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Rippon Lodge today
Photo: Ileana Johnson January 2020
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One of the
oldest homes left standing in Prince William County, a Confederate stronghold
during the Civil War, is Rippon Lodge located on a 42-acre retreat in
Woodbridge, Virginia. There is a vegetable garden, a cemetery, the main house, a
well, the caretaker’s house, the chauffeurs’ house, and a cabin used as a farm
office and guest house.
Legend says
that Rippon Lodge was built in 1725. In 1916, men were removing bees from the
house and told the owners that they saw 1725 inscribed on a wood stud. If true, then Rippon would have been older
than George Washington’s Mount Vernon whose construction started in 1743.
But science disproved
the legend. Wood samples were analyzed by dendrologists and, based on the ring
growth of trees, they determined when the trees were cut down before they were
used to build the house. There must have been another building there prior to
Rippon Lodge because parts of the central chimney predate 1747.
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
The house
underwent changes during its three centuries of existence and they reflected the
needs and likes of various owners at the time.
The earliest
known image of Rippon Lodge was a watercolor drawn by Benjamin H. Latrobe in
1796, as the house of Colonel Thomas Blackburn. The house, built in 1745 by
Richard Blackburn, appears as it was before his youngest son, Thomas Blackburn,
enlarged it in 1800. Thomas was a Revolutionary War veteran who served under
his friend, George Washington.
Neabsco Creek from the Rippon Lodge waterfront
Estates such
as this, with riverfront property and thus excellent proximity to water
shipping, engaged in agricultural commerce to sell the products of its agribusiness,
especially tobacco, highly prized for export, commercial fishing, distilleries,
and animal husbandry. The wealthy land owner
would have acquired property and land holdings all the way to Manassas. Neabsco
Creek led to the Potomac River.
Transplanted elm tree
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
A huge
American elm tree, shading the main house, did not grow there. It was
transplanted by Judge Wade H. Ellis from somewhere else and thus it escaped the
Dutch elm disease. At the time of its transplantation, it was 50 years old,
which makes it today about 145 years old.
Bicentennial Oak tree in Leesylvania
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
Bicentennial Oak tree in Leesylvania
Photo: Ileana Johnson, 2011
The Leesylvania
Park bicentennial oak tree (Quercus Alba) which grew close to the 1825 Fairfax
home and plantation a few miles down the Potomac River, lived until recently
when it broke in half.
Benjamin
Henry Latrobe (1764-1820) came to Virginia from England in 1796. He worked on
the U.S. Capitol from 1803 when President Thomas Jefferson asked him to finish
the building which “occupied Latrobe for the rest of his life.”
On July 13,
1796, while visiting as Thomas Blackburn’s guest, Latrobe sketched several
buildings on the property and drew wasps that lived inside the walls of Rippon
Lodge. I can only imagine the buzzing sounds they must’ve made inside the walls.
Blackburn and Latrobe seemed to have been friends as their letters spoke of people
they both knew.
Latrobe's watercolor of Rippon Lodge
Photo: Rippon Lodge Archives
Latrobe described
the two houses he drew as not “sufficiently commodious.” Even after all this
time, the walls and doors seem to let a lot of hot or cold air in and living
inside must’ve been quite drafty.
Judge Wade
H. Ellis, a wealthy D. C. lawyer, began renovations of the Lodge in 1924. He
and his wife Dessie devoted a lot of time, money, and five years to complete
the restoration of Rippon Lodge as it stands today. They preserved the
structure of the main rooms, adding wings on both north and south sides, a
large colonnaded front and back porches. According to Prince William County
Historical Society, Wade H. Ellis was active in the Sons of the American
Revolution and Dessie in the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Wade and Dessie Ellis, Archive photos
Judge Wade
Ellis lived at Rippon Lodge from 1924-1948 and, during that time, he told the
story that one bedroom upstairs with black floor is where George Washington
slept when he visited frequently. Ellis decorated the room with colonial-style
furniture. The legend is not true. George Washington did lodge with Colonel Blackburn,
but nobody knows in which bedroom he slept.
Assumed George Washington guest bedroom
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
George
Washington did record visits with the Blackburn family members. According to
Prince William County Historical Society, “Between May 19, 1772 and July 31,
1798 various Blackburns visited Mount Vernon eighteen times. George Washington
wrote of only two visits to Colonel Thomas Blackburn’s home.” From Washington’s
Diary:
15 March
1775
“Set of[f]
for Richmond. Din[‘]d in Colchester with Mr. Wagener & lodgd at Colo. Blackburns.”et
10 June
1778
“[S]et
out for Fredericksburg accompanied by Mrs. Washington; on to visit my mother.
Made a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson in Colchester, and reached Colo.
