Published Articles
Fashionable, Functional and Symbolic: The 18th-Century Wedding Dress - January 2007
On the European Continent, in England, and in America of the 1700s, there was a practice among brides of all social classes of wearing their “best dress,” color notwithstanding, on their wedding day, rather than a dress made only for that day and then stored away. In his most enduring novel The Vicar of Wakefield, 18th-century Irish-born poet, playwright and essayist Oliver Goldsmith wrote that the vicar’s bride chose “her wedding -gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but such qualities as would wear well.” Although from a work of fiction, the tact the vicar’s wife took when selecting her “wedding -gown” epitomized the choice most brides in Europe and America made when deciding on the fabrics for their wedding gowns.
Discovering Torthorwald, Bridekirk, and Lymekilns through John Carlyle’s Inventory - February 2007
Although Alexandria was John Carlyle’s primary residence from 1753 until 1780, it was not the only property he owned. Carlyle acquired his first tract of land in America in 1743, composed of 121 acres along Little Hunting Creek. By 1748, Carlyle stated that “I am at present Master of between Eight and Ten Thousand Acres of as Good Land As any in Cumberland.” Much of this property was speculative reality, which Carlyle would buy and then rent or sell again. Yet by the time of his death, Carlyle owned three major plantations besides the lots in Alexandria which he called Torthorwald, Bridekirk, and Lymekilns after the estates of different branches of the Carlyle family in England. This designation practice was not uncommon among British colonists. For example, nearby George Mason also named his house, Gunston Hall, after an ancestral family estate in Staffordshire, England.
The “Residue of my Estate”:An Account of Penny - March 2007
Curiously enough John Carlyle’s April 5, 1780 “last Will & Testament” is completely devoid of any direct reference to his slaves. The closest John comes to mentioning the people he owned or their fate can be gleaned from the following sections presented in his will:
Michel Pepin dit La Force and John Carlyle: A Link to the Seven Years’ War - April 2007
On occasion, genealogical research reveals more to the researcher than names, births, deaths, baptisms, and marriages. A family member recounts a story about ancestors and describes their participation in a historical event. A comment is inserted in a document; a name is mentioned in a journal. Sometimes a physical description is given. Finally, a link is made to a prominent person and a different picture of history develops. This is the case for ancestors in the Canadian La Force family line. It would include an accurate marriage record and a note of power of attorney that would reveal which La Force was involved in the events that started the French and Indian War. In French Canadian history, the La Force family will be linked to life in New France, to Duluth, Governor Duquesne, Commander Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, Jumonville Glen, the Iroquois people, and the Seven Years’ War. In American history Michel Pepin dit La Force is linked to John Carlyle, life in Alexandria, George Washington, and the French and Indian War through a small note in one of John Carlyle’s letters.
Grandeur Underfoot: Wilton Carpets and Social Status - May 2007
Could John, Sarah, or Sybil Carlyle have read Chesla C. Sherlock’s 1926 assessment of their stately mansion, they probably would have passed through the range of emotions from mortification to incense. As a pacesetter of Alexandria society, indeed the supplier of colonial fashion, Carlyle placed great value on the materials he was shipping within the British trade routes. The mansion, designed to stand out as the residential showpiece of Alexandria, would have been as stunning internally as it was externally.
No Pretensions to Art: the Buck Prints of Cumberland - June 2007
In the era before photography, imagine how people went about ‘seeing’ new places: Herodotus’ Histories wove stories of magic, explaining the customs and folklore of faraway lands. Travel journals kept by Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta fanned the flames of wonder for their contemporaries. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales related the stories of rituals, celebrations, and exploits of pilgrims, wandering from holy site to holy site. Johannes Gutenberg completed his astounding new invention around 1450, opening up the possibility that these wonderful stories of adventure and exploration would reach the masses like never before. Surely it can be no coincidence that the invention of the movable-type press occurs shortly before the Age of Reason. By the time of John Carlyle’s residence in Alexandria, people were seeing the world through a revolutionary medium— the print.
18th-Century Gardening Books - July 2007
By the early 18th century, gardening already was becoming something of a pastime among the gentry in colonial America. Especially in the South, affluent colonists added to their property formal ornamental gardens of European style, in addition to vegetable gardens and orchards. Colonists such as John Carlyle would have ordered from Europe useful gardening tools, as well as vegetable seeds and herb seeds and certain fashionable flowering bulbs. In order to better design a garden and successfully grow plants, a colonial gentleman naturally would seek to acquire instructional gardening books for his library. At this time, bookmaking art was in its infancy in the New World, so many of the wealthier colonial gardeners sought to import elegantly bound and richly illustrated European gardening books.
