We are indebted to William Byrd for information about Germanna and the iron industry of Alexander Spotswood. The success of Spotswood with iron, that was evident by 1730, prompted Byrd to visit Spotswood for the purpose of learning more about the business. Byrd had the raw material, and he needed only to pull it all together in a working enterprise.
On 18 Sep 1732, Byrd left Westover to visit experienced people in the business, including Spotswood. First, there was a visit to Mr. (Charles?) Chiswell, a manager of a furnace company. From there, he rode on to Germanna, at a distance of more than thirty miles. His visit was captured in his notes which were entitled " A Progress to the Mines ".
He observed that Germanna consisted of Col. Spotswood's enchanted Castle on one side of the street, and a baker's dozen of ruinous tenements on the other, where so many German families had dwelt some years earlier. These Germans were now ten miles higher in the Fork of the Rappahannock, on land of their own.
These statements of Byrd's have caused a lot of confusion. Which Germans was he referring to? Because of the thirteen houses, some have said that it could not be the First Colony, which were said, by John Fontaine, to have nine houses. Also, the First Germanna Colony was not living (when they were at Germantown) in the Fork of the Rappahannock River. Could the Germans referenced by Byrd be the Second Germanna Colony? Thirteen houses are not enough for them, though they are clearly indicated as being in the Fork of the Rappahannock; however, they were living, in 1732, for the most part, in the Robinson River Valley, at a distance more like twenty-five miles. So they do not fit that description too well. At a distance of ten miles, and in the Fork of the Rappahannock would more closely fit the Little Fork Group, but they were never at Germanna.
With recent archeological finds, and some general information, it is probable that Byrd simply made a few mistakes, and the thirteen houses did apply to the First Germanna Colony. The increase from nine to thirteen probably occurred as a result of marriages of some of the single people. In addition, Francis Hume was placed as an overseer of the Germans by Spotswood, and he probably had his own house. It is even possible that the number of workmen, when the "Enchanted Castle" was being built, required still more houses. So the number thirteen hardly is significant.
The evidence today is that Spotswood tore down Fort Germanna to have a building site for his home. This would place the First Colony homes next to the future "Enchanted Castle". Since anyone who was telling Byrd about the Germans might have mixed elements of the different groups of Germans together, it is likely that Byrd was simply confused about the different details.
(02 Nov 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.