PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA - CEMETERIES – “Rippon Lodge” Cemetery ----¤¤¤---- Source: Library of Virginia Digital Collection LVA Titled Files: Survey Report, Rippon Landing (aka: Rippon Lodge): 1937 July 9 Research made by Susan R. Morton Cemetery Location: 5 miles south of Dunfries, Virginia on Route #1; thence .25 mile on private road. Prince William Co., Virginia DATE: 1725. OWNERS: Part of this land was a grant from Lord Fairfax recorded in “Cause Book” 4 folio 351. A trace of land containing 2000 acres. It has only been out of the family about two years (1937) but has passed through several hands, and the name has not always been the same. In 1924 it was bought by the collateral descendent of Richard Blackburn, Judge Wade H. Ellis of Washington D.C. of Thomas Marron and is now occupied by Judge Ellis as a country place. DESCRIPTION: There are several acres of beautiful grounds, with a large garden, boxwood and holly trees, a sunken garden with a pool and many fine old trees. To the southwest of the house through a wooded glade, laurel and rhododendron line the walk which leads to the old graveyard. Most of the old outbuildings are gone, but the brick office that stood in front of the house has been moved back and looks as it did two hundred years ago. There is also the old guard house where Colonel Thomas Blackburn quartered a Regiment of Continental soldiers. The house is interesting as well as beautiful. From the wide front porch and the room to the south called the River Room, the Potomac can be seen for quite a distance. The panelling of southern pine in the large central hall and the dining room is very beautiful. There are a few eight panel doors and some with a British coat of arms on the locks. Most of the doors are walnut as are the balusters and newel post. There is a dark room on the second floor said to have been used by General Washington and others for Masonic meetings. It is a room of fair size but has no windows, the only light coming from the door that opens into an adjoining room. There are still some names of Lodge members written on the wall. The room facing the river is the one that is known as the Washington Room. There is a “cat hole” in one of the chamber doors made for the accommodation of one of the Blackburn daughter’s pet cats. There is a similar one at Mount Vernon, where she later became mistress. An opening in the side wall in the upper hall is an entrance to what was a secret stairway, built by the chimney on the north side of the house. This stairway led to a tunnel that extended from the basement thirty feet north ending in a ravine that leads to the woods. This tunnel is five feet wide and high enough for a man to walk erect. At the time Judge Ellis bought the place, the tunnel had caved in and the entrance in the ravine was completely hidden, and it was by accident that workmen in the garden came across the old brick wall that was a part of it. There has now been a stairway made from the hall in the north wing that leads to the basement and the tunnel entrance. Some of the floor boards are eighteen inches wide. At the door sills and places of most wear, the boards are worn into decided hollows. Before reaching the house after leaving the highway, there is a woods road just wide enough for a horse and carriage. This was the originally Potomac Path, later the Post Road, and extends for some distance through the “Rippon Lodge” estate, which comprises a thousand acres. When the new highway was built, the line of the old road was changed here. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The ancestral Blackburn home was in the old Yorkshire town of Rippon. Richard Blackburn was an architect and it was he who designed the first Falls Church and also Mount Vernon. His old English drafting board is still at Rippon Lodge. It is probable that this was used when the plans for Mount Vernon were made. His son, Thomas Blackburn was the intimate friend of George Washington. His daughter, Anne, married Bushrod Washington and another daughter, Jane, married John Augustus Washington. Both at some time were mistress of Mount Vernon and are buried there. Thomas Blackburn was on Washington’s staff in the French and Indian wars, and the first military company to be formed in Prince William County was the Prince William Volunteers at Ripon Lodge. It was here also that George Washington took his first military command. The well known duel between Bernard Hooe and William Kemp took place near by. The mortally wounded Hooe was brought to the house at Rippon Lodge where he died. For many years his blood stains could be seen on the floor and his ghost is supposed to appear at certain times. There are also other ghosts, one a British soldier, that for years has given Rippon Lodge the reputation of being haunted. Richard Blackburn’s wife was Mary Watts of the family of Isaac Watts, the hymnologist, and the great-aunt of James Monroe and Francis Scott Key, so there is a connection with this old place with the Monroe Doctrine and the National Anthem. The house is filled with treasures having historical associations. Among them is a wig stand, that has a drawer for powder and hooks to hang the wigs on for dressing. There are also two ship’s lanterns that were picked up on the shore of the Potomac River. A large collection of Indian arrow heads found on the place tell of the days when the Indians hunted and fished here. A Hessian sabre, a British cannon ball, and later, relics of the War Between the States, all of which have been found on the land comprising the estate. There is some beautiful silver that was found hidden away and is evidently very old. There is a beautiful screen made of stained glass that was once part of a cathedral window in the town of Rippon, England. This was given to Judge Ellis on one of his visits to England. There is also the horn that is given each Mayor of the town when he leaves office. This was also given to Judge Ellis to grace the walls of the new Rippon across the water. The old graveyard is of considerable size and there are many graves in it, practically all are marked by plain field stones with no inscriptions or else so worn they are not legible. The graves of Richard Blackburn and his wife are both covered with large flat stones. Judge Ellis has had a bronze tablet put at the foot of Colonel Blackburn’s grave to replace the fast disappearing letters cut on the stone. The inscription reads: Here lieth the body of Collo. Richard Blackburn, who departed this life July the 15th, 1757 in the 52nd year of his age. He was born in Rippon, England from whence he came to Virginia, where he acquired a reputable character, and was entrusted and preferred by the Governor to the eminent station and command in the Colony, as well as by the people who made him their representative in the General Assembly where he discharged his duties with honor to himself as well as to his constituants who reposed in him this important trust. He was a man of consumate prudence, frugality and indefatigable industry whereby he made a large fortune in a few years. He was followed to the grave by his inseparable friend, Hon. Wm. Fairfax and other Gents. of distinction, together with his disconsolate relatives who mourned the loss of so worthy and useful a man to them and to his country. This monument is erected to his memory by his friend John Baylis. That there are even more graves than those marked was proved a year ago (1936) when the owner attempted to move a small tree from some spot twenty feet from any known grave, and found what appeared to be a mahogany coffin. Richard Blackburn was the president of the first Jocky Club in America. He was also one of the first to help in the building of Pohick Church. He agreed to build a Church at the Cross Roads at Michael Reagan’s (The Falls Church) for thirty three thousand, five hundred pounds of tobacco, 1735. SOURCES OF INFORMATION: Informants: Mr. Charles Callahan, Alexandria, Virginia Mr. Thomas Botts, Washington, D.C. Mrs. E. H. Hibbs, Manassas, Virginia Judge Wade H. Ellis, Woodbridge, Virginia Old papers belonging to Judge Ellis. Tombstone Inscription Visit by worker. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joan Renfrow NOTICE: I have no relationship or further information in regards to this family. ___________________________________________________________________