- 1. South Fork of Catoctin Creek
The power potential of the South Fork of Catoctin Creek helped draw skilled Pennsylvania Quakers in the mid 1700s to settle what is now Waterford. For 200 years the stream powered grain, saw and woolen mills, including the three story brick mill still standing. But the creek was also an obstacle to transportation and dangerous to ford during high water. The current bridge is just the latest of many. A covered wooden bridge spanned the creek from the 1830s until it was swept away in the 1889 storm that caused the Johnstown Flood disaster in Pennsylvania.
- 2. Tannery Branch
As you look upstream, Tannery Branch flows from springs a few hundred yards to the left, beyond Bond Street. From the late 18th to late 19th centuries it supplied water to a tannery at Main and Liggett Streets that processed hides into leather for cobblers, saddlers, and harness makers. Visible in the eroded banks here are gray seams of clay. Such deposits were dug, shaped and baked into the bricks that built much of Waterford. In the mid 20th century, clay drain pipe was installed under much of the nearby floodplain to make it suitable for farming. Water still pours from pipes visible along the eroded creek bank. The modern plastic pipe you see drains water from cellars along lower Main Street.
- 3. Monarch Butterfly
In the summer, common milkweed is in bloom here. Female monarch butterflies will lay their eggs only on milkweed, the sole host plant for monarch caterpillars. In the fall, the adult monarchs migrate 1,900 miles from here to central Mexico, a feat of stamina and navigation unmatched in the insect world. The plentiful milkweed on the Phillips Farm has earned it formal recognition as a “Monarch Way Station” by the Monarch Watch Organization.
- 4. Various Habitats
Phillips Farm offers a wide variety of habitats for wildlife — floodplain, stream, riparian buffer, deciduous woodland, hedgerows, and meadows. Here on the floodplain, you find such water-loving plant species as the graceful river birches, willows, and the majestic sycamores. You can find over 30 species of birds, including belted kingfishers, red-winged blackbirds and great blue herons.
- 5. Riparian Buffers
Riparian buffers are vegetated areas along waterways that help protect the water from pollution, stabilize stream banks, and provide streamside habitat for wildlife. Water loving shrubs (such as gray and silky dogwood, buttonbush and elderberry) have recently been planted here by the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy to restore the riparian buffer.
- 6. The Civil War
During the Civil War, Phillips Farm suffered. Quaker Thomas Phillips was a pacifist, but troops from both sides helped themselves to his horses and crops. A sister lamented, “. . . it is really too bad for him to be treated so.” In October 1862, after the Battle of Antietam, a Federal infantry division paused at Waterford for several days on its way south. Soldiers camped here and on nearby farms. In July 1863, after Gettysburg, thousands of Union troops poured into Waterford; many set up camps along Catoctin Creek. Quakers offered “grass for thy horses, a fine spring for thy men and beasts, and ricks of cordwood for thy cooking.” But the following year Federal troops burned the Phillips barn.
- 7. Eroding Stream Banks
The eroding stream banks here offer nesting habitat for northern rough-winged swallows. Please be aware that the banks are very unstable. This accelerated erosion, as well as area land use practices, impact the quality of Catoctin Creek. Volunteers assess the quality of the creek and the surrounding environment three times a year and provide the data to appropriate state agencies. Bottom-dwelling aquatic insects such as mayfly, caddisfly and stonefly larvae are biological indicators of good water quality.
- 8. Bluebird Trail
Eastern bluebirds dwell on the Phillips Farm year round. Their numbers have declined nationwide due to habitat loss and competition from invasive bird species. If you follow the tree line along the millrace, from the mill to this point, you can see a “bluebird trail” of seven nesting boxes. The stovepipe below each box blocks climbing predators. Volunteers monitor the boxes from March through August. Ten baby bluebirds fledged from these boxes in 2008, the trail’s first year. With the help of man-made trails such as these, bluebird populations are recovering.
