Gunston Hall still stands, though it has passed through many hands since the death of him whom George Esten Cooke called "one of the most remarkable men, not only of his Country, and of his epoch, but of all Countries and all time."
Photo by Ph. B. Wallace
WASHINGTON COLLEGE BUILDING, LEXINGTON, VA.
LXIII
THE WASHINGTON COLLEGE BUILDING,
LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA
HOW GEORGE WASHINGTON SOLVED A DELICATE PROBLEM
Even before the treaty of peace with Great Britain was signed, George Washington was making plans for the development of the West. He was especially impressed with the possibilities of the Potomac and James rivers, if improved by canals, as a means of communication with the Ohio. Companies were organized to the work. In both enterprises he was a stockholder. On August 13, 1785, he wrote to Edmund Randolph:
"The great object for the accomplishment of which I wish to see the inland navigation of the River Potomack and James improved and extended is to connect the western territory with the Atlantic states.... I have already subscribed five shares to the Potomack navigation; and enclosed I give you a power to put my name down for five shares to that of James River."
In 1785 Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, wrote to Washington that the General Assembly of the State had voted to give him one hundred shares in the James River Company, "it being their wish, in particular, that those great works of improvement, which, both as springing from the liberty which he has been so instrumental in establishing, and as encouraged by his patronage, will be durable monuments of his glory, may be made monuments also of the gratitude of his country."