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Old Town in Alexandria, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
 

The Long Story of The Jones Point Ropewalk

1833-1850

— Jones Point Park —

 
 
The Long Story of The Jones Point Ropewalk Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), December 22, 2018
1. The Long Story of The Jones Point Ropewalk Marker
Inscription. In 1833, Josiah Davis constructed a narrow, 400-yard-long building where rope was manufactured for ship's rigging, a once-thriving maritime industry for the nearby port of Alexandria.

[Caption:]
The Jones Point ropewalk was a two-story building with larger wheels than are pictured here, but the process of making rope was the same. Walking backward between two reels a spinner unwound lengths of hemp from around the waist and spun the fiber in each hand to create rope. A spinner could walk as much as 20 miles in a 10-hour workday.

Archaeological Evidence
Excavations at Jones Point revealed the remains of the ropewalk's foundations and a black stain down the middle—probably from the tar applied to cordage to resist rotting from seawater.

...every afternoon during the summer, it was the custom of the boys to go thither after school...to indulge in the luxury of a bath. They began to undress in the western part, and run naked through the long building...

At the entrance on the west there was a huge reel for rope, on which the boys used to stand and turn each other over, the rise and fall being probably twenty feet, and on occasion a boy threw out his back as he passed the second story window...


—Description of the abandoned Jones Point ropewalk,
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Academy Journal, June 3, 1873


In that building, long and low,
With its windows all a-row,
Like the port-holes of a hulk,
Human spiders spin and spin,
Backward down their
threads so thin
Dropping, each a hempen bulk.

—Henry Worth Longfellow, 1859
 
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce. A significant historical date for this entry is June 3, 1873.
 
Location. 38° 47.444′ N, 77° 2.515′ W. Marker is in Alexandria, Virginia. It is in Old Town. Marker can be reached from Mount Vernon Trail. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 100 Jones Point Drive, Alexandria VA 22314, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. The Jones Point Lighthouse (within shouting distance of this marker); Mistress Margaret Brent (within shouting distance of this marker); The Remarkable Margaret Brent (within shouting distance of this marker); D.C.'s First Building Block (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); The Nation's Capital Begins Here 1791-1793 (about 400 feet away); Who Owns the River? (about 400 feet away); The First People on Jones Point
The Long Story of The Jones Point Ropewalk Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Devry Becker Jones (CC0), December 22, 2018
2. The Long Story of The Jones Point Ropewalk Marker
(about 500 feet away); World Wars to the Present (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Alexandria.
 
The Jones Point Ropewalk image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, October 7, 2012
3. The Jones Point Ropewalk
The Jones Point ropewalk was a two-story building with larger wheels than are pictured here, but the process of making rope was the same. Walking backward between two reels a spinner unwound lengths of hemp from around the waist and spun the fiber in each hand to create rope. A spinner could walk as much as 20 miles in a 10-hour workday.
Close-up of image on marker
The Ropewalk image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, October 7, 2012
4. The Ropewalk
In that building, long and low,
With its windows all a-row,
Like the port-holes of a hulk,
Human spiders spin and spin,
Backward down their
threads so thin
Dropping, each a hempen bulk.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1859
Verse from The Ropewalk, in Birds of Passage by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Archaeological Evidence image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, October 7, 2012
5. Archaeological Evidence
Excavations at Jones Point revealed the remains of the ropewalk's foundations and a black stain down the middle—probably from the tar applied to cordage to resist rotting from seawater.
Close-up of URS photo on marker.
The Jones Point Ropewalk (1300 feet) image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, October 7, 2012
6. The Jones Point Ropewalk (1300 feet)
Map showing the Jones Point Ropewalk, Jones Point and Alexandria, incised into the base on which the marker is mounted.
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on January 28, 2023. It was originally submitted on December 23, 2018, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 464 times since then and 53 times this year. Photos:   1, 2. submitted on December 23, 2018, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.   3, 4, 5. submitted on April 14, 2021, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.   6. submitted on April 15, 2021, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 19, 2024