Travels Through North America, During the Years 1825 and 1826. v. 1-2

Under the rotunda are three elliptical halls, the destination of which is not yet entirely determined. The set of columns on the outside of this building, I was told is to be a very fine one; the capitals were made in Italy.

As for the rest, the ten buildings on the right and left are not at all regularly built, but each of them in a different manner, so that there is no harmony in the whole, which prevents it from having a beautiful and majestic appearance.

The garden walls of the lateral building are also in crooked lines, which gives them a singular but handsome appearance. The buildings have been executed according to Mr. Jefferson’s plan, and are his hobby; he is rector of the University, in the construction of which the state of Virginia is said to have laid out considerable sums of money.

We addressed a gentleman whom we met by chance, in order to get some information, and we had every reason to be satisfied with his politeness. It was Dr. Dunglison, professor of medicine. He is an Englishman, and came last year with three other professors from Europe. He showed us the library, which was still inconsiderable, and has been provisionally arranged in a lecture room; it contained some German belles lettres works, among others a series of Kotzebue’s calendar of dramatical works. It was said a great quantity of books was coming from Europe.

The university is situated on a hill in a very healthy situation, and there is a very fine view of the Blue Ridge. President Jefferson invited us to a family dinner; but as in Charlotteville there is but a single hackney-coach, and this being absent, we were obliged to go the three miles to Monticello on foot.

We went by a pathway, through well cultivated and enclosed fields, crossed a creek named Rivanna, passing on a trunk of a tree cut in a rough shape, and without rails; then ascended a steep hill overgrown with wood, and came on its top to Mr. Jefferson’s house, which is in an open space, walled round with bricks, forming an oblong, whose shorter sides are rounded; on each of the longer sides are portals of four columns.

The unsuccessful waiting for a carriage, and our long walk, caused such a delay, that we found the company at table when we entered; but Mr. Jefferson came very kindly to meet us, forced us to take our seats, and ordered dinner to be served up anew. He was an old man of eighty-six years of age, of tall stature, plain appearance, and long white hair.

In conversation he was very lively, and his spirits, as also his hearing and sight, seemed not to have decreased at all with his advancing age. I found in him a man who retained his faculties remarkably well in his old age, and one would have taken him for a man of sixty. He asked me what I had seen in Virginia. I eulogized all the places, that I was certain would meet with his approbation, and he seemed very much pleased. The company at the table, consisted of the family of his daughter, Mrs. Randolph, and of that of the professor of mathematics at the university, an Englishman, and of his wife. I turned the conversation to the subject of the university, and observed, that this was the favourite topic with Mr. Jefferson; he entertained very sanguine hopes as to the flourishing state of the university in future, and believed that it, and the Harvard University near Boston, would in a very short time be the only institutions, where the youth of the United States would receive a truly classical and solid education. After dinner we intended to take our leave, in order to return to Charlotteville; but Mr. Jefferson would not consent to it. He pressed us to remain for the night at his house. The evening was spent by the fire; a great deal was said about travels, and objects of natural history; the fine arts were also introduced, of which Mr. Jefferson was a great admirer. He spoke also of his travels in France, and the country on the Rhine, where he was very much pleased. His description of Virginia is the best proof what an admirer he is of beauties of nature. He told us that it was only eight months since he could not ride on horseback; otherwise, he rode every day to visit the surrounding country; he entertained, however, hopes of being able to re-commence the next spring his favourite exercise. Between nine and ten o’clock in the evening, the company broke up, and a handsome room was assigned to me.

The next morning I took a walk round the house, and admired the beautiful panorama, which this spot presents. On the left, I saw the Blue Ridge, and between them and Monticello are smaller hills. Charlotteville and the University lay at my feet; before me, the valley of the Rivanna river, which farther on, makes its junction with the James river, and on my right was the flat part of Virginia, the extent of which is lost in distance; behind me was a towering hill, which limited the sight. The interior of the house was plain, and the furniture somewhat of an old fashion. In the entrance was a marble stove with Mr. Jefferson’s bust, by Ceracchi. In the rooms hung several copies of the celebrated pictures of the Italian school, views of Monticello, Mount Vernon, the principal buildings in Washington and Harper’s Ferry; there were also an oil painting, and an engraving of the Natural Bridge, views of Niagara by Vanderlin, a sketch of the large picture by Trumbull, representing the surrender at Yorktown, and a pen drawing of Hector’s departure, by Benjamin West, presented by him to General Kosciuszko, finally, several portraits of Mr. Jefferson, among which the best was that in profile by Stuart. In the saloon there were two busts, one of Napoleon as first consul, and another of the Emperor Alexander. Mr. Jefferson admired Napoleon’s military talents, but did not love him. After breakfast, which we took with the family, we bid the respectable old man farewell, and set out upon our return on foot to Charlotteville.

