along US 1 between Baltimore and Richmond. 

The Washington Post pointed out 301 carried the traveler through the heart of the bright leaf tobacco districts of Virginia and the Carolinas.   The association was headquartered in Dunn, North Carolina.   At one point, they lured in visitors to see their famed tobacco auctions.

We will probably never know the number of cars that traveled theses various roads to and from Florida.   But in his book, Tim Gorman (“Traveling Virginia’s Tobacco Trail”) says that before the interstates were built, Highway 301 was the preferred route to Florida.   The building of the Harry Nice bridge over the Potomac River in 1940 was the key element, as there had perviously been only the bridge in Washington for Route One.    Just as Alexandria touted itself as the "Gateway to the South," the Association tabbed the 301 bridge as the "Gateway to the South."

Whether or not the Tobacco Trail was the shortest and safest way, hard to say.   But ads touting such peppered the newspapers. 

With the highway came a string of new roadside businesses — restaurants, diners, motels, and gas stations.  A number of communities along 301 benefited this way.   La Plata, Maryland was one example.   The La Plata Motel offered rooms with Television and Air Conditioning.  A post card shows Jack and Lorraine Simpson as Owner-Managers with the Open Hearth Restaurant next door.  The book “Charles County, Images of America” tells us the restaurant is now Colonial Liquors and Fine Wines at 6400 US 301.  Historic Aerials shows its unique V shape there from at least 1957.  It was demolished sometime between 1993 and 2005.     

In his book, Gorman documents the places from Dahlgren to Emporia.   Some have been demolished, some have found new life as a different business, and some carry on the tradition of a cheap bed just off the road.

A report in the Richmond-Times Dispatch (“Tourist Traffic Heavy on Tobacco Trail,” March, 1942), gave the results of a car check between Rocky Mount, NC and Emporia.  It was made by James A. Payne, president of the Wilson Chamber of Commerce.   His survey showed cars from 13 states and the District of Columbia.  The highest state counts were New York and Pennsylvania. 

Another report around 1940 provided what was presumably a correct list of distances from New York to Jacksonville.  They are listed below.   

Tobacco Trail (301) 1,000 miles

Ocean Highway (13 and 17) 29 miles more

US Route 15, 50 miles more

US Route 1, 70 miles more

Seminole Trail, US 29, 140 miles more

In November 1957, the Boston Herald wrote a series of articles on getting to Florida (“Let’s Go to Florida” by Philip W. Wallwork).

He wrote:

Motorists will have a choice of three major routes, The Tobacco Trail (US 301), The Ocean Highway (US 17) and US 1.  The least amount of traffic is probably US 1 while the Tobacco Trail boasts more motels and restaurants.   

The Brunswick News (October, 1952) wrote an article saying about the same, but added:  

US Route 1:  This is the oldest and perhaps best known of the north-south highways.  It has the advantage of having only one route number all the way from Baltimore to Key West and you’ll find more good hotels than the others.

The Tobacco Trail lured in a number of travel writers.   Horace Sutton (“Twitch of the Eye, and Presto, You’re in the Tobacco Business, September, 1956)  was fascinated by the auctioneers in Wilson.  One of them was Tom Burton, one of the best in the business who worked eight months a year from George to Kentucky.

In 1940 the Miami Daily News wrote a valentine for the South, touting “plantations and mansions as it was in the days of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, southern gentlemen riding to the hounds.”   Elements of the "Lost Cause" found their way into the appeals.  “It all starts in Savannah, Georgia where the blockades runners of the Confederacy started their brave dashes for supplies for the boys in gray.”   

The Tobacco Trail Association was fond of describing the route as the safest.   One might ask, what exactly did that mean and safe for whom?

During those times of "Jim Crow" in the South, African Americans used the "Green Book" to find lodging and restaurants that had been judged as a haven from such laws and other worries.   Research ("Green Book: The Architecture of the Negro Travelers’") found a number of places along 301 that were listed in the Green Book.  The Blue Jay Motel (Waldorf) was listed from 1956 to 1964.   The Blue Star Motel (renamed Charm Motel in 1970) was located six miles north of the Potomac Rived Bridge in a black community called Faulkner (about five miles south of La Plata).    

The Wilson Hotel was on Main Street in Upper Marlboro and the Eaton Guest House was at the corner of 301 and Leland Road.   In Emporia stood the Weaver Tourist Home and the Atlantic Esso Station.

Sadly, all of these and most others were demolished.

One of the last hurrahs for the Tobacco Trail came in 1960.   With its move from California to Miami and broadcasting by CBS, the Miss Universe pageant got a lot of attention that year.   Highway 301’s nickname was changed to the "Miss Universe Highway."   Newspapers continued to tout the benefits of the highway.   The Providence Sunday Journal wrote, "Avoiding heavy traffic and major cities, Miss Universe Highway runs through Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and into Florida."

But just a few days later, the Greensboro Record gave the other side of the coin ("Dunn Having Business Lag as Result of New Highway").  "Dunn filling stations are already feeling the pinch of tourist traffic loss through here as a result of the new state four lane highway No. 95 around town."

E.L. Washburn of the Tobacco Trail Association briefed the business community in Dunn on the plans for a “new superhighway” to replace 301.  

With its limited access and faster going, Interstate 95 sounded the death knell for some of the small businesses on 301 and elsewhere.  The Greensboro Daily News (Feb, 1960) reported on the situation in Dunn.   One gas station said his business had been cut in half the first day of the new interstate’s opening.  Hit hard were eating places and motels.   On the other hand, some citizens were glad to see the streams thin out.

The completion of I-95 took quite a long time.   Meanwhile, the Highway 301 Association continued their marketing.  In 1960, they issued a Tourist Map titled "U.S. 301: most popular North South route."

It stated:

There are many reasons why more tourists use US 301 than any other highway.  It is a good highway, much of which has now been dual-laned, there is an abundance of excellent tourist accommodations along this route, it’s the shortest and fastest, cities and towns are bypassed, and there are convenient connections with other main highways.

The map also gave the mileages.  We provide select cities below.  Note the Chesapeake Bay Bridge opened in 1952.

The first figure is cumulative mileage southbound, the second northbound.

Delaware Memorial Bridge 0 1116

Chesapeake Bay Bridge 78 1038

Annapolis 91 1025

La Plata 138 978

Bowling Green 181 935

Richmond 219 897

Petersburg 242 874

Emporia 283 833

Rocky Mount 340 776

Dunn 410 682

Dillon 495 621

Santee 596 520

Statesboro 718 398

Ocala 967 149

Tampa 1059 57

Sarasota 1116 0

Formally created in 1956, I-95 was mostly completed by the mid 1970s.  But one location on the Tobacco Trail that held out till the bitter end was in North Carolina.   One would think that would be Dunn, home of the Association.  They were actually one of the first sections on I-95 to open in 1958.   The holdouts were their sandhill brethren fifteen miles to the south in Fayetteville. 

Adam of "GribbleNation" tells the story.    There were a good number of businesses that skirted Fayetteville along 301.   They and the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce formed the “I-95 Committee” to try and get that stretch of I-95 built along 301 (partly elevated) and not a by-pass like other places.   They filed suit in 1968 and appeals in 1972 and 1974.  In 1975 their case went to the US Supreme Court where they lost.   The new highway opened in 1978, making I-95 complete in North Carolina.   

