Transcription
Lansing reviews history of historic old Dumfries
Architect Lee Lansing, speaking at the June meeting of Historic Dumfries expressed the opinion that early traders liked the isolation of the port of Dumfries because it gave them more opportunity to "flaunt the law."
Lansing said that when the town first flourished prior to the 1700s, the Scots found that it was more profitable to trade with the Dutch than the English as was required by law.
Since the Potomac path at that time did not support wagon transportation and the port was out of the way of the main stream of traffic, it was not too often that the authorities visited the area to check on shipping, Lansing said.
Politically there was more freedom in the Dumfries area than in Jamestown where the London Company was established. The assembly at that time was occupied with the local problems of Jamestown and paid little heed to other areas.
The earliest London Company warehouse in the area was recorded in 1685. Dutch Fur Trade is referred to in 1680 and 1690.
There were of course other reasons why settlers chose the Dumfries area, Lansing said. There was peaceful cohabitation with the Indians. The area was abundant in natural resources, berries, fruits, fish and wild fowl.
There was stone available locally for building, and clay suitable for making bricks was abundant. There was a good harbor and open lands to the west of the lower Piedmont.
In 1745 the English brought 3,800 political prisoners - mostly lords and worriers to America and dumped them on the dock like baggage, Lansing said. Many of the refugees went to the frontier where land was available. They settled Piedmont, Warrington, Culpeper and Brentstown.
The three men who did more to settle Dumfries and Alexandria than any others were John Graham, John Dalton and John Carlisle moved to Alexandria as the creek began to silt up.
Upon completion of his task,
display of early Dumfries buildings. He plans to put them in the form of a book on the history of Dumfries, he said.
Lansing will give another presentation at the next regular meeting of the Historic Occoquan meeting July 12.
The membership voted to submit the by-laws to the attorney for review.
A nominating committee was selected consisting of Pete Costello, Joyce King, George Stringer and Bob Gentzel.
Walter Bailey, a history teacher at Woodbridge High School and a member of the Occoquan Town Council, presented a proposal to the group that he have his students do a study of the history of Dumfries similar to a study done this year on Occoquan.
The students interviewed long-time residents and researched at the library and came up with a rather complete history of the Occoquan area which they hope to put in small book form.
Members voted to have the students undertake the study.
A total of 35 persons have paid the $5 membership fee for Historic dumfries so far.Transcriber
Adam KitchenLanguage
English