Mr. Jefferson tendered us the use of his carriage, but I declined, as I preferred walking in a fine and cool morning. In the afternoon we left Charlotteville, in a tolerably good stage, in order to go to Richmond, the chief town of Virginia, distant eighty miles. A student was our travelling companion, and so we had plenty of room. But the stage went only ten miles to a small tavern situated in a wood, and kept by Mrs. Boyd. We passed by not far from Monticello, crossed the Rivanna at a rather deep ford, and remained for some miles on its left bank. The banks were high and rocky in some places. The road was, for the greatest part, through a wood, hilly and rough; in some places it was what they call causeway.

On the 28th of November we set out at half past two o’clock in the morning, by moonlight and very cold weather, and went seventy miles to Richmond. The stage was better, and the road was also better than formerly. Notwithstanding that the country continued hilly, a considerable portion of the road was causeway, for the greatest part of logs, and the country uninteresting. When we approached James river, along the banks of which we went for some miles, the country grew finer, and had it been more settled I would have compared it with that on the Elbe, above Dresden. The ground was in the beginning loamy, then sandy. We changed horses at isolated taverns. Gordonsville and Goochland were the only villages through which we passed, and in these villages too the houses were very scattered, and almost all of them of wood. We rode on the left bank of James river, and passed by a navigable canal, which is said to extend in land about eighty miles above Richmond, and appeared to have been constructed with great care; the wooden bridges were neatly constructed and solid; an aqueduct of two arches, which conducted the canal over a brook having high banks, was well built. About eight o’clock in the evening we reached Richmond, a town of about seventeen thousand inhabitants of both colours. To judge by the houses, Richmond must be a wealthy place. We took our lodgings in the Union Hotel, a large and well-furnished inn. I felt really happy at finding myself once again in a considerable place, as I was almost unaccustomed to such a sight.

We could not depart on the 29th of November, as no steam-boat went in the direction we wished to take. My design was to go to Yorktown, to see the remains of an English fortification of the revolutionary war, and Fort Monroe near Old Point Comfort, and then to travel on farther to Norfolk, to see the navy-yard, thence to hasten to the south, in order to make up for the time I spent in Virginia. I took a walk through the town, to look around, for there was nothing else remarkable to be seen. The town lies on the left bank of James river, and consists of two streets, running parallel with the river, and of several insignificant alleys. The main street, which lies next to the river, is finished, the other does not contain many houses; the former is probably a mile long, paved, and has side-walks made of bricks. As they burn coal here, the city looks nearly black. In the western part of Virginia, they only use wood. The blacks seem to compose the most numerous part of the population of that place. It is here where James river becomes navigable; above the city, navigation is carried on by the above-mentioned canal, which here joins the river, after having gone through a large basin, at whose wharves they were yet working. This canal descends in the city from a considerable height, by means of eight locks; the sides of the canal between the locks are only made of plank. On the hill where those locks begin, there is a pretty large basin, which serves as an harbour for the boats coming from the countries above, and bound for Richmond. In the vicinity of this basin, I saw a hollow formed by rocks and full of wooden huts, which were inhabited by negroes, and exhibited a true picture of human misery. This hollow has the form of a funnel. In rainy weather, these poor people must probably suffer a great deal from dampness. Below the locks, you cross James river on a wooden bridge resting on wooden trestles. From this bridge you go over a side bridge to a small island, containing a public garden, and lying in the middle of the river; above the island a ledge of rocks crosses the river and forms a small cataract; farther up there are said to be several other falls in the river.

