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CHAPTER XIV

Departure from Washington. – Fredericktown. – Harper’s Ferry. – Blue Ridge. – Staunton. – Natural Bridge. – Wier’s Cave. – Charlotteville. – University of Virginia. – Monticello. – Richmond. – Jamestown. – Norfolk. – Fort Monroe. – Fayetteville. – Columbia

On the 15th of November, I set out from Washington with Mr. Huygens, jr., who was desirous of accompanying me by permission of his father. I had hired a carriage with four horses to Harper’s Ferry, about fifty miles from Washington, where we were to arrive in two days. The road was for some miles very good, but afterwards it became bad and rugged and continued so the rest of the day. We left the District of Columbia, and again entered the state of Maryland. The country through which we were passing was hilly, covered with wood, and in some places cultivated; single large houses belonging to tobacco planters, and in their vicinity small ones for the negro slaves, were scattered here and there. We went through only one decent place called Rocksville. About seven o’clock in the evening we reached an inn called Scholl’s tavern, situated in the township of Clarksburg, distant from Washington twenty-five miles.

Next morning we left Clarksburg; it was pretty cool, and the road as rough as before. It was fifteen miles to Fredericktown, over a hilly and rocky country. Sometimes we saw handsome prospects on the mountains of the Blue Ridge, which we were approaching. The houses that we passed by, were like those of yesterday; the negro houses mostly of wood, with clumsy chimnies, built close to the house. The Monocacy river we passed at a ford within four miles of Fredericktown. This is one of the principal places in the state of Maryland, and is situated in a well cultivated country surrounded by hills. It has about five thousand inhabitants, and is built very regularly. At the entrance of one of the streets stood a wooden triumphal arch raised in honour of General La Fayette. The inscriptions were already nearly effaced by the weather. I had hardly alighted at the tavern, when I received a visit from a clergyman of this place named Dr. Schaeffer, a son of a preacher of the same name in Philadelphia. This gentleman accompanied me to see Mr. Schley, whom I had known in Saratoga, and afterwards we went to a Lutheran church, a very plain building. We ascended the spire in order to have a view of the town and surrounding country. The country appeared to be very well cultivated; their principal agricultural object is tobacco. There are four churches, Lutheran, Reformed, Catholic and Methodist. The public buildings are the Court-house and prison.

Harper’s Ferry was yet twenty-one miles distant from Fredericktown. The country grew at every moment more hilly, and the road rugged and worse; as we were approaching the Blue Ridge, we often alighted and walked. We met with several herds and flocks, which are driven from the western states to different seaports for sale. The wagons we met were generally carrying products of the west; they were large wagons with five stout horses. Every horse had on its collar a set of bells, consisting of five different tones, which made a very singular music.

Meanwhile, our road passed mostly through forest; we went through but a single insignificant village called Newton. The mountains grew higher and more rocky. At last we came again to the Potomac, which we had left the day before, and enjoyed many fine views.

This country reminded me of Pranen, near Dresden. It was night when we arrived on the left bank of the Potomac, opposite to Harper’s Ferry; we were obliged to wait for a considerable length of time for the ferry-boat. When this came, we saw it was conducted by an intoxicated negro; even the ferry-boat itself was very bad; however, we fortunately crossed the shallow river, passing amidst pieces of rocks, and perceived at some distance up, three piers standing in the river, on which the next year, a bridge was to be built. Having crossed, we came into the state of Virginia. At Harper’s Ferry, we took our lodgings in a neat tavern; and I had here the pleasure to see Dr. Weise, from Dresden, who, as soon as he knew I had arrived, came to see me. I take the liberty of inserting here the following description of this country, by Thomas Jefferson, in his “Notes on the State of Virginia.”