For East Coast travelers and regional commuters, Highway 301, at least in certain parts and for small trips, is still an option.   The completion of a new bridge to replace the old Harry Nice Bridge over the Potomac certainly improves that experience.

And as documented by O'Gorman, a number of establishments remain in business in that stretch from Dahlgren to Emporia, with some buildings re-purposed.   One landmark is the Horne’s Restaurant in Port Royal.   At its peak, the chain Bob Horne started in 1960 had 60 locations.  Apparently, the Port Royal locations is the sole survivor and retains the dining room, ice cream bar and gift shop.   Horne’s is perfectly situated and captures travelers on both Highway 301 and 17.   

Perhaps some of its customers, and at other places along Highway 301 are refugees of the perilous aspects of driving on I-95.   Others may have listened to the advice of websites such as “Travels on a Budget.”   In 2018, one of them listed 13 reasons why traveling Highway 301 is better than I-95.  This was for travelers through North Carolina in that stretch between Wilson and Dunn where the Association had its roots.   One of the recommended stops was the Tobacco Farm Life Museum in Kenly.

In 2015 the website "The Tobacco Trail" wrote there was still a US 301 Highway Association.  It looks like that website has given up the ghost.   So, too, has the name Tobacco Trail.

 

 

 

 

 

Suburban Retooling: Penn Daw Takes the Lead

One of the most fascinating places to watch suburban retooling right now is at Penn-Daw, the neighborhood two miles south of Old Town on both sides of Route One. It remains a place speeding cars want to get past on their way to the next red light, but a dramatic new sense of community is unfolding.

 

County planners project Groveton, the nearby set of neighborhoods up on the top of Beacon Hill, to ultimately have more growth than Penn Daw. Those plans include a possible Metro Station that Penn Daw would not have.

 

For now, however, and for the foreseeable future, Penn Daw has taken the lead in growth with two residential developments (The Shelby and South Alex) at its major intersection of Route One and King’s Highway. A third (Belhaven Apartments) is ready to open its 350 doors, with a fourth residential project approved and scheduled to be built this year.

 

Penn Daw was born as a motel mecca that put this part of Richmond Highway on the map in the 1930s. The neighborhood got its name from E.M. Pennell and Samuel Cooper Dawson (1877-1957). Dawson lived in Alexandria, served as a vestryman of Immanuel Church on Seminary Hill and on a number of boards. His son, Samuel Cooper Dawson Jr, was born in Alexandria and graduated from Episcopal High School and UVA.

 

In 1927, Pennell and Dawson formed the Penn Daw Hotels Corporation and built the Penn Daw motel, one of the first modern motor hotels on the East Coast. It included a restaurant and became a popular stop on Route One. The Fairfax Room there served as a civic gathering place. In the summer of 1929, The Evening Star printed a guide and map for travelers and it include the Penn Daw restaurant.

 

Penn Daw continued to grow with streets such as Franklin. It is named for Harry Lehman's great grandfather, Franklin Reid and by his grandfather W.F.P. Reid, who served as Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Lehman grew up in City View (1920-1959), a four-story mansion that was located next to the Beacon Airport. Penn Daw was also home to the first Fairfax City Police Sub Station.

 

Penn Daw today offers a variety of places. The beating heart is the WalMart, which brings in customers from Virginia, Maryland, and DC and sits on the site of Spring Bank, a landmark brick mansion that stood there from 1804 to 1972. Krispy Kreme remains the queen bee, while a few doors down El Pollo Ranchero celebrates their 20th anniversary and Uncle C’s Chicken & Waffles looks like it is in for a long run. Viet House is popular serving pho, noodles, and vermicelli.

 

Office Depot hangs on with old schoolers like myself buying ink, paper, and file folders. An Urgent Care facility stands close to a tobacco shop and the artery clogging food places that doctors tell us to try and avoid.

 

You never saw murals along Route One, but South Alex boasts a large new one. Aldi will open there in March while residents wait to see who fills the other small retail in the U-shaped configuration. The new stoplight there on King’s Highway annoys long timers who remember when the green light lasted longer.

The most fascinating aspect in Penn Daw right now is the set of mobile homes which sit next to where the new residential will rise. Residents there fight for their rights and hold NIMBY concerns.

 

Behind them lies a set of steep hills where Spring Bank got its name from. Dotting the hidden landscape are trees and the flow of a brook that feeds into Great Hunting Creek. There’s been some talk of this boxed-in beauty becoming a park. For now it remains one of the best kept secrets in these parts.

 

When all is said and done, everything one sees in this central part of Penn Daw could be gone. The former Penn Daw firehouse hangs on as a rental place. Its three arches give it so much potential for adaptive reuse, but it’s too close to the right of way needed for the new BRT.

 

In perhaps six years or so, a new sight will be seen in Penn Daw and along the Richmond Highway Corridor. A Bus Rapid Transit system will run from Huntington Metro Station to Fort Belvoir, a six-mile long necklace with 8 stations.

 

The county recently collected votes for the names of each station. I remember thinking that surely Penn Daw will win out. As we have seen, the name pays homage to the two businessmen who helped put it on the map. Penn Daw had an on going presence in the newspapers with ads for the Penn Daw Shopping Center, bowling tournaments at the Penn Daw Lanes, and, of course, the hotels.  A road sign the county put up several years ago says, Penn Daw.

 

Even though it moved up to Groveton, the Penn Daw Fire Department kept its long time name. Alexandria Living Magazine, Fairfax Now, and other news outlets use the Penn Daw name. Southeast Fairfax Corporations project maps and county planners use Penn Daw, which is one of six Community Business Centers along Richmond Highway.

 

Despite all of the above, it was not enough. The county recently released the results of their survey for the naming of the BRT stations. The name for the one at Penn Daw will be Kings Crossing, the name of the retail center anchored by the Walmart.

The Torpedo Factory: Overview of the History of the Station

On Monday we published, "The Torpedo Factory:  An Illustrated Timeline."

We add here a summary of the history of the station.

 

At full build out in 1945, the Alexandria Naval Torpedo Station consisted of four main buildings (1, 2, 3 and 10), and a total of 19 structures.   

Perhaps contrary to popular belief, the assembly of the torpedoes (during WW 2) was done in Building 1 (torn down in 1986 and became condos).  Building 2, today’s Torpedo Factory Arts Center, was storage and admin.

The assembly process was a tedious one and took skilled workers.   All the plant workers worked hard and long hours.   A number of Washington residents and some Alexandrians worked at the plant and even more later when it became a Records Center.

As Char Bah points out in her primer, African Americans, including many women, did their part.  This would make a great further study, the great paradox of working for the US Government and all those feelings of patriotism and national pride, while at the same time living within the constraints of Jim Crow.

As written about in books such as “Iron Men and Tin Fish” by Anthony Newpower, there were persistent problems with the MK14 torpedoes.   The Alexandria plant was certainly not at fault.   

There were three defects - a tendency to run deeper that depth set, frequent premature detonation, and failure of the contact exploder.   Adding to the problem was the fact the Navy did not fully test the torpedoes.   After 21 months and much cussing from sub commanders, the problem was finally fixed in November, 1943.