On a hill which commands the city, stands the state-house, called the capitol, surrounded by a newly laid out garden; it reminds one of the Maison Quarrée, at Nismes in France. On one of the smaller sides of the parallelogram there is a portico of eight Ionic columns. But these columns are of wood only, and have, when closely inspected, a rather decayed appearance. On the two long sides, the building has entrances with steps. In the hall in the middle of the house, there is a full length marble statue of President Washington, somewhat tasteless. It represents the great man in uniform; the right hand reposing on a cane, the left arm on fasces, to which a sword is hanging, and against which the plough leans. In one of the lateral chambers the court of the United States was assembled, to try a captain of a merchant vessel, and a Frenchman by birth. This man had twice sunk his ship, in order to get the insurance money for it. At one of these sinkings, a lady lost her life, and on that account the captain was accused of murder. I was sorry I could not fully understand the debates and speeches of the advocates, as I heard that the person under trial had the best lawyers for his defenders. The decision did not follow.

Behind the capitol stands the court-house, a massive building with a portico of four Doric stone columns; in the interior of the building I saw nothing farther remarkable. At several booksellers I asked in vain for the plan of the city and the surrounding country, also for a description of the canal.

We intended to leave Richmond at three o’clock in the morning of the 30th of November, and set out on our projected tour. But, as the ordinary stage was repairing, they put us in a small carriage with only two horses, in which it was impossible to carry our baggage. As I would not part with it, I gave up the tour which I had concluded on, and left Richmond, in the morning at eight o’clock, on board the steam-boat Richmond, to descend the James river to Norfolk. In the mean time, I had an opportunity of noticing the particular manner in which the negroes are treated. I wished to employ my leisure in writing; when I entered the room, I found several slaves wrapt up in woollen blankets, sleeping on the floor by the chimney-fire; upon inquiring, I was told that slaves never receive a better bed.

We had one hundred and twenty-two miles to Norfolk, and reached that city between nine and ten o’clock in the evening. During the whole day the weather was not clear; on the banks of the meandering James river, which grows gradually larger, there was not any thing remarkable. The travelling company was not large, and was composed of incommunicative persons: I could not exchange a word with any of them. There was no opportunity of writing, as the engine communicated such a quivering motion to the whole vessel, that I could hardly hold my pen, and spent my time in reading. Towards evening we perceived a large stone building on the left bank, the only remains of James Town, the first English settlement in Virginia. The following romantic story is related. An Indian princess, Pocahontas, daughter of a powerful Indian chief on the banks of this river, whose name was Powhattan, fell in love with the English Captain Smith, who was the commander of the first settlement at James Town. This Indian princess swam across the river in a stormy night, in order to give notice to her lover of the conspiracy of her father and the principal chiefs, against his life. In this manner she saved the new settlement, and also twice afterwards under the same circumstances. However, her lover fell at last into an Indian ambush, and was to become a victim of the Indians. Then she laid her head down with his on the block, and once more saved his life. This scene is represented by a bas relief, which is in the large rotunda in Washington. Captain Smith was a married man, and on that account could not, when returning to England, take his benefactress with him; he made her believe that he was dead, and secretly went on board a ship. Some time afterwards, Pocahontas married Rolf, who succeeded her lover in the command of the settlement, and followed him to England. She met once, by chance, with her first lover in the street, whom she believed to have been dead, and soon sunk into such a melancholy state, that she left England, embarked for America, and died on the passage.35

In very disagreeable weather we landed at Norfolk, a city of ten thousand inhabitants, and took our lodgings in Carr’s Hotel, a tolerably good tavern. I made acquaintance with Mr. Meyau, the French Consul, a very pleasant man. In his company I went the next day to Fort Monroe, distant fourteen miles from Norfolk. We went in the Baltimore steam-boat. It fortunately happened that our steam-boat, with the steam-boat Richmond, were engaged to tow the frigate Constellation into Hampton Roads, which could not sail on account of a feeble breeze. This road is intended to be the principal rendezvous of the United States navy, and is advantageously situated; it commands the Chesapeake bay, which is to be connected by a large union canal with the Delaware, and consequently with Philadelphia, so that the ships built in the navy yard can go into Hampton Roads, where they will be armed.

