XI \ 



Sfdfford Courthouse 

 South of PotouiiK Creek 



INTRODUCTION 



Tlu" chief archcolonic^l prohli'in ul Mai ll)oiou(;li 

 at ihc time of excavation was whether or not .Struc- 

 ture B had served as the foundation for botli the court- 

 house and for John Mercer's mansion. Althoutjh the 

 possil)iht\ still remains that the sites of the two build- 

 ings overlapped, preceding chapters have demonstrated 

 that the foundation was constructed by .Mercer for his 

 house, and that it did not stand beneath the cotnt- 

 house. 



However, in l'-»J7 it was thoutihi that ex|iloiation 

 of the late- 18th-century courthouse site, located up- 

 stream on the south side of Potomac Creek, might 

 reveal a structure of similar dimensions which would 

 help to confirm the possibilil\ that .Structiue B had 

 originated with the Marlborough courthouse. Fur- 

 thermore, the Potomac Cjeek site was of interest by 

 it.self and was closely related to [ohn Meirer's legal 

 and judicial career. 



The location of the site is depicted m sin\f\s m- 

 cluded with suit papers of 1743 and laO.^).'"" The.se 

 papers were brought to our attention by George H. S. 

 King of Fredericksburg, and were mentioned in 

 Happel's carefulU documented history of the .Stafford 

 and King George courthouses.'" Previously, wc had 

 been led to the site by a former sherifT of .StafTnid 

 C'ounty, who recalled listening as a boy to descripiimi-. 

 of the old courthouse building by an ancient who,se 



"» Frcdcriclubunj .Suit Papers, 174:) IHOJ (MS, Krcdcriclu- 

 buri;, Virginia, courlhotuc). 

 "1 IIappel, op. cit. (footnoir 22). pp. IHl-l'H. 



memory went back to tli' ul tiic r.'ili 



century. The old man's i' -w turn, were 



reinforced by similar iTCoiintings of eldcn in his own 

 youth. L'tiscientili. 

 tion may be, it en ■ 



remain sharp and clear in niral areas, spanning in ihe 

 minds of two or three individuals the ! 

 conventional generations. .\s clues. 

 ne\'cr to be ignored. In this case wc were taken to a 

 rubble-strcwn site on an eminence that ovrrlouk^ 

 Potomac (^reek. .\t the foot of a declivity Ih-Iow, on 

 the old Belle Plains road, we were shown anotiter 

 obvious evidence of structure, which we were told 

 had Ix-en the jail. Just to the e.ist of thi< wHtt .i 

 road leads away to the site of Ca\ 

 house (now the ".Stone I.at!.' -■■ 

 that the stocks had once stc 

 Of the latter two sites we have no contirn«nig 



e\idr- r '•' ^^ Injth claims are [-' '■' '■ 



.\o .1 iFort was made to 



since Imids were limited. The »»ir\T>-s ol I 743 and 



I""- " '• ■•'• -■ • .•-•— ,r|. 



un 

 was made l»etwrfn .August I'J 

 revealing unn-' • -^ ■'■'■ ■'•- '— ' 

 .As will lie »l: 

 resemblance to the .Stnicturr B toiindaliuii 



lllsrrORICAL BACKGROUND 

 The history of the Potomac < 



I ■ 



house wa,^ ordered bnitl in l»K».i, a >TJir alter the 



