Col. Byrd, in his description of Germanna, as it existed in 1732, noted that a chapel had stood at the end of an avenue of cherry trees, about a bowshot away from Spotswood's home. Some pious people had burned it down. While this seems strange, it was the result of the dissatisfaction of the citizens of Spotsylvania County with the location of the county seat and the parish church. Spotswood had placed the county seat at the extreme western edge of civilization, excepting a few Germans, in an attempt to draw attention to his large land holdings to the west of Germanna. Some citizens voted against this idea by burning the chapel down, in the hope that it would be rebuilt nearer to the center of the population.
When Byrd arrived at Germanna, only Mrs. Spotswood was home at the "Enchanted Castle". She welcomed Byrd, and invited him in. The only other guests were a pair of tame deer who had the freedom of the house. One of these tried to jump over the tea table, which stood under the mirror. The result was shattered glass, one surprised deer, and two frightened people. But Byrd noted that she bore the disaster with moderation and good spirits. As to why there were deer in the house, they apparently had been raised as pets from fawns to help amuse Mrs. Spotswood. After all, there were very few human visitors.
Soon Col. Spotswood and Mrs. Spotswood's sister, a Miss Theky, came in. Spotswood was coming from the iron mines, and Miss Theky had ridden out to meet him and accompany him to the house. The men talked, then ate dinner about nine in the evening with the ladies, and then talked with the ladies until Byrd felt it was time to retire. Spotswood focused loving attention on his children. This so struck Byrd in comparison to Spotswood's previous attitudes that he kidded Spotswood about it. But Spotswood said that in such a lonely place it was important to show lots of attention to the women and children.
Miss Theky was up early the next morning as the house manager, but the others slept until nine in the morning. After breakfast, Spotswood and Byrd talked. Byrd opened the discussion by saying that he came to be instructed by so great a master in the mystery of making of iron. It was he (Spotswood) who had led the way, and was therefore the Tubal Cain of Virginia. Spotswood corrected him there, saying that he was more than the first in Virginia, as he was the first in North America to have erected a regular furnace. He stated that they ran bloomeries in New England and Pennsylvania until they had seen what he had done, and then they converted.
[Bloomeries did not melt the iron to the state where it could be poured into a mold. A bloomery succeeded by burning and melting away the impurities that were with the iron ore. What was left was a sponge-like mass of iron. After it was removed from the furnace, it was heated and beat repeatedly until it was workable iron.] Spotswood claimed that Pennsylvania had too few ships for sending the iron to England, and they had to do the finish work themselves.
Virginia, in 1732, had four furnaces, and they added greatly to the economy of the colony. England benefited herself, because she no longer had to import so much iron from Spain, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Muscovy, which had, at one time, amounted to 20,000 tons per year. The iron imported from those countries was only bar iron, whereas the iron from Virginia was sow iron [cast iron].
(03 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.