On a point of land called Old Point Comfort, in the above mentioned road, on which also is a light-house, lies the principal Fort Monroe, and before it upon the sand-bank Riprap, a small casemated fort called Calhoun, to command the road or rather the passage from a nearer point. To prevent this position from being turned on its right wing by a land army, all the dry points between Norfolk and the surrounding impracticable marshes are to be fortified, and a large central arsenal with dry-docks is to be erected farther backwards in the bay, in order to receive a whole fleet after a battle, and fit it out there. The frigate Constellation, under the command of Captain Woolsey, was designed for the West India station, called the pirate station; the principal object being to suppress these wretches. The frigate is one of the oldest ships, and served in the last war, but being blockaded in Hampton roads, could not come to any engagement. She is what they call a thirty-six gun ship, but carries forty-eight pieces, thirty-two pounders, and caronades of the same calibre. The guns were almost all from the captured English frigate Macedonian.

We passed by a small fortified Island, called Crany Island, and by a fort on our right, both rendered useless, since Fort Monroe was built, and their works will be demolished; we approached the Constellation, our steam-boat on her left side, where she was made fast with cables. The steam-boat Richmond did the same on the right of the frigate. Captain Woolsey finding that I was on board of the boat, had the kindness to invite me on board the frigate. His cabin was in the forepart of the gundeck; and was very neat, having four guns in it. The after-cabin was arranged as a parlour and contained two cabinets, all tastefully contrived. The officers had their lodgings below, as in a ship of the line. I was very much pleased with the great neatness and general order that prevailed. Even by the sentry at the captain’s door was placed a spit-box, and every thing of iron or copper, shone like mirrors. Instead of the ordinary and very often incorrect hour-glasses of our ships, there was by the sentry a chronometer, for the purpose of calling the hour. We came on board, as the last anchor was lifted, and then proceeded, being towed by the two boats till we came opposite Fort Monroe; where, on account of the feeble breeze, the anchor was dropped, and the steam-boats continued on their way.

Captain Woolsey gave us a boat with twelve oars, under the command of a midshipman, to carry us to Fort Monroe. A guard composed of thirty marines was under arms, and made a military salute, whilst the frigate saluted me with seventeen guns. When we landed we stopped at a very good tavern, where we found two majors of artillery. After dinner we went to survey the fortress, which General Bernard planned; but the work was yet far from being completed. The fortress consists of a bastioned heptagon, which can be attacked from land, but by a single front. The sides facing the sea, are entirely casemated, and every gun has its particular arch. On the most dangerous side where the ships of the enemy can approach the land, there is on the counterscarp, a casemated coast-battery protected by the fire of heavy guns on the rampart. This battery on the counterscarp was built temporarily of wood, like a block-house, and served the garrison for quarters. The coping is of granite, found in the vicinity of Washington. The arches are of brick. The government does not build by contract, but by measure, what the French call au mètre cube; whereby it obtains good work. The masons work only is performed by hired workmen, mostly by blacks; other work is done by military prisoners, who have been condemned by court martial to public labours. The garrison consists of eleven companies of artillery, which form a provisional regiment, and are under the command of Colonel Fenwick, and Lieutenant-Colonel Eustis. The first officer I became acquainted with, at General Brown’s in Washington, where he is still residing. To the latter I was recommended by Lieutenant-Colonel Bankheard from New York. Mr. Eustis invited me to stay till to-morrow, in order to show me his regiment; but I was obliged to decline his invitation on account of time.

We availed ourselves of the opportunity, which the steam-boat Potomac presented coming from Washington to go to Norfolk, and went on board of her in a boat rowed by artillerists. About nine o’clock, P. M. we landed in Norfolk, all day we had disagreeable rainy weather. I designed to stay longer in order to see the navy-yard in Gosport, a mile distant from Norfolk; Mr. Meyau would accompany me. The landlord, who was willing to derive as much advantage as possible from my presence, had advertised in the papers, he would on that day give a dinner of turtle-soup, game, wild ducks, &c, but it was written in the book of fate, that I should not partake of these dainties. On inquiring, I was told that the mail stage was the only ordinary means of communication with the south, and went only on Tuesdays and Fridays to Fayetteville, and consequently if we did not leave Norfolk in half an hour, we should be obliged to wait until the next Tuesday. This not at all agreeing with my travelling plan, and as a hired coach could not be procured, I packed up my baggage in great haste, bid the friendly Mr. Meyau farewell, and left Norfolk at half past ten o’clock in the mail stage, connected with the Baltimore steam-boat.