Perhaps the most under-appreciated part is the period (1950-1968) of being a Federal Records Center.   There were a number of types of records, including Captured German War Records. 

The team of workers and historians who made up the Alexandria Microfilming Project put the files on microfilm, which were then sent to the National Archives in Washington.  The originals were returned to Germany.    Even before the completion, historians conducted research at the building.

A forgotten name in that story is Robert Wolfe.   He was an expert on some of these records and helped researchers and prosecutors of war crimes.

Another forgotten name is Gerhard Weinberg (born 1928).   After learning he was also part of the story, I sent him an email.  He gave the following reply.

“I had been asked by the American Historical Association to organize the microfilming of the captured German documents then being held in the Old Torpedo Factory by the American Army before they were returned to Germany.  In the summer of 1958 I was working there and had turned to a group of records that for some reason had been held separately.  It was while processing these with descriptions before they were microfilmed that I held a document that had been labeled as a draft of Hitler's book Mein Kampf but was obviously not that but another book that he had dictated but never published.  In my own research I had learned of the existence of such a thing and immediately recognized that this was it.  It had a note on its confiscation at the Nazi Party's publishing house in Munich by the American army in whose occupation zone Munich was included.  The official British representative in the torpedo factory, to whom I mentioned this important document, found out that the American Army had furnished the British government with a microfilm of it in 1945.  He obtained a copy of the film which he lent to me and from which I had a print made that became the original published version issued by the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich in 1962.  It took me several decades to get a publication in English. I hope this helps.”

 

Weinberg went on to author numerous books and articles, and became a preeminent American historian.   

To say the least, the work done by Weinberg and the Alexandria microfilming committee was remarkable.   Astrid M. Eckert, author of “The Struggle for the Files, The Western Allies and the Return of German Archives after the Second World War,” provides a number of observations.

One - The Alexandria microfilming project gave the fullest records of a twentieth century totalitarian regime available to students and scholars.

Two - Weinberg and his colleagues helped guarantee scholarly and international access to valuable historical sources much earlier than would otherwise have been possible. This established an important transnational foundation for postwar scholarship.

Three - The microfilming project delivered source material at a decisive moment in the development of the American historical profession.

Four -  The microfilm project set a precedent and gave a dynamism to the study of German history in the US.

Dagmar Horna Perman, a Director of the project, wrote about the microfilming in 1959 (“Microfilming of German Records in the National Archives,” The American Archivist, Oct., 1959).   She describes the tedious task made more difficult by damaged and separated documents.   Summarizing the contents often meant referring to other files and documents.   Some documents had to be transcribed before filming.    In the end, over 2,000 rolls of films were produced and made available at the National Archives, as well as the finding aids.

The Torpedo Factory: An Illustrated Timeline

Undeniably, the entire personnel of the Naval Torpedo Station in Alexandria, Va., can justifiably boast of the enviable records attained in production, safety, attendance, bond purchases, blood donations, labor-management, beneficial suggestions and a host of other wartime requisites, which were accomplished by combined efforts of the diligent workers and the splendid supervisory leadership.  -   "The Torp," Alexandria Naval Torpedo Station newsletter, April, 1945.

The Alexandria microfilming project gave the fullest records of a twentieth century totalitarian regime available to students and scholars.   -  Astrid M. Eckert, author of “The Struggle for the Files, The Western Allies and the Return of German Archives after the Second World War.”

The white behemoths, so starkly visible within Old Town Alexandria’s smaller-scale, red-brick, 19th-century urban fabric, were expositions in modern Industrial design, which embraced the latest materials – namely concrete, steel, and large expanses of glass.  Building #2, which now houses the TFAC, is the last vestige of Alexandria’s waterfront’s industrial might. - Heather N. McMahon, Preliminary Information Form, Torpedo Factory Art Center

 

In 2024, the 50th anniversary of the Torpedo Factory Arts Center in Alexandria will arrive.   In anticipation of that milestone, we decided to put together an illustrated timeline for the history of the building and the others that made up the Alexandria Naval Torpedo Station.  

We were inspired by and are grateful to Heather N. McMahon, the Architectural Historian who researched and wrote the Preliminary Information Report for the Torpedo Factory, a 35-page tour de force.  We supplement her findings with some of our own searching.   The timeline includes headlines, and photographs for a total of 30 images.  We also went through the Vertical File at Special Collections.   Our thanks to Jeffery Flannery, Reference Librarian there.   We also appreciate the help of Susan Hellman.   A most special treat was sitting down with Marian Van Landingham, who answered questions and clarified points. 

 

Before we begin, it is important to understand the layout of the station, which reached its full build out in the 1940s. 

Image:  Map by Author, Photo with permission from Alexandria Library, Special Collections

Building One, West side of Union

Torpedo Assembly, Workers Commissary, Completed 1920. Demolished early 1980s. Condos and parking garage built on site.  Named Torpedo Factory Condominiums.

Building Two (Today’s Torpedo Factory Arts Center at 105 N. Union Street)

Completed 1920.  Torpedo storage, power plant, and upstairs offices.   A covered walkway ran between Buildings One and Two at second story level. Records Storage Center 1950s.  Became Torpedo Factory Arts Center in 1974.   

Building Three

Completed 1942.  Overhaul and supply.   Remodeled 1982 for office space.

Building Ten

Completed 1943.  Admin use.  Remodeled 1986 for Retail and Office.  Now home to Vola's Restaurant and offices.

Ancillary Structures

There were also ancillary structures near the river, including some at the old Ford Motor Company plant at the foot of Franklin and S. Union streets.   All demolished.

 

Naval Torpedo Station Timeline

 

April 6, 1917

US declares state of war against Germany, officially entering World War I.   

Image: Washington Times

October 6, 1917

Congress approves funding for increase in ordnance production.

August 1918

President Wilson authorizes new naval torpedo station assembly plant at Alexandria.

US Navy begins purchasing almost 3 acres between King and Cameron, Fayette Alley and Cameron and S. Lee and Potomac River. 

October 1918

Workers clear two block site - warehouses, stables, planing mill, and lumber yards.

Also erect seawall and wooden pier.

Image:  Sanborn Insurance Map 1912

November 11, 1918

Armistice Day, War Ends

Image: Washington Evening Star

November 12, 1918

Work begins on construction on Buildings 1 (Four Stories) and Building 2 (Two Stories).

Image:  Washington Post

 

 

February, 1920

Buildings 1 and 2 completed.  Includes walkway bridge over Union Street.

Image: 1921 Sanborn Map

November, 1920

First torpedo, MK8, 21 inch by 21 foot, rolls off assembly line.  Average of 500 persons employed between 1919 and 1923.

 

July, 1921

Playing at the N. Alfred Street field, the Alexandria Torpedo Station Baseball team defeats Speedway A.C. 10 to 9.

Image: Alexandria Gazette, July 27, 1921

 

June, 1923

Plant deactivated.  Skelton staff under jurisdiction of Naval Gun Factory in Washington who preserved torpedoes and maintenance of equipment and building.

Building 1, floors three and four emptied and rented as office space for Departments of Treasury and Agriculture.

 

 

October, 1926

On "Navy Day," October 27, rare public tour given.

Torpedoes moved to Bellevue Magazine in SE DC.

Image: Evening Star.