“The passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain an hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion, that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains, and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that continuing to rise they have at length broken over at this spot, and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disrupture and avulsion from their beds, by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the impression. But the distant finishing which nature has given to the picture, is of a very different character. It is a true contrast to the foreground. It is as placid and delightful, as that is wild and tremendous. For the mountain being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in the plain country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around, to pass through the breach and participate of the calm below. Here the eye ultimately composes itself; and that way too the road happens actually to lead. You cross the Potomac above the junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain for three miles, its terrible precipices hanging in fragments over you, and within about twenty miles reach Fredericktown, and the fine country round that. This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic. Yet here, as in the neighbourhood of the Natural Bridge, are people who have passed their lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been to survey these monuments of a war between rivers and mountains, which must have shaken the earth itself to its centre.”

The morning after my arrival at Harper’s Ferry, I visited Mr. Stubbersfield, director of the gun manufactory, to whom I was recommended by the secretary of war, and he showed me the establishments under his orders. The workshops are in seven large stone buildings, of which the interior partitions, with regret be it spoken, are of wood. The buildings stand in rows, four at the foot of the mountain, and opposite to them, three on the bank of the Potomac. At the entrance of the street which they form, is Mr. Stubbersfield’s office, from which he can overlook the entrances of all the buildings. The machines are moved by water-wheels. All the buildings are two stories high; in the lower part are the forges, and in the higher stories, workmen who use no fire in their work. In the working of iron I saw nothing new. The iron employed for barrels, comes from Juniata, in the state of Pennsylvania, and is in plates, of which each is calculated for one barrel. The steel is German, called Halbach’s steel, furnished by Mr. Halbach, of Philadelphia. Every gun must pass through one hundred and twenty hands before it is ready. A particular workman is appointed for every part and paid for it separately, when the work has been duly examined, and proved to be good. A skilful and diligent workman can gain two dollars per day. When the workmen have prepared all the parts of a fire-lock, they deliver them to a man who examines, tries them, and puts them together. The barrels are turned by means of rings, which can be rendered smaller or larger. The machinery for making gun-stocks was the most interesting to me, because it was formerly a very laborious work. A piece of iron is screwed upon a piece of wood, which has been made in the form of a stock, at the place where the barrel is to be placed. After this the piece is screwed into the machinery; in a parallel direction to it a piece of iron is screwed, having the same form that is to be given to the stock. The planing is performed by means of a wheel, to which are adapted ledge-planes. The operation begins with the muzzle, and ends with the breech of the gun. The gun-stock moves together with the iron model, each round its axis, having a parallel direction with the axis of a plain wheel of brass, which is rubbing on the iron model, and following all its prominences and cavities. This wheel is also put in motion and drawn towards the breech by means of an endless screw; during this motion it planes the gun-stock off, and gives it the proper form. This operation lasts six or seven minutes, and there is nothing to prevent it from turning at the same time another gun-stock on the other side. The gun-stock being duly formed, is taken out of the machinery, and another put in its place; then the iron piece is taken away from the turned gun-stock, it is fixed in a cramp, and applied to a bore-plane for making the groove to receive the barrel.

This manufactory, and that of Springfield, the only ones belonging to the government, furnishes at present in time of peace, fifteen thousand guns yearly. These guns are generally browned by the process indicated by Dupin, also, the rings and bayonets, the last of which are kept bright by the British.

Mr. Stubbersfield conducted me also to the arsenal, in which the finished muskets are delivered, and are either here preserved, or packed up in cases by twenty, and sent to other arsenals. In the interior of the arsenal, every thing is of wood, notwithstanding the great importance of being fire-proof, as it contains such a large capital. There were eighty-four thousand guns. If the value of one be estimated only at thirteen dollars, it makes the sum of one million and ninety-two thousand dollars.

