Our present Main Street is the Colonial Three-chopt Road, which led from Richmond, passed Boyd’s Tavern and crossed the Rivanna at Secretary’s Ford—now the Woolen Mills (East Market Street). Crossing Mechum’s River it struck in a straight line for Woods’ (now Jarman’s) Gap. It was in use prior to 1746. Though not associated with the expedition, it was felt appropriate to place the explorers on a great early artery and facing into the West.
MERIWETHER LEWIS
Young Meriwether Lewis—he was only thirty-five at death—was born in Albemarle in 1774. He was ‘Albemarle of Albemarle.’ The Lewis family was already old Virginia stock when Robert Lewis took up large holdings in what is now this county. He was Meriwether Lewis’s grandfather. He owned the handsome estate of Belvoir, near Cismont, and some ten thousand acres in other parts of the county. Meriwether Lewis’s mother was a granddaughter of ‘the great Landowner,’ Nicholas Meriwether, who came up from tide-water where he owned large estates, and in 1727 patented in one body 17,952 acres, this being the first patent lying within the bounds of present Albemarle. Eight years later he made an addition of more than a thousand acres, adjoining, which became his home. He was Lewis’s great-grandfather. These were families of high standards and public service—vestrymen, magistrates, officers in the militia and the Revolution.
Our explorer’s birthplace, Locust Grove, was west of Charlottesville about seven miles. The name and site remain; the original house was burned. The village of Ivy is near it.
Meriwether Lewis was Jefferson’s secretary when the government determined upon exploration of the lands just purchased from France. He brilliantly headed this expedition—from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River, 1803-06. Upon his return, Jefferson appointed him Territorial Governor of Louisiana. In 1809, while journeying to Washington city, he died by gunshot at an obscure country inn in Tennessee—whether by his own hand or that of others was not definitely known. A monument to him was erected at this spot by the Legislature of Tennessee, 1848.
WILLIAM CLARK
By a few years, William Clark, joint explorer of the Pacific Coast, failed to be of Albemarle birth. Jonathan Clark of King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1734 took out holdings in the county. His dwelling was a plain house on the Stony Point Road very near the site of Buena Vista, the McMurdo residence. He had two famous grandsons; the elder, George Rogers Clark, was born in that cabin. The younger, William, was born in Caroline County where his father had inherited substantial property. William Clark’s later life was successful. He was appointed by Jefferson Territorial Governor of Missouri, and later became U. S. Agent for Indian Affairs. Died, 1838.
LOUISIANA PURCHASE.
It is perhaps not always realized that Albemarle was the Louisiana Purchase. Three of the actors in this great drama—Jefferson, Lewis and Monroe—lived here within a ten-mile radius. A circle with that diameter would include Monticello, Ash Lawn and Locust Hill. As members of a small and closely integrated social class these men knew each other intimately in private life. Despite the difference in age, Jefferson and Lewis had attended the same private classical school; Monroe had at one time studied law under Jefferson’s supervision.
Monroe came to Albemarle in 1789 and made it his home until his retirement from public life. His choice of home was dictated by his oft-expressed desire to be near Jefferson, their friendship being early formed and life-long. Thus, when this chance to acquire a vast territory arose, the men who handled it knew fully the respective qualities of each actor.