 

December 1937

Plant reopened as Shop 70 of the Naval Gun Factory.

New equipment purchased. 

Image:  Alexandria GIS.

 

1938

Plant reactivated and upgraded.

Building One resumed assembly operations.

Building Two resumed as storage and office.

 

1941

Chinquapin Village, federal housing project for workers, built near King Street and West Braddock Road.   Consisted of small frame duplexes, total of 150.

Alexandria GIS, 1949

April, 1941

First torpedo assembled (MK-14), tested at Piney Point, Maryland facility.  Testing does not include detonating.

Image:  Torpedo Factory Arts Center Display Board

May 1941

Tested torpedo sent to USS Gudgeon.

July 1941

Station re-designated as an autonomous Naval Torpedo Station.

November 26, 1941

Admiral W.H.P. Blandy, chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, awards station with coveted Navy “E” award and Bureau’s pennant.  Daniel J. O’Neill honored for working there since 1919.

December 7, 1941

Japan attacks US at Pearl Harbor.   Image: Evening Star.

December 8, 1941

Production begins to ramp up.  Plant will become largest single source of employment in the city.   

December 1941

Plant producing an average of between seven and ten torpedoes. African Americans in Alexandria do their part as workers. 

Image:  Torpedo Factory Arts Center Display Board

 

 

 

 

1942

Building 3, four stories, completed north of and adjoining Building 2.  Used for overhaul, Inspection and Supply.

Needing extra space, Navy purchased old Ford Motor Company plant at S. Union and Franklin.  Some of Overhaul Division moves in.   

First issue of "The Torp," station's monthly, four-page newsletter.

Image:  The Torp Newsletter.

1943

Building 10 built, a two-story addition to Building Two.   Administrative use.

Building 2 adjoined to Building 3.

Image:  With permission from Alexandria Library, Special Collections, Aerial View, 1943.  Cropped and Annotated by Author. 

 

First group of "WAVES" (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) reported to duty.  They replace Naval personnel in a number of departments.   Living quarters are at Lloyd House.  

Image:  The Torp Newsletter.

1944

Building Two expanded slightly.  Entire plant complex consists of 19 buildings.

September 25, 1944

In support of the Alexandria Home and War Fund campaign, bands and floats, including one entered by the NTS, parades down King Street.   

Image:   Submarine Torpedo Made in Alexandria, Wikipedia Commons.  Date Given as between 1942 and 1945.

Dec 16, 1944

Planned principally for women workers at the NTS, a new USO (United Service Organizations) center with lounge opens at 211 King Street.

 

1945

Employment figures given as 574 enlisted and more than 2,300 civilians.    One of the civilians was Nancy Lee Wheelehan, a native of Alexandria, who served as Associate Editor of The Torp.

Final torpedo rolls off July 18. 

Image:  The Torp Newsletter.

September 2

V-J Day, War Ends

November 15

214 workers laid off.

Production stops, end of war.   

 

1946

Station officially closed.

Final issue of "The Torp" published, station's monthly newsletter, whose first issue was March, 1942.

Image:  The Torp Newsletter.

1947-1949

Very little activity.   Operated as a Branch of Naval Ordnance Plant.

 

 

 

1950s

Torpedo plant renamed Alexandria Federal Records Center.  

1,800 cases of files, including German World War Two records sent to the former torpedo plant.  Files microfilmed.  Office workers included African American women.

Image:  Torpedo Factory Arts Center Display Board

 

Facility renamed, "National Archives WWII Records Center in Alexandria."   

Under the direction of The American Historical Society, the Alexandria Microfilming Project is led by Gerhard Weinberg.   Large amount of German War Records are put on microfilm and sent to National Archives.   Originals returned to Germany.  The project is handed over to the National Archives in 1958.

Image:  Torpedo Factory Arts Center Display Board

1968

Remaining records moved to National Archives in Washington and warehouse in Suitland, Maryland.  WWII Records Center closed.

Image:  Building 10, Wikipedia Commons

GSA used Building 2 to store museum collections from the Smithsonian Institute. 

1969

City purchases plant, Building 1, 2, 3, and 10 and ancillary structures.

 

1973

Marian Van Landingham, President of the Art League of Northern Virginia, proposes saving Building 2 and Building 10 for new home for artists.

Image:  Torpedo Factory Arts Center Display Board

1974

Volunteers remove tons of debris, improve interior, and paint exterior of Buildings 2 and 10.   

September 15

Torpedo Factory Arts Center officially opens.

Image:  Torpedo Factory Arts Center Display Board  

1977

City conducts feasibility study for the redevelopment of the former plant complex.

1978

City releases a request for proposals for redevelopment of the four buildings.   Stipulations include city ownership of 70,000 SF of floor space for arts center.

Alexandria Waterfront Restoration Group (Charles R. Hooff III) wins bid.  Building 1 and 3 to be sold to developers.   Building 10 to be altered and leased. Building 2 to remain for the artists (Torpedo Factory Arts Center). 

Image:  Redstone Proposal Booklet, Alexandria Library, Special Collections

1979

Alexandria Archaeology Research Museum established.   

 

1982

Artists vacate Building 2 for renovations which included adding a floating mezzanine level.  

After Building 1 is demolished, Alexandria archaeologists discover logs from the Carlyle-Dalton wharf, built c. 1759 and running parallel to the 100 block of Cameron Street.   Artifacts included a large number of water worn earthenware sherds from the third quarter of the 17th century.

Condos built above parking garage, named Torpedo Factory Condominiums. 

Image: 

Image: Photo by Author, taken with permission from Alexandria Archaeology Museum.

1983

Grand Reopening of Torpedo Factory Arts Center, includes return of torpedo number 64220, built in 1944.   

Image: Photo by Author.

 

 

 

 

1984

Alexandria Archaeology Museum opens.  Today recognized as a model program for the United States.

Image:  Photo by Author

 

1986

Building 3 renovated as office building.

Building 10 redesigned, including diagonal covered walkway.

Dock restored.

Image:   Shows Building 3 remodeled, Building 10 not yet remodeled.

2020

Building 2 turns 100 years old.

City Takes Permanent Control of TFAC.

2022

City Displays "Vibrancy

Initiative" Info Sheets.

Image: Photo by Author.

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

In his definitive history, “Maritime Alexandria,” Donald Shomette tells the reader, “By the onset of World War II, Alexandria’s long and frequently painful maritime history was already becoming a forgotten relic of the past.” 

That is certainly true, but the former Naval Torpedo Station buildings would continue to provide employment into the late 1960s.  Building 2 became not only a model for adaptive reuse and an arts center, but also a keystone attraction on the waterfront.   

As the city, residents, and artists hash out the unfolding of the Vibrancy Initiative, and as we approach the 50th anniversary of the Torpedo Factory Arts Center in 2024, it is our great hope that this remarkable building will get the attention it deserves.  Just as the munitions makers, archivists, historians, and preservationists answered the call to duty, it is now our duty to answer the call and place Building 2 on the National Register of Historic Places.  We ask for a sense of urgency, as some of the key players are in their 80s and 90s.  

Image: Photo by Author.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope Ridings Miller

“All that is my Washington and I love it.  Madhouse or not, I’d rather live here than anywhere else in the world.” - Hope Ridings Miller, June 27, 1943, The Washington Post.

