When I became convinced that I had, at least approximately, located the general site of the Second Colony's first homes, I wanted to walk over the ground. I had bought my topo maps so I thought that I knew the geography of the area. I contacted the Culpeper County tax assessor and obtained a plot of the land tracts today, plus the addresses of the owners. I wrote to the owners and asked if I could visit the property, telling them why I wanted to do so. I invited them to come along. I made arrangements with Doug Sanders of the Center for Historical Preservation to attend as an observer. On the appointed day, about eight of us met at Germanna Community College and reviewed the proposed plan of action for the day. We then went to one of the properties and started our walk from there.
Not surprisingly, we found nothing in our walk, but we did spend two or three hours in the general vicinity. We discussed some areas which seemed like they might be prime locations. We then retired to one of the buildings at the site of the "Enchanted Castle" site, and we reviewed what we had seen. In all, it was a very enjoyable day for me. The weather, which had started off on the brisk side, was cool enough to keep us alert, while not causing us any discomfort.
Since that day, two things have happened that I know of. First, Doug Sanders, with some students from Mary Washington College, visited the site in a more serious way, and did find one location which had evidence consistent with eighteenth century use.
Then, as I have recounted here, Joy Stearns found information which showed that the homes were spread out more then we had initially envisioned. In fact, one of the leases she found even gave the locations (in the form of a drawing) of where two of the homes were located. So, if a search were to be extended, this would provide two prime locations to concentrate on.
So far as I know, this is where the physical examination of the ground stands today. It is to be hoped that someone takes up the search in a serious way including measures to protect the sites, should something be found.
It has not been proven, and may never be, but I believe there is a possibility that these homes were the first in modern Culpeper County. Thus, Germans may have been the first settlers of the area now known as Culpeper County. But claims such as "first" are always hard to prove, for evidence may become available later that refutes the claim. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who claims to have evidence of a settlement before 1718, the year that the Germans settled in.
I think it is a shame that Fleshman's Run has been renamed, and think that it would be appropriate to restore the original name to recognize one of the earliest settlers of the county, if not the first. It would also be appropriate to set a historical marker along Route 3 to mark the general area.
(14 Oct 00)
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.