On June 7, a significant event occurred at Chatham Manor in Stafford . For the first time, a naturalization ceremony was held at this historic property. The ceremony welcomed 36 new United States citizens from 30 different countries. As keynote speaker, Chief Park historian John Hennessy said it was one more chapter in Chatham's role in freedom and liberty. From Colonial times to 1862 when over 10,000 enslaved people crossed the Rappahannock to freedom and eventually citizenship, to the naturalization ceremony, Chatham has been a silent witness.

 

Chatham has been the site of many events over the past 240 years. Built in the 1770s by William Fitzhugh, George Washington is said to have visited as well as Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln. In 1804, Chatham was the site of an early slave rebellion. Robin and Cupid, slaves who belonged to Fitzhugh were accused of conspiracy and insurrection. Robin was banished and Cupid was executed (Ruth Coder Fitzgerald papers). In 1857, Hannah Coalter, a widow who owned Chatham directed that upon her death, her 92 slaves be given the choice of freedom and moving to a free state, going to Liberia or going to one of her relatives. Horace Lacy, who bought Chatham and its slaves from Mrs. Coalter's estate, challenged the will. The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld Lacy's objection in June 1858 saying that the slaves "had no civil rights or legal capacity whatsoever" and had no power to decide between slavery and freedom (A Different Story, Ruth Coder Fitzgerald, 1979, p. 86). The Lacys fled Chatham during the Civil War, and it was used as a Union headquarters, artillery position, signal station, staging area and hospital. The poet Walt Whitman and the founder of the American Red Cross Clara Barton both served as nurses at Chatham during the Civil War. (Chatham, the Life of a House, Ralph Happel, 1984)

 

The next 90 years were unremarkable. Chatham was owned by several wealthy families. A. Randolph Howard, a banker and gentleman farmer who raised purebred cattle and horses, owned the property from 1909 to 1914. The Center has a ledger in the Stearns collection showing the material and costs of building Mr. Howard's stables in 1908 and 1909. General Daniel B. and Helen Stewart Devore bought and restored Chatham between 1920 and 1931. Mrs. Devore commissioned Ellen Biddle Shipman, a landscape architect, to design the gardens. Much of Ms. Shipman's designs remain today. Over the years the efforts of the Master Gardener Association of the Central Rappahannock Area, the Rappahannock Valley Garden Club and the Friends of Chatham have helped the National Park Service restore and maintain these spectacular gardens. Photographer Frances Benjamin Johnson photographed Chatham and its gardens as part of a project to document Southern architecture in the late 1920s. Many of these photographs can be seen on the Library of Congress website, www.loc.gov. In 1931, Thomas Lee Pratt, a director and vice president with General Motors bought Chatham. Pratt and his wife Lillian added amenities to the house. Mrs. Pratt collected the Russian jewelry and Faberge Eggs which were donated to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. After Mr. Pratt's death in 1975 Chatham became the property of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Chatham reopened as the Park's headquarters in 1977.

 

Another small, but significant event occurred the weekend following the June 7 naturalization ceremony at Chatham. Touching the Central Rappahannock's shorelines of King George and Stafford Counties, a tall ship from France, sailed up the Potomac to Alexandria and Mount Vernon and back down on her way to Annapolis. The Concorde class frigate "L'Hermione", a reproduction ship, celebrates the contributions of the Marquis de Lafayette and symbolizes the ties between France and the United States. Lafayette had L'Hermione built in 1780 to bring 600 French troops to join the Colonial forces in their quest for freedom from England. Although "L'Hermione" did not visit Fredericksburg, Lafayette did several times. L'Hermione will join other tall ships at New York City's Independence Day celebration, July 1 - 4. She will then sail up the coast to Nova Scotia before returning to France. Follow her at http://hermione2015.com/voyage2015/.

 

We have many things to celebrate on the Fourth of July. We welcome our newest citizens to join us.

 

click on image to enlarge

 

Update on the unidentified photo of Brock Rd. School 1910! Identified as Lena Ferree Jones, Marguerite Stephens Ward, Bessie Chewning Underdonk, Mary Stephens Parker, Carl Stephens, Mabel Jones. Back Row: Bob Kennedy, Embrey Stephens, Willis Wright, Clarence Chewning, Alex Kennedy, Cliff Williamson, Selmo, Ferree, Rufus Stephens, Fred Parker, Estelle Chewning, Jodie Trigg Stephens, Eva Jones Sullivan, Nettie Ferree, Lee Jones, Mabel Jones, Raphael Weller Stephens and teacher Dillie Faulkner. According to Pat Sullivan, Fred Parker is wearing a hat and standing in the doorway. The girls are identified with three names, the last names are their married names. Mary Stephens married Fred Parker. Selmo Ferree was a fireman on the Virginia Central Railroad and was killed in an accident in 1934. Thank you Pat!

 Unidentified photo from the Mary Kay Orr Collection.