| Author | Post |
|---|
Jeanne Mozier
Member
| Joined: | Wed Mar 12th, 2008 |
| Location: | West Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 12 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 19th, 2008 08:14 pm |
|
This is the statement on the poll --
"The 'Lord Fairfax Springs' sign in the Berkeley Springs State Park has been replaced with a tourism campaign sign for 'George Washington’s Bathtub.' The sign was changed in the early nineties. Many of the long time residents are unhappy with this change."
No matter how important anyone may or may not think Lord Fairfax is, or what they choose to teach their kids, this is not a true or accurate statement. I object to people pursuing their personal agendas using false information. It is especially objectionable in this case where the poll is setting up a potential public official for support or opposition based on a false statement.
While Berkeley Springs State Park and the WV Department of Natural Resources may have chosen to replace shabby and deteriorating signage with new signage -- for which they should be thanked and applauded instead of attacked -- they did NOT change anything in terms of naming. Perhaps those "unhappy long term residents" should check their memories -- and perhaps go to the park and note with amazement that there is indeed a sign marking Lord Fairfax's spring.
In response to the personal comment about my opinion -- I did not say I did not think Lord Fairfax was important, I said -- and correctly -- the general public does not care, and certainly not on the scale that they know or care about George Washington.
|
Kim Wills
Member
|
Posted: Wed Mar 19th, 2008 06:46 pm |
|
Since you don't care about Lord Fairfax, Jeanne let me fill everyone else in on Lord Fairfax:
In 1649, land holdings in the New World were granted by King Charles II to some half-dozen noblemen. Later, Lord Fairfax and Joist Hite both had aquired land. It let to a legal dispute. The ground was surveyed by both sides. The John VanMeter grant included 30,000 acres in all, located in the valley, enjoining the settlement of ten families. Broadly interpreted, the territory was a vast tract of uncharted wilderness--exceeding 40,000 acres--and did not require Hite to locate his surveys in a single, wide enclosure. He was allowed to scatter his settlement across the best and most favorably located tracts, leaving large waste areas ungranted. This settlement policy was usual, as such had prevailed previously.
Lord Fairfax, however, considered it a "conspicuous trespass upon his proprietary rights," and the permissive policy of the colonial authorities provided him with grounds for accusing Jost Hite of "gerrymandering" his claim into a "shoestring," frustrating the future growth of the Valley settlements and making himself (Hite) and partners rich at the expense of others.
The fact that history can repeat itself with "gerrymandering" and those in charge helping themselves to the spoils of county should never be forgotten.
The Fairfax Line surveyed in 1746 still has significance to this day. In numerous places it represents private property lines, for a significant portion of its length it represents County lines, and for several miles it represents the state boundary between Virginia and West Virginia. Maryland goes up the Potomac far enough to meet a point where a North line from the Fairfax stone would cross the branch of the Potomac.
So while you can sell up the bathtub, Lord Fairfax was a very integral part of Morgan County history. I would rather explain that history lesson to my children than have them admire a pile of rocks.
|
Jeanne Mozier
Member
| Joined: | Wed Mar 12th, 2008 |
| Location: | West Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 12 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 19th, 2008 02:48 am |
|
In the poll candidates are asked to fill out and posted on this Website, there is a mis-statement about George Washington's Bathtub. It was NOT, as Kim Wills states, so named for the first time in the 1990s. It was designated in 1932 as part of local activities related to the Washington Bicentennial (of GW's birth.) -- I actually did the first-hand research to discover the fact which obviously Kim's source did not do.
What happened in the late 1990s, was that Travel Berkeley Springs decided to exploit the humor of the bathtub to gain free publicity for Berkeley Springs -- and it has worked quite well. For example, at NO COST, Berkeley Springs was one of 10 places featured in USA Today a couple weeks ago for the bathtub -- and article read by millions. It is also in several books about presidential connections. Just yesterday, I received a call from a professor in Richmond who asked for 50 brochures featuring the bathtub because his classes in presidential lore repeatedly choose the bathtub as their favorite. And guess what -- no one knows or cares about Lord Fairfax -- plus his spring is also designated and it is the one with the exposed rocks.
|
Current time is 06:32 am | |
|
|
|