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Happy Retreat (also known as Charles Washington House and Mordington) is a historic property in
Charles Town, West Virginia Charles Town is a city in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States, and is also the county seat. The population was 5,259 at the 2010 census. It is named for its founder Charles Washington, youngest brother of President George Washington. ...
, which was originally owned and developed by
Charles Washington Charles Washington (May 2, 1738 – September 16, 1799) was a Virginia planter and government official in several counties, who founded a town in the Shenandoah Valley which was named Charles Town in his honor shortly after his death and that o ...
, the youngest brother of
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
and the founder of Charles Town.


Description

Happy Retreat is a -story white-painted brick structure, with two-story flanking wings. The main facade has a prominent
Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...
pediment with no colonnade. An elliptical fanlight is centered in the pediment. Below, the main facade is three bays wide, with a one-story flat-roofed porch supported by Doric columns. The wings are attached by short hyphens, and have stepped masonry gables. The wings predate the central block. The main block features a transverse entry hall across the width of the block. Apart from the massing, the exterior has been extensively altered using revival-syle details and elements.


History

Charles inherited land in the
Shenandoah Valley The Shenandoah Valley () is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge- ...
upon the death of his older brother
Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...
in 1752. Charles was 14 years of age at the time, and living at
Ferry Farm Ferry Farm, also known as the George Washington Boyhood Home Site or the Ferry Farm Site, is the farm and home where George Washington spent much of his childhood. The site is located in Stafford County, Virginia, along the northern bank of the Ra ...
, near
Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,982. The Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United States Department of Commerce combines the city of Fredericksburg wi ...
. In 1780, Charles and his wife Mildred moved to his land from Fredericksburg. By that time, he had constructed two one-story structures on the property, separated by a breezeway or portico, and had named the property "Happy Retreat.". In October 1786, by act of the
Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...
, Charles Town was established on of Charles's land adjacent to Happy Retreat, and Charles played an important role in planning the streets and construction activities of the new town. Although Happy Retreat is usually considered to have been established in 1780, there is reason to believe that Charles's land may have been farmed as early as 1768. This date appears on the cornerstone of the old kitchen at Happy Retreat, but has never been fully authenticated. The structure of, and materials used in, the kitchen and old brick smoke-house would indicate them to be pre-Revolutionary, and a clay-chinked limestone quarters which stood until recent years behind the kitchen and smoke-house possibly predated the kitchen. An octagonal wooden powder-house similar to the one at
Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
exists today and is supposed to have held powder stores during the Revolution. Later it was used as a school house for Charles and Mildred's children. On his visits from his home in Fredericksburg to his property prior to 1780, Charles Washington is said to have lived in a small house, since disintegrated, on Evitts Run, a small stream that flows along the base of the hill at Happy Retreat. From this temporary dwelling he could well have directed the work of brick-making for the residence he had planned, as there are claybeds along the Run. Stone and timber cutting could also have been supervised nearby, as the surrounding meadows are laced with limestone outcroppings, and the property included ample woodland. General George Washington visited his brother at Happy Retreat several times. On June 1, 1788, while he was interested in the building of a canal up the
Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
, he inspected the work at
Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...
and Seneca Falls, dined at Leesburg, proceeded the following day to what is now
Harper's Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. It is located in the lower Shenandoah Valley. The population was 285 at the 2020 census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, where the U.S. stat ...
, and on the 3rd arrived at Happy Retreat, where he dined and spent the night. Other visits to Charles are recorded in the General's diaries for this period. During the few months before his death in April, 1799, Charles transferred all his property to his son Samuel Washington and his heirs, which explains why there remained no property to be transferred in Charles' will. On February 23, 1800, Samuel Washington sold Happy Retreat, including the
mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...
and of land, to Thomas Hammond. The property stayed in the Hammond family until 1837 when George Washington Hammond sold it to the Hon. Isaac R. Douglass, a circuit court judge and real estate investor. After his purchase of Happy Retreat, Judge Douglass completed the plans for the central section of the house and built a three-story brick structure, connecting the two old Washington wings. He renamed the completed mansion "
Mordington Mordington is an agricultural parish in the extreme south-east of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders region. It is five miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed and borders Northumberland to the east, and south (where the boundary is the Whiteadder Wate ...
," after his ancestral estate in Scotland. The house passed through the hands of a number of different owners, reverting to its original name of Happy Retreat, before its purchase by Mr. and Mrs. William Gavin in the 1960s. A recent historical engineering analysis of Happy Retreat indicates that the home's development proceeded in three phases. Phase 1 construction consisted of the old stone kitchen and a portion of the west wing. Phase 2 consisted of the brick portion of the kitchen and the one-story east wing. Phase 3, which was undertaken in 1837 after the purchase of Happy Retreat by Judge Douglass, resulted in the addition of the 2nd stories to the two wings and completion of a large 2½ story central portion connecting the two wings. In September 2014, the city of Charles Town began working toward purchasing the house to include it in its parks system.


See also

*
Harewood (West Virginia) Harewood is one of several houses in the vicinity of Charles Town, West Virginia built for members of the Washington family. Description The house was designed by John Ariss for Samuel Washington in 1770, using a center-hall, single-pile plan ...
*
Claymont Court Claymont Court, or simply Claymont, is a Georgian-style brick mansion, the grandest of several built near Charles Town, West Virginia for members of the Washington family. The current "Big House" was built in 1840 for Bushrod Corbin Washington ...
*
Blakeley (West Virginia) Blakeley, near Charles Town, West Virginia is also known as the Washington - Chew - Funkhouser House, and was built in 1820 by John Augustine Washington II, great-nephew of George Washington and grandson of John Augustine Washington. It is a co ...
*
Cedar Lawn Cedar Lawn, also known as Berry Hill and Poplar Hill, is one of several houses built near Charles Town, West Virginia for members of the Washington family. Cedar Lawn was built in 1825 for John Thornton Augustine Washington, George Washington' ...


References


External links


Friends of Happy Retreat
*
Historic Structure Report
for Happy Retreat {{National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Houses in Jefferson County, West Virginia Landmarks in West Virginia Washington family residences Federal architecture in West Virginia Neoclassical architecture in West Virginia Plantation houses in West Virginia Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Houses completed in 1780 National Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, West Virginia Historic American Buildings Survey in West Virginia Charles Town, West Virginia