On Thursday, November 21, 1715, John Fontaine, John Clayton, and William Beverley left Germanna about noon and went to Augustine Smith's house, which is almost upon the falls of the Rappahannock River. He was not home but his housekeeper entertained the men well and gave them a turkey for dinner and beds to lie in. From Germanna to Smith's house, nineteen deer were spotted.
On Friday, they continued but met two huntsmen and fell in with them. They shot a buck and a doe. About four in the afternoon they arrived at Richard Buckner's place on the Rappahannock. They had good punch and were very merry.
On Saturday, they met Mr. Beverley and looked at land. Later they continued on to the home of Beverley. Saw lots of turkeys. The next day, they continued travelling from Beverley's place, without William Beverley, until they reached Thomas Walker's place on the Mattapony River.
On Monday, they reached King and Queen Court House and spent the afternoon. Capt. Joshua Story invited them to spend the night at his house, which they accepted, but found the entertainment indifferent.
On Tuesday, November 26, they crossed the York River on the ferry and ate at Fourrier's ordinary. After lunch they continued on and reached Williamsburg about five.
The round trip journey to the Germanna settlement was estimated at 292 miles, which is consistent with Spotswood's estimate of the distance. Fontaine spent three pounds and ten shillings. Much of this money would have been as tips to the servants in the homes where they stayed.
Every night was spent by invitation at someone's home, except at Germanna, where they probably slept in the blockhouse. Outside a day's travel from Williamsburg, no inns or ordinaries were mentioned, and probably there were very few. There were no towns after leaving the capital. Overall, Virginia was very rural and all opportunities for visiting were welcomed.
On the average, in the settled parts, the number of inhabitants per square mile was very limited. Farms tended to be good sized, but varied considerably from the family farm, of perhaps a couple of hundred acres, to "quarters", of perhaps several hundred acres, on which the labor was mostly servants and slaves. Without regard to size, all farms were called plantations.
A report to the King in 1721 (see Beyond Germanna, v.8, n.2) estimated the number of white souls in Virginia at 84,000. In 1714, quit rents were paid on 2,619,773 acres. This would yield 30 acres per white person. But no quit rents were paid to the King in the Northern Neck, which consisted of five counties as compared to twenty counties in the Royal domain. Also, much land was not taken up yet. Thus, in the land divided into counties, the population was probably about ten souls per square mile. One sees why Beverley travelled seven miles to go to church.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.