We went sixty-eight miles to Murfreesborough, where we arrived about eleven o’clock in the evening. We crossed at first two small inlets of the bay, on very long wooden bridges, passed through Portsmouth, a small place near the navy-yard, where I saw the ship of the line Delaware, and the frigate Macedonian, taken from the British, in ordinary, but had no time to examine this very interesting establishment. We had scarcely left this place when we entered a forest, through which we travelled during the day. The country is a large marsh, called the Dismal Swamp, crossed by a sandy road. The forest is very thick, and consists of oak trees, among which I noticed the live oak, cypress, cedar and pine trees; on the marshy spots there are evergreen trees, and bushes of the Portuguese laurel and holly; here and there were also magnolias, and large wild vines around the trees. This variety of vegetation must look very fine in the summer season, however I was told that at that time flies and mosquetos were very troublesome, and that there are also a great many snakes. This marsh is said to be full of bears, which, however, never attack men. In Suffolk, twenty-eight miles from Norfolk, a small place, having wooden houses, and situated in the middle of the forest, we took our dinner. The wheat bread became scarce by degrees, and in its place we had a sort of cakes made of Indian corn. On the other side of Suffolk, we passed by a cotton plantation, the first I saw. It was already night when we passed the boundary and entered on the territory of North Carolina. We crossed the rivers Nottoway and Meherrin in bad and narrow ferry-boats, which were very dangerous, as the night was very dark. Candles and lamps seem to be here very scarce; for the few houses that we passed by were lighted with torches of pine: we took some of them to light our way. Our journeying was very unpleasant, on account of a rainy and very dark night. We alighted in Murfreesborough at a tolerably good inn.

On the 3d of December, at two o’clock, A. M., we set out in dreadful rainy weather, which lasted all day, and travelled as far as Emerson’s tavern, seventy-five miles distant. The country still continued woody as yesterday, and in frequent marshy spots, presented to the eye a very pleasant variety by the evergreen trees and bushes. In some places the country was somewhat cultivated; that is, there were some plantations where cotton and Indian corn were raised. Such a plantation consists only of wooden buildings; in the middle is the house of the planter, with a piazza; on its right and left are log-houses for negro slaves, and barns for corn and cotton. Horses are kept in very spacious wooden stables; cows and pigs in the open air within an enclosure of worm fences. Only fattening beasts are kept in stables. In many plantations we saw cotton-gins, in which the seed is separated from the cotton by means of a cylindrical hackle. These mills are worked either by water or horses. The cotton cleaned from its seed is put into a large chest, pressed in, and packed up. In the chest is a bag, which receives the cotton; the cover of the chest is moveable, and is pressed on the cotton by means of a screw turned by two horses; afterwards the cover is taken away, the bag closed, and the bale which it forms fastened with ropes; such a bale weighs on an average three hundred pounds. This is a very troublesome work, and only two bales can be made in a day. If instead of that awkward machine, they would make use of Brahmah’s water press, a great deal of time, expense and power would be spared. The bagging made use of is wove in England. We crossed the Roanoke river in a rather bad ferry-boat. The banks of the river are really picturesque, and covered with a variety of southern plants, which reminded one of a park. We dined at a very good tavern in a small town called Tarborough, situated on the river of the same name. We had already crossed this river, and were delighted with its fine banks. Our lodgings were at a solitary plantation, where we arrived at eight o’clock in the evening; the house was entirely of wood, except the chimney. It was rather transparent; they assigned us a garret for a sleeping place, and through the cracks in the floor we could see into the room below. If fire once breaks out in such a house, it cannot be saved. In the morning we passed by the smoking rubbish of a school-house, which burned down in an hour; the brick chimney alone was standing. The log-houses of the negro slaves in particular are very open, and present by night when lighted with pine splinters a very singular appearance. The road was thoroughly sandy; however, it was interrupted by log causeways, which are made over the marshy spots, in passing which in the mail stage we were shaken to pieces. The small town of Tarborough where we dined, is said to contain eight hundred inhabitants, is regularly built, has broad streets, but its houses are of wood. I saw but two built of brick; had there been more brick houses, I should have compared this pleasant place to a village in Holland.