Friday, February 28, 2020

Rippon Lodge in Woodbridge, Virginia

Rippon Lodge today
Photo: Ileana Johnson January 2020
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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