Although some levels of misogyny still persists, women have made great strides in journalism.   So much so that the trailblazers have been forgotten about.   Although she is not a first pager such as Margaret Fuller or Ida B. Wells, deserving of our attention is Hope Ridings Miller (1905-2005).   We enjoyed learning about her in, “Washington’s Golden Age, Hope Ridings Miller, the Society Beat, and the Rise of Women Journalists.”   

One of the strengths of the book is that the author, Joseph Dalton, knew Miller (cousin) and had access to her unpublished memoir.   Footnoting comes from a bibliography of 83 works.   Photos touch across the span of her long and prolific life and include poses with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (who she covered during the first part of the New Deal), LBJ (fellow Texan), Vice President Nixon, and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn (major background source).

Miller came out of Texas, the state that gave us journalistic greats such as Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer.   She might have climbed that same "hard news" ladder, but norms kept women out of those higher beats and seats.   

Nevertheless, Miller carved out an illustrative career behind a typewriter.   Beginning in 1937, she began her watchful eye on Washington society and life.   Her resume, which includes Society Editor with the Washington Post, Editor of Diplomat magazine, and over 1,800 columns with some syndication — was as sterling as the tableware she expertly reported on. 

Don’t let the lighter side fool you.  As Dalton points out:

Society editors get little more than a passing aside in the histories of the press.  It’s a misconception.   Coverage required knowledge keen and quick perception, a flair for analysis, and a way with words.

Miller supervised a staff responsible for two pages every day.   In 1934, the City Room at the Post consisted of Miller and 49 men.  She quickly earned the respect of her peers.  After one year, Miller was elected as President of the Women’s National Press Club.   

She also found time to write three books (“Embassy Row: The Life and Times of Diplomat Washington,” “Scandals in the Highest Office,” and “Great Houses of Washington DC.” 

The latter was a standout.   Miller, who had started out her career with the Post writing reviews of books, poured all her insider knowledge and vocabulary into it.   The hardcover (1969) benefits greatly from the photography of Charles Baptie.   Especially noteworthy are the large, color interior shots, numbering more than 100, and some perhaps never before seen.   The nomination form (National Register for Historic Places) for the Ringgold-Carroll House in Washington cites this book as a major bibliographical reference.

Researchers will benefit from "Washington’s Golden Age."  For example, Dalton points out that, in 1969, the women’s section of the Post got replaced by the Style section. 

“A dedicated forum for the systematic coverage of the women’s movement had been yanked awy.   It would take time and a new generation of unflinching women reporters to move issues like day care, abortion, and pay equality out of the realm of “soft news.”

This book includes some terrific anecdotes.  Miller said she never took notes at social events, but — “Many times I would take myself off to the ladies room and whip out a pencil and notebook from my bosom.”

If Miller had published her memoirs, it would have been a best seller in the city of A-listers she knew so well.   Unforgettable was the party thrown by Evelyn Walsh McLean on New Years’s Eve 1938.   McLean, the Kim Kardashian of her day and then some, owned and often whimsically wore the Hope Diamond.   Her memoir was titled, “Father Struck it Rich.”  900 lucky guests were lavishly entertained that night and into the morning at Friendship (demolished), the family estate that “provided its owners with every luxury imaginable.”   Miller, of course, provided all the details of the party on page 8.

“Golden Age” is always a bit of a problem in describing eras.  Golden for who?    

As Dalton shows throughout the book, Miller and some of her counterparts often held back and did not always go for the goofs, gotchas, and gaffes approach.    Whether or not that made it a Golden Age, we leave it up to each reader to decide.   

What can be said is that for Hope Ridings Miller and others like her, a starting point had been made by Eugene Myers, publisher of The Washington Post.   When he bought the paper in the early 1930s, it brought up the rear behind the Evening Star and three others.  Myers made his move and hired more and more women.    

These women had just as much fire in the belly as their male counterparts.   Malvina Lindsay, the woman’s page editor of the Post and later a columnist, recalled a conversation with Meyer.  It took place when he had just hired Miller.   He told Lindsay that Miller "might be good enough to become a society editor."

Lindsay pushed back, saying, “Oh, surely she can become much more.”

Hope Ridings Miller did indeed do exactly that.

 

 

 

 

A Special Place and A Special Family: The Aged Woman's Home of Georgetown and the Lutz's

If a place was more than two centuries old, was once home to a distinguished DC family, held connections to President Washington and President Lincoln, and served as a home to the elderly for over 150 years, it would be a very special place. 

Perched higher and standing back from a long line of commercial buildings below it, such a place is the Aged Woman’s Home of Georgetown (1255 Wisconsin Avenue).   Its setting, further obscured behind a tree, serves as a metaphor for its forgotten history.

Thanks to the kindness of one of its staff members, I was able to take the first steps to learn more about the Lutz family, who, before moving to the city of Washington, lived at this dwelling in the first half of the nineteenth century.    

The early details of the family, especially around the first John Lutz, are fuzzy.  We do know Lutz family members lived at 1255 Wisconsin from about 1805 to 1868.   In 1868, the Female Union Benevolent Society (became the Aged Woman’s Home in 1914) acquired the dwelling from the family.   As noted by the Aged Woman's Home website, the home "offers, free of charge, a private room for senior citizens, as well as emotional support and the benefits of group living."

A HABS report says the house is “probably one of the earliest extant structures in Georgetown, is one of the few residences in the commercial district, and a portion of this building has a rare flounder half gable, alleged to date from 1756.”  An addition was made in 1870 to the front and in 1872 to the rear.   

 

Affixed to the front of the home is an historical marker.  It tells the reader: 

“From 1804 to 1841, the home of John Lutz, Sergeant of General Washington’s Guard at Valley Forge.  Placed by The Historians and USA Bicentennial Committees - District of Columbia, DAR, 1970.”   

This is the puzzling part of the story.   Our searches for information on this John Lutz came up empty.  

Things begin to clear up with John Lutz (1775-1841), perhaps the son of the above mentioned John Lutz.   He became a well-known saddler and harness maker in Georgetown and served on boards with John Marbury and Francis Scott Key.  In their collections, Mount Vernon has a campaign trunk probably used by Washington in the Revolutionary War.  In 1820, Elizabeth Parke Custis had the lining refurnished.  The Lutz shop label is affixed inside.

 

 

There are several other relics in this story.   The first has been cared for by the Aged Woman’s Home.   In their possession is a framed copy of a letter written by Elizabeth Parke Custis.  The date is April 14, 1828.   It’s addressed to the two sons of John Lutz — John S. Lutz (1813-1869) and Francis Asbury Lutz (1820-1885).   An attached note shows it was written in Washington and delivered in June by Captain William Tell Poussin (1794-1876).   Guillaume Tell Poussin (1794–1876) was a French topographical engineer who helped survey the waterways and roads of the US.

Custis, the eldest grandchild of Martha Washington, began by writing: 

I have long intended to offer my good friend, Mr. John Lutz, a present, which he would not only value as a gift from one of the children of his General, but more so, because it once belonged to him. 

She went on to say: 

You must call to see me sometimes, my good friend.  We will talk of your general.  My health I believe, will never be good again.

John Lutz (1775-1841) passed away in 1841.  He had two sons, John and Francis.   Both earned some level of fame and carried the Lutz family story forward. 