The Better Part of Valor: Alexandria Surrenders - August 2007
The seaport of Alexandria had felt the effects of war from its establishment. Alexandria had been overrun by a belligerent military force on three occasions: twice by the forces of Great Britain and once by those of the United States during America's Civil War. The first time Alexandria gave itself over to a martial force was at the start of the French and Indian War. It was during the spring of 1755 when the relatively new town was inundated by British troops under the command of Major General Edward Braddock, Commander-in-Chief of His Royal Majesty’s Forces in North America. Braddock had been sent to the Colonies to stop French encroachments into British America’s western frontier. Though initially welcomed as an army of fellow Englishmen sent to protect their American brethren from the French and their Indian allies, the Alexandria citizenry soon viewed the presence of His Majesty’s troops as an invading army.
The Valiant Died: the Battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8, 1781, A Book Review - September 2007
The title of this book ---“The Valiant Died”--- is a fitting description of the Revolutionary War experience of George William Carlyle, the only son of Col. John Carlyle. Two hundred and twenty-six years ago this month, George William met his untimely end during the Battle of Eutaw Springs. The battle was the last major military engagement before the Patriot victory at Yorktown, which effectively “sealed the deal” for the thirteen colonies to become independent from Britain. At the time of the Battle of Eutaw Springs, George William Carlyle was only fifteen years old, had within the prior year inherited most of his father’s wealth and was likely to continue along a path of wealth and social prominence similar to that of his father’s. As the Revolutionary War disrupted any chance of an education in England (such education was expected of a young man of his social stature), he answered the call to arms by volunteering as a cadet in the American forces fighting in the Carolinas and Georgia (i.e., the “Southern Campaign”) led by General Nathanael Greene, George Washington’s hand-picked commander for forces in this theater. In joining the ranks of the American forces, George William traveled from Virginia to South Carolina with important papers for General Greene from military leaders fighting in Virginia, including the Marquis de Lafayette. Young Mr. Carlyle was only with the Southern Campaign forces for a month and a half. In what was to be his first and last battle, he was killed at Eutaw Springs most likely when charging a British stronghold as a cavalryman with the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons commanded by Lt. Col. William Washington. (For a more in-depth view into George William Carlyle and his role in the Revolutionary War/Battle of Eutaw Springs, please see the July/August 2004 Docent Dispatch and the Spring-Summer 2006 Carlyle Connection newsletter.)
Great Commanders: General Greene - October 2007
Great Commanders: General Greene by Francis Vinton Greene, originally published in 1893 and reprinted in 2006, is a detailed account of General Nathanael Greene’s service and undeniable contribution to the successful conclusion of the Revolutionary War. The list of fellow participants in the colonies’ struggle for independence from England reads like nominations for Valhalla, but the major focus of this work is Nathanael Greene’s accomplishments and his association with his commanding officer, General George Washington. Author Greene states (with some family pride?) that the only two officers who served continually throughout the eight-year conflict were Washington and Greene. They were, however, in very good company: the Marquis de Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, Henry (Light Horse Harry) Lee III, and Anthony Wayne, to name a few. The war brought this illustrious band of brothers together and they became – and remained – lifelong friends.
Needlework and the Female Domestic Routine - November 2007
With the Girl’s Bed Chamber back in place, now is an appropriate time to reconsider how we interpret daily female life and education in the eighteenth century. Because the majority of the evidence we have about the history of Carlyle House is from John Carlyle’s own perspective, it is easy to forget the strong female presence that would have been at the house. John’s two wives, Sarah Fairfax and Sybil West would have been responsible for running the household and caring for the children. After Sybil’s death, though only twelve years old, Sarah Carlyle felt a great responsibility to manage the domestic affairs and was only hindered by her young age. She writes to her Uncle George, saying that if Sybil “had lived a few years longer that I might have been Intrusted to have taken the care of papas house Opon my own hands, which is too much for me as yet.”
“A Prominent Pleasure”: Dining in the Eighteenth Century - December 2007
Life at Carlyle House revolved around dinner. Contemporaries described dinner as “the most prominent pleasure of the day.” Even ordinary eighteenth-century gentry dinners were elaborate by modern standards, but they were especially spectacular when entertaining. Christmas in the eighteenth-century, like today, was often a time for large-scale entertainment. On December 18, 1773, Philip Fithian wrote, “nothing is now to be heard of in conversation but the Balls, the Fox-hunts, the fine entertainment and the good fellowship which are to be exhibited at the approaching Christmas.”
