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An archaeological dig next year may answer questions about the Falmouth building known as the Magistrate's Office.
Dr. E. Boyd Graves is the primary reason the red brick building in Falmouth remains standing today. |
Earlier this year, the Moncure Conway Foundation decided that since October is National Archaeology Month, it would be the most appropriate time to dig into the history of the little red-brick building at 123 Cambridge St. in Falmouth.
Known as the Magistrate's Office, "It is the oldest surviving county-owned municipal building in Stafford County," said Anita Dodd, chairwoman of the foundation. It's also the smallest--its footprint is 12 by 16 feet.
"Its diminutive size has always intrigued me," Dodd said.
The dig, to start along the south side of the building, was scheduled for Oct. 17-18. The 35-member Conway group, which seeks to preserve Moncure Conway's home and abolitionist legacy as well as neighboring historic buildings, lined up a corps of five diggers.
But when the date arrived, so did two days of rain. Dodd called the dig off.
"Outdoor archaeology and rain don't mix," she said. The dig is rescheduled for the next National Archaeology Month, in October 2010. Meanwhile, there will be a public lecture on the project at Belmont next March 21 at 2 p.m.
Dodd said the diggers hope their work will answer some key questions about the Magistrate's Office:
When was it built? The best guess is 1820-30.
Had a previous building been on the same site? A 1790 plan of Falmouth indicated that a wooden structure, also a court building, once stood there.
What will it take to stabilize the present structure? Late in the last century a 3-foot-high concrete buttress was built across the back at ground level to prevent the office from falling into the backyard.
"It's still a pretty solidly built building," Dodd said.
The office's location in lower Falmouth, near the Rappahannock, puts it in occasional jeopardy. A stone marker next to the front door pinpoints a high-water level from flooding on April 26, 1937. Dodd said the building has lasted this long thanks to local preservationists, primarily Dr. E. Boyd Graves,
Graves led efforts to save it--and other Falmouth landmarks--until his death in 1986. A plaque outside the front door honors his work, as does a framed proclamation from the Stafford Board of Supervisors dated June 17, 1986, which is perched on the fireplace mantel inside.
Sections of the once-crumbling outside brick walls have been replaced. The building got a new roof in 2001 and a heating/air-conditioning unit that prevents mildew. There is a fire/security alarm. The windows have been replaced and sealed. The outside trim has been painted. The inside walls have been re-plastered.
There are two rooms. Steep steps through an opening in the ceiling connect the 912-square-foot main floor with the same-size upper story, where there is only enough room in the center for a visitor to stand up straight.
The building is known to have been used through much of the 19th century and up to the 1930s by traveling Stafford magistrates who held occasional small-claims courts there. Before that, a late 18th-century map referred to a "Little Courthouse" on the site and also labeled it a "Customs Office," necessary because Falmouth, at that time, was a busy international port.
"It was in fierce competition with Fredericksburg in the 1700s," Dodd said. "Both handled imports from Europe as well as exports from Virginia plantations and points west."
After its role as a courtroom ended 75 years ago, the office appeared in a federal government report as a voting precinct. Then it became a small local farm-tools museum.
"Since the 1950s it's just been sitting there," Dodd said.
The office, and other historic buildings, sit below and just west of the U.S. 1 causeway carrying traffic to and from the bridge over the Rappahannock. The little red building can be seen by drivers glancing down at what was once the main commercial street of Falmouth, the original boom town of Stafford County.
"I believe it has an interesting story that's still waiting to be told," Dodd said.
Hugh Muir: 540/735-1975
Email: hmuir@freelancestar.com
Anita Dodd, chairwoman of the Moncure Conway Foundation and director of the Magistrate's Office dig, lives in North Stafford. She graduated from Mary Washington College in 1994 with a degree in historic preservation. She worked at the school until 1997, and has since been with the George Washington Foundation as an excavator and lab supervisor. She has been involved with the Moncure Conway Foundation since it was founded in 2005. The foundation celebrates Moncure Daniel Conway, a rare Southern abolitionist whose historic home is a few blocks from the Magistrate's Office. The foundation seeks to preserve not only the Conway legacy but also the historic areas of Falmouth and Fredericksburg. |