John S. Lutz (1813-1869) went off to the Big Apple and struck up a relationship with Laura Keene.  (Note:  Two excellent biographies are, “Our American Duchess:  A Biography of Laura Keene" by Vernanne Bryan and "Laura Keene: Actress, Innovator and Impresario" by Ben Graf Henneke.) 

Keene earned fame on the big stages and was also a pioneer as a woman owner of a theatre in New York.  John was her watchful eye and indefatigable manager.   Keene and Lutz probably stayed in the Lutz house on occasion, but they were on the road a lot.   They had no children together, but Keene had two daughters (Emma and Clara) from a previous marriage and Lutz had Adelaide from his marriage to Malvina.   

Deeds show John giving the home on Wisconsin Avenue (then High Street) to Adelaide in 1851.  In 1872,  Adelaide deeded the property to the Trustees of the Female Union Benevolent Society.    One can conjecture with some degree of confidence that without their ownership, this dwelling might have been demolished.  

On the night of April 14, 1865, after John Wilkes Booth mortally wounded President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Keene, starring in the lead actress role (Florence) of “Our American Cousin,” ran from the stage to comfort the President.  She later gave her blood-stained cuffs (the second relic) to Morris Adler, a clerk in the War Department who had married Malvina Lutz (1810-1855), a daughter of John Lutz the Saddler.   The Adlers lived at a handsome brick dwelling at 1821 Wisconsin Avenue, that was demolished in 1938.

Adler remarried to Mary Kurtz (1815-1898).  Their grand daughter, Virginia Adler Thompson (1879-1962) donated the cuffs to the Smithsonian, who have displayed it from time to time.  Ford’s Theater has also displayed them.

The web site Glover Park History (Carlton Fletcher) tells us about a leather-covered wooden box dated 1838.   It belonged to Adler and was manufactured by John Lutz (resists quip about Adler and Saddler…).  This trunk is on display and in the good hands of the Peabody Room at the Georgetown branch of the DC Library.

The other son of John Lutz was Francis Asbury Lutz (1820-1885).   Like his brother, he was probably born in the family home on Wisconsin.   In 1853, Francis moved the Georgetown store his father started to Washington.   Under his management, and then that of his son Francis Jr (1843-1903), the family established one of the finest Harness, Saddlery & Trunks outfits in Washington.

Perhaps Francis and his family attended a “Humorous Lecture” in Georgetown on the night of February 22, 1868.  The great quipper, Mark Twain, drew laughs and spoke on the topic of the Sandwich Islands.  The marquee event was held at Forrest Hall (now a Gap store), a stone’s throw from the Lutz House.  

In what was Twain’s last public lecture in Washington, monies earned were donated to the Female Union Benevolent Society of Georgetown, who was renting the Lutz House.   Britannia Kennon (1815-1911), the wife of Commodore Beverly Kennon (commandant of the Navy), the mistress of Tudor Place, and the daughter of Martha Custis Peter, and, most famously, a granddaughter of Martha Washington (Martha and Thomas Peter built and lived in Tudor Place), served as its President from 1879 to 1911.    Perhaps one or members of the Lutz family visited the Kennons at Tudor Place.  

Although Keene and John were not in Washington a lot, Henneke tells us John and Francis had a cordial relationship.   It could have been torn asunder when their father willed his estate not to John, the eldest, but to Francis.   John headed for New York where he met Keene.   She had a remarkable career on stage.    It was a vagabond existence, but Keene showed complete concern and care for her two daughters from her first marriage, Laura and Emma.  She enrolled them at the Ladies Academy of the Visitation in Georgetown.   Francis enrolled one of his daughters there, too.   

Where John had no children with Laura, Francis and Nellie begot five who lived beyond childhood.  The 1870 Census shows the family as:  Francis (50), Mary (47), Francis A. (28), John A. (25), Mary E. (19), Samuel (17), Ada (15), and Adelaide (28).   Adelaide was the daughter of John and Malvina.   

Their home was at the corner of C and Four and a Half Streets.   This put them in position A in the Judiciary Square neighborhood, about halfway between the White House and the Capitol, and the center of the city.   Before it began to fade, the downtown neighborhood was one of the most fashionable residential sections in Washington.   Former residents included Chief Justice John Marshall, Henry Clay, and Francis Scott Key.   Elegant Blagden Row ran nearby.   

Salmon P. Chase lived at 6th and E streets in an handsome Greek Revival house.   A great social event took place there, giving the war-weary administration and city a brief distraction.  On November 12, 1863, Chase’s (Secretary of Treasury, 1861-1864) oldest daughter Kate married William Sprague, wealthy Senator of Rhode Island.   The wedding was a trifecta for head turning with Chase’s political stature, Sprague’s wealth, and Kate as the city’s premiere socialite.  President Lincoln attended.

Salmon P. Chase and daughters, one of them Kate. , . [No Date Recorded on Caption Card] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/cph6238/.

 

The site of the family home is somewhere close to the John Marshall Statue at C and 4th.  Steps away stood the Metropolitan Memorial Methodist Church.   Dedicated in 1869, the church was a towering landmark.   One source called it "the Westminster Abbey of American Methodism."   Its first service drew 2,000 including President Grant, Chief Justice Chase, a large number of senators and representatives and other distinguished guests from the across the country.   (Demolished in 1956). 

From an article in the Evening Star, we know Francis served on the church board with Grant and Chase and Washington mayor Matthew G. Emery.   Without a doubt, this was a high point of pride for the Lutz family.

A reporter for the Evening Star described the Lutz house as follows:

Standing high on a terraced lot at the NE corner of 4 1/2 streets is an old-fashioned brick house which was one of the most pretentious homes in Washington fifty years ago.   John Quincy Adams once lived in it.  It is four stories high and has a mansard roof. Originally it had a gabled roof.  This was changed by the late F. A. Lutz, when he bought the property in 1861.  Gottlieb C. Grammar (DC banker) lived in this house for thirty years before his death in 1857. Issac Torrey, Secretary of Navy, also lived in the house.

The Lutz family made the society news from time to time.  A January 2nd, 1872 report said:

We venture the assertion that there was no finer reception given yesterday in all Washington than that of Mrs F A Lutz at her princely residence, corner of C and Four and a Half Streets.   

Across the span of three generations, the Lutz family earned praise as makers and sellers in the saddle and harness business.   John Lutz (1775-1841) would have been proud of his descendants.   Francis, his son Francis Jr, and his grandson Francis III kept things going in fine fashion.   An article in 1853 reported on "Awards of the Metropolitan Mechanics Institute."   Francis won "first diploma for buggy harness, somerset saddle, gig saddle and and second diploma for shaftoe saddle."

The Washington Evening Star sang the praises of F.A. Lutz Jr. & Bros, noting “every President from Washington to Roosevelt has been a patron, and enrolled on their books are the names of cabinet members, ambassadors, and diplomats of world-wide fame.”  Francis’s two eldest sons, Frank (1843-1878) and John (1845-1878), helped run the business. 

“Luggage and Leather Goods,” (Volumes 25-25, 1909) wrote:

“Today, the business is one of Washington’s prominent enterprises and is carried on successfully by the fourth generation of the Lutz family — a record unparalleled in the trunk trade of America.” 