From the arsenal, we were conducted to a new manufactory, half a mile from the town, where Mr. Hall’s patent guns are constructed under his own direction. He not being present, I was not fortunate enough to find any body to explain the machinery, which appeared not yet in full action. Dr. Weise, went with us to a mountain above this place, called Jefferson’s Rock. The prospect from it is really very fine; it agrees with the description, yet I believe I have seen finer landscapes in Germany. From that place also, the town can be surveyed, the houses of which appeared to be rather scattered; of its fifteen hundred inhabitants, three hundred are working in the gun manufactory. The ground for the most part belongs to the government, and well recommended persons obtain permission to build upon it. On an elevation, near Jefferson’s Rock, a large building, three stories high, has been erected. The first story was intended for a church, the second for a Lancasterian school, and the third for a free mason’s lodge. I suffered very much from a very cold wind, which brought with it a little snow. In the evening, Dr. Weise came to me with a bridge builder, who was a native of Reuslingen, who came here thirty years ago as a baker, and then had learned the art of constructing mills and bridges. The second bridge on the Schuylkill, above Philadelphia, built of a single arch, is of his invention, and the next year he was to build one here over the Potomac.

On the 19th of November, we left Harper’s ferry in a clear, but very cold morning, and set off on a journey to the Natural Bridge, which is one hundred and seventy-five miles distant. We rode in an ordinary stage. The improvement of stages, appears not yet to have extended beyond the Blue Mountains, because we were obliged to be contented with one, which was in every respect very uncomfortable. The way led us through a hilly country and was very bad. We went for a considerable distance on rocks; on the road, a great many loose stones were lying, and I was surprised, that our miserable vehicle was not broken to pieces. At break of day, we arrived at a small place called Smithfield, eighteen miles from Harper’s ferry. A couple of miles farther, we came to warm Sulphur Springs, the water of which has the taste of spoiled eggs, like that of Aix-la-Chapelle. It seems to be very little known, as there is no enclosure around it, and no houses near. A lucky chance will no doubt make it known, and I should not be surprised, were I to come hither again in fifteen or twenty years, to find at this spot an elegant watering place, somewhat like Saratoga Springs. The road continued through a forest of oak, chesnut, acacia, and cedar trees; houses were seldom met with. We forded many creeks, the most considerable of them is called Cedar creek. We observed also some grist-mills. It froze pretty hard, so that the borders of the creeks were covered with a pretty thick ice, and large icicles hung on the sluices of the mills. Eleven miles beyond Smithfield, we came to Winchester, a very nice country town, where the houses are mostly of masonry, and form a long principal street, intersected by other smaller ones; it has a market-house, and many stores, which appeared to be very well provided. Here we changed our stage for a better one, although still very inconvenient. The wood of which it was constructed was hickory, which has a great deal of elasticity.

From Winchester, we went to Stephensbury, eight miles farther, to Middleton, then to Strasburg, six miles, and at last to Woodstock, twelve miles, where we passed the night. This place is sixty-one miles distant from Harper’s ferry. We reached our night-quarters in the evening about six o’clock, in a very cold night and a fine moonshine. The places between Winchester and Woodstock were not considerable, except Strasburg, which is more ancient than the others, and appears to have a larger population. The houses are generally of wood and covered with shingles, although a great number of stones are found here. The country became at last very fine. On our left we saw the Blue Ridge, from which we now withdrew at every moment. Another ridge, in a parallel direction with the former, called the Northern Ridge, rose suddenly between us and the Blue Ridge, which soon entirely disappeared. On our right there was another ridge of mountains, it was an arm of the Alleghany Mountains, and we went through a valley at least ten miles wide. The formation of these parallel ridges is very singular, and no instance occurs of it in the other parts of the world. The country was pretty well cultivated, and by the exterior appearance of many country-houses, we were induced to believe their inhabitants enjoyed plenty. The enclosures of fields are here, for the most part, the above-mentioned old fences, yet next to the houses they are of masonry carefully formed. As it appeared, they travel here much on horseback. On account of great distances between the plantations, almost all the ladies can ride on horseback; we met several of them elegantly dressed, and also black women. The race of horses of this country, appears to be a very strong one. They use also oxen for drawing; to many carts were put two oxen, and before them two horses. On the 20th of November, we left Woodstock at half-past two o’clock in the morning, in a very miserable stage, and proceeded to Staunton, seventy-one miles distant, on a still more rugged road than that of yesterday; in this place we passed the night. The places on our way were mostly insignificant: only Shryock, New Market, Big Spring, and Harrisonburg, deserve to be mentioned; the last of them is said to have from eight to nine hundred inhabitants. The greatest part of the houses were wooden ones, and but a few of masonry. This part of the state of Virginia does not bear comparison with Massachusetts, New York, or even Pennsylvania. The great number of slaves in this state, makes also a very bad impression.³⁴ The largest part of the country is not covered with wood, and appears to be well cultivated. As for the rest it is very hilly, and on our left hand we had all day the ridge of North Mountains, of which, however, we could not see much, owing to the fogginess of the weather. We crossed many streams at fords; these streams were rather torrents. We crossed the Shenandoah near its source. About seven o’clock in the evening we reached Staunton, and took our lodgings in an unpleasant tavern. This long and uncomfortable journey, in an extremely bad stage, and upon a very rough way, made me quite uneasy, and my young travelling companion more so, for he seemed not to be very much accustomed to such fatigues. I suffered, however, this want of comfort with a great deal of patience.