- 9. Ball’s Run
Ball’s Run, which here joins Catoctin Creek, once powered two Waterford mills a few hundred yards up-stream. But it presented a problem for owners of the mill at the foot of Main Street, who had dug a channel or millrace to carry water from a dam farther upstream on Catoctin Creek and needed to get that water past the Run, which flowed at a lower level. In the early years they probably built a wooden trough or aqueduct to carry the water over Ball’s Run. By the early 1900s, though, they had dammed the Run to bring it up to the level of the millrace. Then, by way of sluice gates, they could divert its water into the race to augment the flow to the mill in dry seasons. The over-flow was known as “The Chute,” and below the dam was a favorite swimming hole until time and repeated floods took their toll. Today only a stone buttress or two and scattered chunks of concrete mark the site of the dam. A short path to the left takes you to the spot.
- 10. Family Farm
For 150 years this property flourished as a diversified family farm. In 1850 it produced wheat, corn, oats, beef, milk, butter, wool, hay, horses, pork, poultry, eggs, fruit and honey, as well as potatoes and other garden crops. The small white barn you see on the hillside shelters the machinery used today for haying the surrounding fields.
- 11. Invasive Plants
Invasive plants such as multiflora rose, tree of heaven, autumn olive, Japanese barberry, and Canada thistle have been encroaching into the Phillips Farm environment for some time and are overtaking habitat of native flora. The tallest tree in front of you is a tree of heaven. The Management Plan for the Phillips Farm includes efforts to control the growth of invasive species, particularly in this area.
- 12. Millrace
Here a small wet weather stream intersects the old hand-dug millrace, visible from the path at the left. Hikers can follow the dry bed of the race back to Ball’s Run at the site of “The Chute.” This channel, some two-thirds of a mile long, in all, was dug by hand, probably around 1760. Etched in the cement cap of the low stone containment wall here, is the date October 28, 1928, the initials of the last miller, William S. Smoot, and those of his 17-year-old helper, John E. Divine, who later helped preserve much of Waterford’s history.
- 13. Green Ash
The large tree here is a green ash, an aging survivor of the 19th century. It and other ashes on the farm face an uncertain future with the recent arrival in the Washington area of the emerald ash borer, a destructive beetle native to Asia.
- 14. White Oak
Its long, low branches indicate that it did not grow in a forest. Local villagers have nicknamed it “Old John” in memory of John Hough (1720-1797), a Waterford Quaker who owned thousands of acres and a number of mills in Loudoun. White oaks were favored by early settlers for building, baskets, barrels, flooring, furni-ture, and many other uses. Native Americans made flour from the acorns.
- 15. The Mill Dam
Consider how laborers managed to collect, move, and place such large boulders with no more than human and animal muscle. The dam once stood a few feet higher—enough to raise the level of the impoundment more than 12 feet above the outflow from the wheel at the mill. In 1908 at the near end of the dam, miller William M. Fling signed his name in wet concrete he used to cap and reinforce the dam.A bit beyond the dam, in 1814, African American Benjamin Kins and wife Letitia bought two acres spanning the creek and built a house. They were among the first black families in the area to own their own land. Benjamin had been born a slave in Calvert County, Maryland, about 1770, but owner John Talbott freed him when the Quakers abol-ished the use of slaves in 1776. Talbott Farm remains today just southeast of the village.
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The 1875 Waterford Town Map: Taking a Tour of Women’s Businesses
The 1875 Waterford Town Map: Taking a Tour of Women’s Businesses
By Debbie Robison
Hanging on a wall at the Waterford Foundation offices is an artist’s interpretation of an old map of Waterford. The original map, upon which this is based, has been around for 148 years. Now at the Library of Virginia, the map was preserved all these years by the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Loudoun County (now Loudoun Mutual Insurance Company) at their Waterford offices.