In 1906, the company moved to 1325 G Street in a new three-story building.   

In 1925, Corinne Frazier, a writer with The Washington Post, sat down with the shop’s musty old ledgers and found the accounts of President Lincoln and Booth.   The President overpaid his account by 1 cent, and died before he made any more purchases.   Booth purchased a pair of spurs the day before he ended the President’s life.   

Seemingly something out of a script, Robert E. Lee’s account showed 37 cents in the deficit.

Part of the Lutz story made its way to Leesburg after the Civil War.   The youngest son of Francis Asbury Lutz was Samuel (1853-1918).  He and his family acquired and remodeled Springwood in the Second Empire style in 1869.     The landmark home was built c. 1840 by George Washington Ball (1828-1889).  The Lutz family made it their home and wedded there until at least 1946.   Today the three-story dwelling houses a health facility on the outskirts of the town.     

In 1925, The Washington Post published a story of the letter Elizabeth Parke Custis had written to John and Francis, the one displayed at the Aged Woman's Home in Georgetown.   The article pointed out the letter was in the possession of Frank Lutz, Jr (1874-1933) of Woodside, Maryland.    He was a great grandson of John Lutz (1775-1841), grandson of Francis Asbury Lutz (1820-1855), and son of Francis Jr (1843-1903).  Along with the letter, Elizabeth Parke Custis had given the family some buttons from George Washington's uniform.  The buttons were in the hands of Samuel’s widow, Mary Ida Lutz (1853-1943).

In 1936, Jessie Fant Evans (Evening Star) sat down with John A. Lutz (1884-1955) at his home at 1812 Monroe Avenue.    She told her readers he was the last of the family's male line.   John showed Evans his collection of Washingtonia, which included copies of letters and portraits. When John passed away in 1955, his obituary told the reader he was "an old time auto race driver here in the early days of motoring" and winner of several Silver Cups.   His house at 1812 Monroe Street NW, where he lived for 45 years, still stands.

Lutz family members continued to make the news from time to time.  John's sister Eleanor (1885-1960) married Richard Wilmer Bolling (1879-1951), who was a brother of Edith Wilson, second wife of President Wilson.   At the time of his passing, he was living with her at the Wilson home in Washington.

In 1946, readers of the Loudoun News (November 28) saw a front page story that led with:

"One of Loudoun's most beautiful estates, Springwood, was sold at public auction."   

Leta Lutz Clagett (1878-1948), daughter of Samuel (1853-1918) and Mary (1853-1943) acquired the family home.    She passed away two years later.   

One of the last obituaries in The Washington Post to mention the family history came on July 23, 1960.   Eleanor Lutz Bolling (1885-1960) had passed away (2219 California Street, NW).   It pointed out she was "a great, great, grand daughter of John Lutz who served with George Washington at Valley Forge and settled in Georgetown after the Revolution." 

 

John and Eleanor and Leta and that line of the family had lived long, full lives.  They witnessed the end of the saddle and trunk era, one that had been so much a part of the landscape of the colonies and the United States.    Many of the Lutz family members were laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown.   Not far away lies the house on Wisconsin Avenue where their story began.   The house is a special place and the story of the family is special, too.  

Note:   Oak Hill Cemetery records show the family having two places there -  Chapel Hill, 565 and Chapel Valley, 415.

I took the above photo of the Lutz family obelisk.  It is located at the Chapel Hill lot.   As you can see it is down the hill from the chapel, about 50 yards away.

The two slabs are shown at Find a Grave to be John (1775-1851) and Mary (1783-1851).  

On the obelisk is:

Francis A. Lutz (1820-1885), Mary (Wife, 1823-1897)

John A. Lutz (1878, In His 33 Year)

James F. Lutz (1847-1861), Ella Virginia Lutz (1857-1862), Oydanna C. Lutz (1864-1865), Clara Lutz (1861-1865)

Find a Grave shows for John S. Lutz (1813-1869) having an unmarked burial in Chapel Hill.  

 

The Lighthouse at Fort Washington

So close (2,000 feet), yet so far (16 miles) seems to be the case with Fort Washington Park, at least as you see it from the Virginia side.  Been many moons since we went so a return trip beckoned.

George Washington passed by here a number of times on the ferry ride to and from the Piscataway village and then parts eastward to Annapolis.  He also turned and went to Port Tobacco and further southward to see family or duty at Williamsburg.  Washington knew Thomas Attwood Digges (1742-1821) and his family who lived at Warburton Manor (site near the fort) and sold part of their lands to the US government for a fort.

In his diary (November 3, 1793), Washington described this part of the Potomac (Digges Point) as, “remarkably well calculated for a Battery.” Thomas Jefferson echoed this (January 31, 1808):  “Digges Point below Alexandria is a commanding position.”

The knoll is one of the higher and steeper ones in this part of the Potomac where the river makes a sharp turn.   Perhaps Washington would be pleased one still today sees mostly water, trees and sky.   River Farm, the GW Parkway, Piscataway Park, and two long expanses of the mighty river are part of the landscape.

The history of the fort has been summarized by the NRHP, but the form notes the lighthouse is not within the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and does not contribute to theme of site as significant military structure.

There are quite a few resources on the web, but they don’t all agree at times, and there seems to be no definitive effort. We’ll try our best to find middle ground.   LighthouseFriends bathed light on the subject and Frederick Tilp’s “This Was Potomac River” is a trusty beacon.  Other sources include Chesapeake Chapter United States Lighthouse Society, 1933 HABS report (“Fort Washington, Fort Washington Light, Northeast side of Potomac River at Fort Washington Park), Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses published by Bella Terra and "Light 80," an article at NPS.   "The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake" by Robert de Gast answered questions.

Construction of the fort began in 1808, but it was destroyed by retreating American forces under the command of Captain Samuel Dyson on August 27, 1814.   The new fort was completed in 1824, but there would be on going repairs in the coming years.   The NRHP points out little work was done on the fort from 1848 to 1861 and it was unoccupied from 1853 to 1861. 

Tilp tells us:

“lighthouses have always symbolized integrity, constance, reliability, and succor when it was most needed, but those on the Potomac have not always measured up to the best.”

In 1851, in the wake of a scathing report by the Secretary of Treasury, Congress created the Lighthouse Board.   In 1857, one year after the completion of the lighthouse at Jones Point, an eighteen and a half feet cast iron pole with a light on top was built along the wharf at Fort Washington to aid the captains and watermen.   Although this was a navigating aid, it was not a lighthouse in the traditional sense.  One source called it a “feeble illuminating apparatus.” 

Skippers complained about the inadequacy of the light at this key turning point of the river.   In response, a sixteen-foot tower rose up closer to the water’s edge in 1870.   It was built elsewhere and shipped to the site.   de Gast says this was “the first real lighthouse at Fort Washington.”  It was shorter than the first, but placing it closer to the water’s edge was an improvement.   It had a 6th-order Fresnel lens that is displayed at the Museum of Chincoteague Island.   

Construction of several sheds and boathouses obstructed the light.  In 1882, a thirty-two foot fog bell tower was added (the current one).    The HABS report points out it was rare for a fog bell tower to support both a light and fog signal.  Most became obsolete.  In 1884, a keeper’s house was built.   A photo at Lighthouse Friends shows a two-story dwelling of some size with a picket fence.