On the 21st of November, we were obliged to stay in Staunton, because the stage goes only every other day to the Natural Bridge, which is on the road to Knoxville and Louisville, and this bridge being too far distant from Staunton, we could not, with a hired carriage, go there, and return within two days. We employed the leisure forced upon us in examining the country. The town itself is small, has about one thousand six hundred inhabitants, and consists, properly speaking, of but two principal streets, intersecting each other at right angles. The greatest part of the houses are of wood, covered with shingles. Staunton is the chief place of Augusta county; the court was in session, and on that account a great many lawyers were present. The town is surrounded by hills and covered with wood, as far as I could observe in the foggy weather, which lasted all day. The Shenandoah here is but a small brook; opposite the town is a limestone rock, having many cavities. I was told they were very spacious. I tried to creep in, but found the entrance so narrow and low, that I was obliged to give it up. I had obtained from Mrs. Weightman, in Washington, a letter of introduction to Dr. Scheffey, her brother-in-law, and the most renowned lawyer in the place. I delivered it, and received a visit from this gentleman. He came with several of his brother lawyers, and among them three generals of militia were introduced. Dr. Scheffey himself was a major, and almost every inhabitant of distinction is invested with a rank in the militia. The custom being here to call one another by their military rank, one is tempted to believe himself transported to the head-quarters of some army! In conversing with these gentlemen, I observed with astonishment the aristocratical spirit which the Virginians possess. I was astonished to hear them praising hereditary nobility and primogeniture! In the evening I went to see Dr. Scheffey, and we spent the time very pleasantly over a good glass of wine, and in rational conversation.

The next morning, I left my baggage in Staunton at half past two o’clock, in a miserable stage, in order to go to the Natural Bridge, upon a very bad road. We passed only two decent places, Fairfield and Lexington, the last is the chief town of Rockbridge county, and has a court and high school. On account of a fog, which lasted all day, we could see but little of the country, which in some parts of Rockbridge county becomes very mountainous. We forded two small streams, called Middle river and Buffalo creek, over the last there is a wooden bridge, which is made use of only at very high water. Our travelling company was not the most agreeable, it was composed of two Americans, who did not open their mouths, and of an Irish resident, who talked the more for the silence of the others; all this was disagreeable enough. At times he became interesting, when he had cheered his heart with whiskey. We passed by many very handsome country-houses; at one of them we saw eight large black eagles sitting on a fence, they were fed by the care of the proprietor. The inhabitants seem not very fond of shooting, for I saw snipes in Fairfield, which flew even into the yard of the tavern. Game is here very abundant, a deer costs about a dollar and a half.

