After January of 1719 (by the new style calendar) when the Germans probably left, Fort Germanna declined rapidly and was torn down in about a year. About 1720, Spotswood started on his house which seems to be located on the site of the fort. There is some question as to whether the houses that the Germans lived in were immediately torn down. In 1733, Col. William Byrd stayed with the Spotswood family at Germanna. He mentioned that across from Spotswood's home there were a baker's dozen of ruinous tenaments which had been occupied by the workmen.
These houses are a mystery. John Fontaine said, as an observation from his visit, there were nine homes. Does the baker's dozen mean that these nine were maintained and four more were built? Perhaps the Germans had built thirteen homes before they left. Did some of the bachelors marry and build homes? Or were the thirteen homes built for the workmen who built Spotswood's home?
Byrd describes the homes as having been occupied by the Germans but then his understanding of the Germans was confused. For example, he said the Germans had moved ten miles higher in the Fork of the Rappahannock to land of their own. Now the First Colony had moved to Germantown which was not in the Fork of the Rappahannock. It was the Second Colony which had moved to the Fork of the Rappahannock. But the Second Colony never lived at Germanna; they lived near Germanna, but not at Germanna. So Byrd's testimony is dubious though there can be little doubt that he could count to thirteen.
Since Spotswood was building his home at Germanna at just about the same time as he was building his iron furnace, which was thirteen miles away, there is a question as to why he didn't build nearer the furnace. I believe the answer is that he was focused on land acquisition and not on iron. Land was a proven road to wealth, whereas iron was very speculative and of a dubious political status. By building at Germanna, Spotswood was closer to the center of his land holdings which were to the west of Germanna. These lands extended more than thirteen miles to the west (they included the site of the present Culpeper Co. Courthouse), and included about one hundred square miles of land, all to the west of Germanna.
At the same time as he was building, he was setting up the new county of Spotsylvania which was to have its seat at Germanna, a very illogical location, which was entirely to the west of all population in the county. But by drawing people's attention to the west, he was trying to interest them in his land to the west.
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.