The fort sat quiet from 1872 to 1896 when it was reactivated. In May, 1898, The Washington Post reported the Commander of the Fifth Lighthouse District ordered the light be discontinued as well as the fog bell sounding at night.   This came at a time during the Spanish-American War.   He wrote:

“Should a warship of the enemy manage to reach a point so high in the river the light at Fort Washington would have served as an excellent guide for firing."

In 1901, “four new caps were put on the sills of the fog bell tower and a platform was built on them to support a lens lantern.”   The old tower was demolished as well as the keeper’s house.   In 1904, the tower was enclosed in wood.   

In 1920, the light was made electric and the color changed from white to red.  The following year an electric bell striker was installed in the tower, hitting every 15 seconds.   Steven L. Markos notes it still required a light keeper who was also responsible for two dozen other lighthouses.

Tilp tells us that in 1921, Fort Washington became home of the 12th Infantry.   The commander warned the keepers “about their activities as go-betweens for the soldiers as well as in their supplying sugar for the local river moonshiners.”

In 1946, the National Park Service gained control of the lighthouse.   Tilp’s research shows the last keeper being Mrs. Josephine Ekland in 1953 and the penultimate Jean Marie Roest.  The first was Joseph Cameron.

In the 1954, the light was changed to an unmanned automatic flashing red light.  The wharf and keeper’s house were removed. 

In June 1963, the light house made the front page of the Evening Star, with a large photo showing two children beside it.  The caption said:

“Beacon for Tourists. The lighthouse at Fort Washington on the Maryland side of the Potomac southeast of the Nation’s Capital, holds the attention of Richard Gardner and Debbie Kramer of Westchester Estates, Md, just two of the visitors who tour the historic fort at the rate of about 10,000 a week during the summer.” 

There were no visitors after 9/11/2001.   Markos writes that the military took over and used it as a radar tower until 2005.   The fog bell tower was returned to NPS control and restored in 2009 by their Historic Preservation Training Center.  In 2020, the United States Coast Guard removed the light and the triangle red marker.  The tower remains standing in its original place, the sole sentinel of a lost past. 

Historical marking is good for the fort, but none for the lighthouse.   Our recommendation is a marker or two showing a timeline with images and perhaps publication of an updated definitive source.     

Hopefully, that is not as far away as it seems…

Neighborhood Visit: Franconia

Note:  I completed this article last fall, but overlooked posting it.  My sincerest apologies.

 

Throughout the past ten or so years, a great source of our pleasure has been Beth Mitchell’s 1760 map of Fairfax County.   Sprinkled on it like magic dust are churches, ordinaries, mills, roads, and tobacco inspection stations.   

Because they take us to a body of water, we particularly enjoy visiting the sites of mills.  Our latest look see took place in Franconia, a roughly 450-acre section bounded by I-95, Van Dorn Street, Franconia Road, and the rail tracks.  It’s a collection of smaller neighborhoods such as Franconia Forest, Runnymeade, and Van Dorn Village.

Mitchell’s map shows a mill about three miles west of Alexandria.   The modern day location is somewhere near Langton Road.   This mill site stands out as the rare case of homes being built right by and around its site.   Most of the others in the county are on the long run of a creek.  This is a small branch.

Anyway, we offer the following timeline for this part of Franconia.  Many thanks to Carl Sell, volunteer at the Franconia Museum, author and former editor of the Washington Star.  We also spent some time with Mary Smith, who shared a few of her memories of living near the railroad station and visiting Alexandria in the 1950s.   What a treasure you have Franconia, you don’t know how lucky you are. 

 

1706

John West, Thomas Pearson and William and Thomas Harrison acquire land west of Alexandria and south of Back Lick Run, an extension of Great Hunting Creek.

1760s

Land owned by John Monroe, who owned three enslaved humans.  Leased by Thomas Monroe.  George Washington sold him 16 yards of cotton in 1767.  Mill on Mitchell’s map. 

Note: (I took this photo earlier this week.  It's hard to know the exact site of the mill.  This is looking east towards Langston Drive).

1800s

Roads expand in the county.  Fairfax Road (modern day Franconia Road and formerly a rolling road for tobacco), laid out connecting Alexandria with points to the west. 

Church worship begins at Olivet Church, which has had several locations.

1860s

Land owners include Elizabeth Broders, James Talbot, Thompson Javins, Peter Tresler and Virginia Scott.  Scott was probably the widow of Richard Marshall Scott, a descendent of Richard Marshall Scott (1769-1833), who lived at Bush Hill (site is 4840 Eisenhower Avenue).  The Broders family was well known in Alexandria.  Joseph Broders lived at 215 N. Washington, the lovely brick Greek-Revival dwelling known as the Hallowell-Carlin House. 

Note: Photo, Bush Hill Franconia Museum. 

Civil War

Anyone living here during the Civil War would have had a bird’s eye view of the Cameron Valley, where troops marched to and from Alexandria along the Little River turnpike, as well as movements along what is now Franconia Road.   Troop movement also on modern day Beulah Street.   Farmers here would have heard the sound of cannon fire at the two battles of Manassas and whispered stories of Colonel John Mosby, the famed "Gray Ghost" who knew these parts like the back of his hand.  Enslaved African Americans might have fled to Alexandria. hoping to taste freedom.

 

1872

Franconia and this part of Northern Virginia is forever changed. Franconia Station is built as part of establishment of continuous rail service from Richmond to Alexandria.  Prior to this, passengers deboarded at Aquia Creek and took steamboats Washington.  

Note:  I took this photo on Tuesday, October 19.  The two left tracks are for Metro.  The other three are for Amtrak, VRE, and CRX.  The site of the Franconia Station (1904-1954) is about where the first large telephone pole is on the right hand side.

1900

Roads are modern day Franconia, Van Dorn and Larkspur.  Structures along Fairfax Road (Franconia).

1914

Craven Simms (74) passes away at his home in Franconia.  He was an attendant at the Alexandria farmer's market for many years. 

Photo:  Simms House, Franconia Museum

1937

Camp Kiwanis, summer retreat for children.

1945

Modern day Valley View Drive and some new homes along it.

Camp Kiwanis (near end of Cobbs Road) 

1951

Mt. Hebron Park and Franconia Hills homes along Valley View Drive.  Camp Kiwanis.

1956

Maple Grove Estates ads in Washington Post. 

1957

Franconia Baptist Church

1962-1964

Capital Beltway built.  Along with the railroad tracks, this creates a two-sided, no-cross border.

1964

Homes on Larkspur built with Maple Grove farm still there beside it.

1966

More homes in Mt. Hebron Park.

Maple Grove Estates fully line Larkspur.

1964 ad gives the following directions:

South on Shirley Highway to Springfield-Franconia exit, east on Franconia Road 2 miles to Maple Grove entrance on left (directly across from Franconia Elementary School, proceed to Larkspur Dr.  Wills and Van Metre builders.

1984

Homes built between Valley View and RR tracks.

1988

Homes built along Langton Drive, near mill site and creek.

2002

Sycamores at Van Dorn and mixed use on both sides of  Oakwood Drive.  Site of former farm, home demolished c. 1980s, the last vestiges of the older places.