In the afternoon we reached a lonely tavern, situated in the mountains called Natural Bridge, which is fifty miles distant from Staunton. I availed myself of the short time the sun remained above the horizon to hasten to the Natural Bridge, which is a mile and a half distant from the tavern, and for the sake of which I had made so great a circuit and suffered so many fatigues. A young negro slave from the tavern was our conductor; the way lead through mountains overgrown with wood. At last I stood upon a rock whence I could overlook the cleft and the bridge just before me. In Jefferson’s Notes, that learned man gives a description of the bridge, which is as follows:

“The Natural Bridge, the most sublime of Nature’s works, though not comprehended under the present head, must not be pretermitted. It is on the ascent of a hill, which seems to have been cloven through its length by some great convulsion. The fissure just at the bridge, is by some admeasurements, two hundred and seventy feet deep, by others only two hundred and five. It is about forty-five feet wide at the bottom, and ninety feet at the top; this of course determines the length of the bridge, and its height from the water, its breadth in the middle is about sixty feet, but more at the ends, and the thickness of the mass, at the summit of the arch about forty feet. A part of this thickness is constituted by a coat of earth, which gives growth to many large trees. The residue, with the hill on both sides, is one solid rock of limestone. – The arch approaches the semi-elliptical form, but the larger axis of the ellipsis, which would be the chord of the arch, is many times longer than the transverse. Though the sides of this bridge are provided in some parts with a parapet of fixed rocks, yet few men have resolution to walk to them, and look over into the abyss. You involuntarily fall on your hands and feet, creep to the parapet, and peep over it. Looking down from this height about a minute, gave me a violent head-ache. If the view from the top be painful and intolerable, that from below is delightful in an equal extreme. It is impossible for the emotions arising from the sublime, to be felt beyond what they are here: so beautiful an arch, so elevated, so light, and springing as it were up to heaven! The rapture of the spectator is really indiscribable! The fissure continuing narrow, deep, and straight, for a considerable distance above and below the bridge, opens a short but very pleasing view of the North Mountain on one side and Blue Ridge on the other, at the distance each of them of about five miles. This bridge is in the county of Rockbridge, to which it has given name, and affords a public and commodious passage over a valley, which cannot be crossed elsewhere for a considerable distance. The stream passing under it is called Cedar creek. It is a water of James’s river, and sufficient in the driest seasons to turn a grist-mill, though its fountain is not more than two miles above.”

I confess that I am no poet; yet I was very glad to have taken the trouble of coming hither; this rock-bridge being certainly one of the greatest wonders of nature I have ever beheld; and I have seen Vesuvius and the Phlegrean fields, the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland, the Island of Staffa, and the Falls of Niagara! The brook under the bridge was almost dry; the most majestic view is from below.

On the 23d of November we left the wretched tavern at the Natural Bridge, and returned to Staunton in a crowded stage, in which were four gentlemen from the state of Tennessee, members of congress, going to Washington. I took my seat as usual alongside the coachman, where I had more room and fresh air. We returned as far as Lexington by the road we left it. Having stopped for a short while here, I was the object of much curiosity to the German descendants who are settled here. The town of Lexington was first established about forty years ago, and it now contains eleven hundred inhabitants. In its vicinity upon a hill, is a large arsenal covered with zinc, belonging to the United States.

From Lexington we took another road which led us through the considerable villages of Brownsburgh and Middleburgh. The road was in some places very bad, and terribly rough; but we sometimes found a side road, which in that dry season was still very good; it ran generally through a forest. We saw lonely houses and met with many travellers on horseback, several of them were well dressed white women. All our coachmen in this state were whites; I was surprised at this, knowing that black coachmen could be had at a cheaper rate, and was told that in this state, blacks were not allowed to drive the mail stage.

On the 24th of November, after nine o’clock in the morning, we set out from Staunton in a hired coach, in order to pass by a circuitous route the celebrated Wier’s cave, and thence continue our journey to Charlotteville, whither we had sent our heavy baggage by the stage.