Surveyor James Oden created the map in 1875 for the Waterford Town Council when the town was incorporated after the Civil War. The map was required by the Virginia General Assembly to distinctly show the boundaries and the public streets and alleys with their width.[1]
The map offers a fascinating snapshot in time. Each lot, carefully laid out along Waterford’s streets, is identified with its size and owner’s name. Yet the most interesting information can be found on the sides of the map. Here you will see hand-drawn business cards advertising a variety of businesses where Victorian-era men and women could purchase goods and services. Many of the cards publicize businesses operated by women, which gives a rare opportunity to explore where in town the female proprietors conducted their trade.
So, in honor of Women’s History Month, lets follow the map to their shops.
Stop 1: The Divine Sisters, Carpet Weavers
We begin on Bond Street where spinster sisters Frances and Rachel Divine manufactured and sold carpets.
The carpets were woven on a loom, possibly out of carpet wool that could be dyed a variety of colors. Frances had raised twins, Joseph and Mary – both 33 years old at the time the map was created, as an unwed mother.[2] The carpet weaving business, which was conducted in their home, provided a much-needed income for the sisters.
Stop 2: Sallie Radcliffe’s Fancy Store
Heading down past the tan yard to Main Street, it isn’t long before you arrive at Sallie Radcliffe’s Fancy Store where a wide variety of goods could be purchased.
A Fancy Store carried fancy articles like beaded purses, dress trimmings, hosiery, corsets, laces, sun umbrellas, specialty papers for making paper flowers, hoop skirts, collars, ribbons, and occasionally writing desks, assorted China articles, and toys.[3]
Sallie, a single Quaker woman, lived with her widowed mother, Ann Ratcliffe, in the house where she operated the store. In addition to operating the store, Sallie was also a milliner.[4]
Stop 3: Catherine Leggett’s Confectionary Store
After shopping at Radcliffe’s, a visitor might walk a few doors up Main Street to stop in at the widow Catherine Leggett’s confectionary store for a sweet. Fruits, candies, and nuts were typically sold in confectionary shops.
Catherine Leggett (nee Rinker), who went by Kitty, purchased the house in 1860 from William Russell, who acted as guardian of the children she had with her first husband, Joseph Wright.[5] Her second husband, cabinet maker Samuel Leggett, died earlier that year.
Stop 4: Amelia Rinker, Tailoress, and Stop 5: Sallie Graham, Tailoress
If a small town could have a garment district, then it would have been found on Waterford’s Main Street near The Loudoun Hotel (40170 Main Street, formerly Talbott’s Tavern) where a cluster of seamstresses and tailoresses offered their services.
After leaving Kitty Leggett’s confectionary store, you soon arrive two businesses for tailoresses, one run by Kitty’s sister, Amelia Rinker, and the other by Kitty’s daughter, Sallie Graham. Amelia Rinker [Stop 4] lived to the west of Amelia Sappington, a seamstress, and Sallie Graham [Stop 5] lived on the other side.[6]
A tailoress sewed custom fitted garments, typically for men. In addition to sewing jackets, vests, and trousers, a tailoress may have also sewn shirts with detachable collars and neckties.
Stop 6: Sallie Orrison, Milliner and Dressmaker
The exact location of the shop that Sallie Orrison rented on Main Street is unknown, but it might have been near the tavern.[7]
Her card advertised her as a milliner (a trade that typically fashioned and sold hats and caps for women and girls), yet she promotes dressmaking: Dresses Cut & Made In the most fashionable style.
Before her marriage to Townsend Orrison in 1872, Sallie was living with her family and working as a milliner.[8] In 1875, Townsend Orrison, who was financially embarrassed and unable to pay his debts, declared his intention of taking the benefit of the Homestead Act, passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 1870 to protect a debtors personal property. Among the personal property he listed in his homestead exemption was all the stock of goods such as ribbons bonnets &c & other articles used in the millenary business now on hand in the store carried on by my wife in the Town of Waterford valued at $200.[9]
Stop 7: Ella Mount, Private School Principal
Continuing down Main Street and then up Second Street takes you to the area where Ella Mount was the principal of a private school. The exact location of her school is unknown.