Blackburn’s to dinner, where we lodgd. He was from home…”
Thomas and Christina
Scott Blackburn and George and Martha Washington were close friends on grounds
of military and local government concerns while the women had social and family
ties. Julia Ann (Nancy) Blackburn married Bushrod Washington in 1785 and Jane
Charlotte Blackburn married John Augustine Washington in 1811. Both weddings
took place at Rippon Lodge in the main room.
Main room interior at Rippon Lodge with spartan furnishings
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
Julia Ann
Blackburn and Bushrod Washington inherited both Mount Vernon and Rippon Lodge.
They sold Rippon Lodge in 1811 to the Atkinson family.
18th century interior at Rippon Lodge
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
A hundred
years later, in 1911, the Atkinson family sold Rippon Lodge to the D.C.
brothers, Thomas and Gus Marion who used it as a hunting lodge and farm and
sold it in 1924 to Wade H. Ellis who made major renovations to the main house.
Walkway to cemetery today at Rippon Lodge
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
The house
was purchased in 1952 by Admiral Richard Blackburn Black, a WWII veteran and Antarctic
explorer. Before he died in 1992, he
expressed his wish to have the house preserved. Prince William County acquired
the property in 2000 and began its restoration.
Property at sunset
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
The house
furnishings are not original to the house except for a few portraits. The furniture
was collected by Judge Ellis and date to various periods of the house. There
are no closets because two centuries ago taxes were paid according to the
number of closets, so owners would just buy free standing chifforobes to hold
their clothing.
Rippon Lodge side today
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
A rope bed with
a rolled straw mattress and a rope crank tightener were part of the bedroom
furniture. The ropes that held the mattress onto the bed frame had to be
tightened each day. The old saying, “don’t let the bed bugs bite” goes back to
the time when mattresses were filled with straw and blood feasting bugs.
Rope bed and tightener at Rippon Lodge
Photo: Ileana Johnson
There is a
legend that Rippon Lodge may have been associated with the Masonic Order and
that George Washington may have attended meetings at Ripon Lodge. According to
the Prince William Historical Society “this legend is probably true.”
Carriage house seen through rolled glass windows
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
“Recent research
“supports the belief that Freemasons may have met at Rippon Lodge during the
late 1700s. Before Lodges were established in Fredericksburg (1752) and
Dumfries (1797) local Freemasons met informally in taverns, inns, and homes.
While we lack evidence that Richard and/or Thomas Blackburn were Freemasons,
their involvement in the Order is quite likely.”
Cozy guest house at Rippon Lodge
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
The Prince
William County Historical Society does not know why Richard Blackburn named his
property Rippon Lodge, but it was not built as a Masonic Lodge since Masonic
temples were not built until the 19th century.
Tunnel at Rippon Lodge
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
A tunnel
lined with bricks stretches from the cellar of the house to the ravine in the
north. A recent earthquake made it quite unstable, but the gated tunnel entrance
is visible. During the restoration in 1924, Thomas Blackburn silver was found
under the house. It was believed that the tunnel was original to the 1747 house.
It was probably dug by workers to remove dirt as they built the cellar. Judge
Ellis liked to enchant his visitors by telling them that it was an escape
tunnel from the Indians. That was not true since the “native Dogue Indians had moved
inland from the Potomac River and Occoquan Creek by the mid-1600s.”
Richard Blackburn and wife Mary's tombs
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
Col. Richard
Blackburn is buried (d. 1757) in the family cemetery on the property. He had
come from Rippon, England and died at the Rippon Lodge at the age of 52. Judge
Ellis had the words on Richard Blackburn’s gravestone cast in metal but his
wife’s (Mary, d. 1775) tombstone carvings had faded over time. Richard Blackburn’s
gravestone lists his accomplishments.
Assumed burial site of Thomas Blackburn
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
“The actual location
of Thomas Blackburn’s grave within the burying ground is unknown.” There are
others buried in the cemetery, but the graves could not be identified. Other
Blackburns and Atkinsons are likely buried here.
Scattered grave markers at Rippon Lodge
Photo: Ileana Johnson, January 2020
In the past,
people in rural areas were buried on their property. There are some stones that
were brought from the nearby Neabsco Creek and have been placed by Judge Ellis on
mound shapes that resembled graves. There are no bodies underneath. One such
stone is dedicated to Rose Peters, a stranger who died in 1649 or 1679. She was
buried near Neabsco Creek.
Two large
stones were pulled from the Occoquan River – one marks the death of a Martin
Scarlit who died in 1695. The writing on the other large stone has eroded. Both
stones were moved to Rippon Lodge in 2005 from the Wildlife Refuge at Occoquan
Bay where they were placed in a grove of trees in the 1900s.
The guide
explained that it is a miracle that the house survived destruction by fire this
long especially since the area witnessed heavy fighting during the Civil War
and, when the Union won, they had cleared the area of Confederate soldiers and
used various buildings as lodging and offices.
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