294

Mount Hope. The William Robinson House 296

The Oaks (Now Dumbarton Oaks) }
} 300
Montrose }

William Hammond Dorsey 302

_A PORTRAIT_

_OF_

_OLD GEORGE TOWN_

Chapter I

_Beginnings of a Town_

There are many Georgetowns up and down the Atlantic seaboard in the
original thirteen colonies, and even one in Kentucky, much like the
Jamestowns and Charlestowns and Williamsburgs named for the sovereign of
the time, but this George Town of which I write was in Maryland on the
Potomac River, and because it was situated at the head of tidewater of
that great river, it became important on account of the great amount of
tobacco grown in that area and brought to this point to be carried
across the seas.

The earliest knowledge we have of this region, which has become The
Capital City of the great United States of America, concerns the Indians
who were living here when the white explorers came.

The first of these we know of was the redoubtable Captain John Smith,
who, in 1608, came up the Potomac River and made a map of his travels.
He tells us in his _Historie of Virginie_ of "the mildness of the aire,
the fertilitie of the soil, and the situation of the rivers to the
nature and use of man as no place more convenient for pleasure, profit
and man's sustenance." He was referring to the confluence of the Potomac
with its Eastern Branch and the then good-sized Rock Creek.

In 1634 another Englishman, Henry Fleete, sailed up the river as far as
the Little Falls, trading furs with the Indians. Thus he wrote of the
site of George Town:

"Monday, the 25th of June, we set sail for the Town of Tohoga,
where we came to anchor two leagues short of the falls: this place
is without question the most pleasant in all this country and most
convenient for habitation; the air temperate in summer and not
violent in winter. The river aboundeth in all manner of fish, and
for deer, buffalos, bears and turkeys, the woods do swarm with them
and the soil is exceedingly fertile."

Henry Fleete remained with the Indians about twelve years, whether of
his own free will or as a captive is not quite certain, but evidently
this writing of his was to good purpose, for, in the next decade, small
parties of Scots and