As far as Wier’s cave, eighteen miles distant, we had a good country road. We took our lodgings in a lonely house belonging to Mr. Mohler, a German from Pennsylvania, of Saxon origin. The way was through a hilly, woody country; many breaks in the earth presented limestone rocks, and announced the proximity of caves. For a sportsman this country must be delightful, for we saw in the woods two flocks of partridges, which left the road, only to give way to the passing carriage, and then settled at not more than ten paces from us. On the banks of the creeks we saw a great number of snipes. Mohler’s house is situated on a considerable creek, called the South river, which by means of a canal, works a grist-mill and forge.

The grist-mill belongs to a miller, who has also a whiskey distillery, and upwards of one hundred acres of land, with four negro slaves. He cultivates wheat, some rye, and a great quantity of Indian corn. His mill, a large stone building, is arranged very compendiously, and reminded me of the large steam-mill at Baltimore. There are only two pairs of stones, one for wheat, and the other for Indian corn. The boulted flour is conveyed to the upper floor by means of elevators, and spread upon it by a rake, which has a circular and horizontal motion, in order to cool it. He sends his flour packed up in barrels to Richmond, and even to Baltimore. The industrious Mohler has connected with his grist-mill, a saw-mill, and a mill to break flax, which is likewise cultivated, though not in a large quantity; this year, on account of the dryness, it has failed.

The entrance of the cave is about a mile and a half from Mohler’s house, and is situated in the middle of a steep side of a mountain on the bank of the South river. We crept down the hollow, every one provided with a taper, and came directly into a space where we could stand up; there were some beautiful stalactites, mostly in columns. This place is called the antichamber. Then we arrived at a hall called dragon’s room, from a stalactite, which is said to have the form of a dragon. Several of the stalactites are not unlike waterfalls; one of them is called Niagara Falls.

The following gallery is called the Devil’s gallery, from a figure standing in it; yet I found in this figure more resemblance to a statue of the virgin, than to that of a devil.

A whole stratum of the stalactites detached from the roof of the cavern, was as it were, suspended between heaven and earth, and afforded a fine view, especially as a new formation of stalactites took place between the roof and the suspended stratum.

A narrow hollow passage leads into a more spacious cavern called Solomon’s Temple; here are very singular and mostly foliated transparent stalactites, hanging from the roof down to the floor. Not far from that cavern is another, named hide-room, in which the stalactites hang down in form of hides in a tannery. Then we came into another vault, which is called the drum-room, because if a stone is thrown against the stalactites, they give a sound resembling that of a drum. Some of the stalactites having the form of sticks, and ranged in circles, produce all the sounds of an octave, if struck with a stick. You pass afterwards through a narrow passage, by an opening, which looks like an antique tomb in ruins, and is called Patterson’s grave, in commemoration of an individual of that name who fell in there. By means of a rather rotten ladder, you come now into a very high smooth saloon, eighty feet long, called the ball-room, in which benches are placed; I was told that visitors having ladies with them, entertained themselves here very often with dancing. Then you ascend another ladder, and creep on all fours through a narrow hollow, which has been partly enlarged by a mine, when you arrive at a natural, but very slippery staircase, called Jacob’s ladder, which you descend; then passing through a narrow dungeon, you get into a more spacious room, named Senate-chamber, when by means of a rotten ladder you reach a long gallery, called Washington-hall, from a large stalactite standing in the middle of it, and having the form of a statue, which is called Washington’s statue.

Not far from this statue, there is a small fountain, the water of which, though very thirsty, I did not venture to drink, having some days since experienced bad consequences from drinking water from limestone rocks. Next to this hall, is a place in which the stalactites covering the rock, have a shining crystalline-like surface, wherefore this vault is called the diamond room. Farther on, you get in a large saloon called the dining room, in which the stalactites represent something not unlike a side-board set with bottles and tumblers. In Washington-hall there is a heap of this filtered stone, called the hay-stack, and over it hangs another stalactite, having the form of a rake.