Ella Mount was the daughter of William T. Mount and granddaughter of John Mount, both Waterford furniture and chair makers. In 1870 John and William Mount were in a rented house on Main Street.[10] Ella’s residence is unknown. John and William Mount had a 1 ½-story cabinet-maker’s shop on Second Street.[11] It’s possible, though not confirmed, that Ella held her private school in the upper story of the shop.
Stop 8: Sallie Divine, Dressmaker
On the far side of the village was the only other garment maker whose business card is on the map. Sallie Divine advertised her dressmaking services on High Street.
Sallie wed Joseph T Divine, son of Frances Divine the carpet weaver, in 1870.[12] They purchased the house on Hight Street the year the map was created.[13]
Women’s dress fashions in 1875, the year the map was drawn, sported rows of ruffles, drapes and/or pleats. Sallie may have kept up-to-date on the current styles of dress by subscribing to a dressmaking periodical, such as the popular Godey’s Ladies Book, published in Philadelphia, of Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly, a New York publication. Demorest also offered seasonal dressmaking instruction guides with a catalog of patterns available for purchase. Sallie may have also sewn undergarments and lingerie.
The following lithograph shows the latest fashion in 1875, the year the map was created.
[1] Acts and Joint Resolutions Passed by the General Assembly of the State of Virginia, at the Session of 1874-5. Richmond, R. F. Walker, Supt Public Printing, 1875, as viewed on Google books at https://www.google.com/books/edition/Acts_and_Joint_Resolutions_Passed_by_the/uhQSAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=1875+waterford+incorporation+virginia+general+assembly&pg=PA141&printsec=frontcover
[2] Joseph Tuinto Divine Death Certificate, Virginia Death Records, 1912-2014, as viewed on Ancestry.com; Mary Alvernon Trunnell Death Certificate, Washington, D.C., U.S., Select Birth and Christenings, 1830-1955, as viewed on Ancestry.com
[3] C. C. Berry, “Dealer in Fancy Goods & Notions of Every Description,” Alexandria Gazette, 29 May 1875, p.1; H. Baader, “Selling Out at Below Cost,” Alexandria Gazette, 14 May 1870, p. 1;
[4] 1870 Federal Census for Sallie Radcliffe, as viewed on Ancestry.com; U.S. Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, Fairfax Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1843-1932, image 30 of 36, as viewed on Ancestry.com
[5] Deed from William Russell to Catherine Leggett, Loudoun County Deed Book 5T:255, August 10, 1860; Joseph H Wright Probate Account, Loudoun County Will Book 2I:415.
[6] Amelia Sappington v. Charles Sappington, Chancery Case 1872-068, image 30 of 75, Library of Virginia.
[7] In 1880 federal census Sallie Orrison is listed immediately before C. W. Divine
[8] 1870 Federal Census, Loudoun, Northern Division, Taylorstown Post Office, as viewed on Ancestry.com
[9] Townsend Orrison Homestead Exemption, Loudoun County Deed Book 6H:223, December 1, 1875.
[10] 1870 Federal Census
[11] John Mount’s Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Loudoun County application #570, January 25, 1868, Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Loudoun County Records, 1849-1954. Accession 41374. Business records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
[12] 1870 Federal Census for Joseph and Sallie Divine
[13] Loudoun County Deed Book 6G:469, February 1, 1875.
Article on Waterford in the Chesapeake Bay Journal
[contentcards url=”https://www.bayjournal.com/article/the_past_is_alive_in_former_mill_town_of_waterford_va” target=”_blank”]
1FIX Lantern Light Fund
Lloyd Curtis, former resident
of Waterford, VA.
Contribute to the Lantern Light Fund and shine a light on Waterford’s African American Heritage. Waterford’s unique history must be preserved and shared. Some facts about African-Americans in Waterford and our efforts to preserve this history…
The Lantern Light Fund honors the men and women of Waterford’s African American community, who worked by lantern light to build the John Wesley Community Church. The Fund will preserve and share the sites, stories, and artifacts of Waterford’s African American community, including:
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To learn more, donate, and join our advisory council, 540-882-3018 x 5 www.waterfordfoundation.org |
