Germanna Foundation

Preserving the historic heritage of the original settlers of the Fort Germanna Colonies in Virginia

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You are here: Home / Salubria / Salubria History

Salubria History

Salubria is the name of the 18th century manor house built by Reverend John Thompson, the rector of the Little Fork Church from 1740 to 1772.

The building remains as a testament of his love for the woman he sought to be his wife. The story of their union is romantic and endows Salubria with no small amount of rich historical texture.

The story goes like this. At his death in 1740, colonial Virginia’s Governor Alexander Spotswood left a widow named Butler Brayne Spotswood.

Lady Spotswood

Reverend Thompson of the Little Fork Church longed to make this widow his wife and he was crushed when she first rebuffed his advances.

The widow Spotswood’s family opposed the proffered marriage on the grounds that a clergyman was beneath the station of Lady Spotswood. Undaunted, Reverend Thompson appealed directly to Lady Spotswood imploring her with these words:

“Now, if I can make it appear that the ministerial office is an employment, in its nature most honorable and in its effects most beneficial to mankind, I hope your objections will immediately vanish and that you will keep me no longer in suspense and misery, but consummate my happiness.

I make no doubt, Madam, but that you will readily grant that no man can be employed in any work more honorable than immediately relates to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and to the salvation of souls, immortal in their nature and redeemed by the blood of the Son of God. And therefore if a gentleman of this sacred and honorable character should be married to a Lady, though of the greatest extraction and most excellent personal qualities, (which I’m sensible you’re endowed with) it can be no disgrace to her nor her family…

And therefore, Madam, your argument being refuted, you can no longer consistently refuse to consummate my happiness.”

Signed by the Reverend John Thompson, May 1742

They were married on November 9, 1742 and later lived at Salubria.

Salubria is one of the few surviving structures linked to the time of the settlement of Germanna. It is located seven miles east of the town of Culpeper and stands as the oldest brick house in Culpeper County.

It was constructed in formal Georgian style at a time when Culpeper County was still on the frontier. Although the precise date of construction is not certain, Salubria was constructed circa 1757 as the residence of Reverend Thompson and his new wife, Lady Butler Brayne Spotswood Thompson.

The house received the name Salubria , Latin for healthful, from a later owner, James Hansbrough, in the early 1800s and has been known by that name since that time.

Old BW Salubria

Salubria’s exterior is distinguished by unusually tall, corbel capped chimneys, enclosed at each end of a hip roof. The house has identical front and rear facades and is built of brick laid in Flemish bond.

Three sides of the house are stuccoed in a manner simulating rustication, though for some reason the east end never received this treatment.

The interior of the house effuses character hearkening back to another time.

Germanna is honored to be entrusted with this stewardship of this property and the history of which it speaks.

The “genealogy” of Germanna’s ownership relates back to the property being acquired from the Hansbrough family by Robert O. Grayson. Grayson’s mother, Sarah Mason Cooke Grayson, was the granddaughter of George Mason of Gunston Hall. Later, Admiral Cary T. Grayson, was born at Salubria in 1878.

Admiral Grayson served as Presidential Physician to Theodore
Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.  grayson_wilson

Admiral Grayson later headed the American Red Cross. His parents and infant sister are buried at the end of the garden terrace directly south of the manor house.

Salubria and Daniel Boone

In 1759, Cherokee attacks in the Catawba and Yadkin river valleys drove North Carolina colonists from their homes and farms.

Daniel Boone, his wife Rebecca, his parents and brothers and sisters travelled more than 200 miles northeast to find sanctuary among friends in Culpeper County, Virginia.

Daniel Boone TreeDaniel Boone settled at Stevensburg, near the finest plantation home in Culpeper County, Salubria.  Boone worked as a teamster, hauling tobacco from Salubria and other farms to market in Fredericksburg by way of Germanna Ford.

Daniel and Rebecca Boone’s daughter Susannah was born at Stevensburg on November 2, 1760.

Three of Daniel Boone’s grandsons married three daughters of Joseph Miller and Susannah Rector, making many of Daniel Boone’s descendants also descended from the Rector, Fishback, Hitt, Heimbach, Otterbach, Weaver, and Coons quiltwork of Germanna families.

The portrayal of Daniel Boone escorting settlers through the Cumberland Gap evokes the spirit of Westward expansion associated with the Germanna region in the Virginia Piedmont.

Can we attribute some of his heroic feats to the healthy life he lived being able to visit Salubria? Maybe not, but it is interesting that Salubria shares its history with Daniel Boone, Robert E. Lee (a Spotswood descendant), and other notable Americans.

In October 2000, Laura N. Grayson, widow of J. Gordon Grayson, donated Salubria to the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia.

Salubria was placed on the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register in 1969 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

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Comments

  1. Diann Miller says

    December 13, 2020 at 5:32 am

    Could you please names & give dates of the 3 daughters and their husbandsj?. I can not find our family history on joseph Miller father of girls.Any info greatly appreciated.

    Reply
  2. Lee Hargrave says

    May 28, 2022 at 8:53 pm

    Are the wooden steps & handrails part of the original design, or are they modern accessories?

    Reply
    • Germanna Foundation says

      June 13, 2022 at 1:16 pm

      There were steps and rails on the original house, but the current configuration is modern.

      Reply

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Germanna Foundation’s Mission and Stewardship

The Germanna Foundation tells America’s story of liberty through the frontier experience of her settlers and descendants using archaeological, historical, and genealogical research and interpretation. We are stewards over these important properties and initiatives:

  • Fort Germanna Visitor Center campus which includes a Museum, Genealogy Library, the Hitt Archaeology Center, and the Germanna Memorial Garden
  • Siegen Forest – 170-acre Hiking and Nature Trails along the Rapidan river
  • 1714/1717 Fort Germanna Archaeology Site
  • Virginia Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood’s home “Enchanted Castle” Archaeology Site
  • 1757 Georgian-style Salubria Manor
  • 1800 Peter Hitt Farm
  • Publishing “The Germanna Record” genealogy/ history books
  • Maintaining a genealogy database with over 130,000 records of descendants of the Germanna colonists

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Germanna Foundation

The Germanna Foundation
MAILING: P.O. Box 279
LOCATION: 2062 Germanna Highway
Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279
Phone: 540-423-1700
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Fort Germanna Visitor Center, Museum & Library

2062 Germanna Highway (Route 3)
Locust Grove, VA 22508
(Next to the Germanna Community College campus)

Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Saturdays, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Closed on Sundays

Out of town visitors are urged to call us at 540-423-1700 to confirm or to make special arrangements for groups.

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Hike Siegen Forest!

Behind the Fort Germanna Visitor Center is our 170-acre Siegen Forest nature and hiking trails along the Rapidan river. Trails are OPEN 7 days a week, during daylight hours. When visiting the trails, please practice “Leave no Trace” ethos. If you enjoy the trails, consider donating to the Germanna Foundation to help support their upkeep.

 

About

The Germanna Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring the Colonial Virginia frontier via the historic 1714 Fort Germanna and its German colonists and their descendants.

It conducts archaeological exploration and conservation, genealogical research and publishing, and historic preservation and interpretation.

The Foundation owns and maintains several historic sites and properties, such as Salubria Manor, that were part of or closely connected to the Germanna colonies, the town of Germanna, and the other early colonial Virginia settlements and towns in the Piedmont area of Virginia.

Copyright © 2023 The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia Inc. (The Germanna Foundation) | Website by CJKCREATIVE.COM

 

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