Montross is the county seat for Westmoreland County
Colonial Beach is in Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County(103) ► ADJACENT TO WESTMORELAND COUNTY Essex County(42) ► King George County(22) ► Northumberland County(43) ► Richmond County(16) ► Charles County, Maryland(150) ► St. Mary's County, Maryland(297) ►
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I should be destitute of feeling I was not deeply affected by the strong proof which my fellow citizens have given me of their confidence in calling me to the high office whose functions I am about to assume. (James Monroe, . . . — — Map (db m176523) HM
The Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail traces the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake. Along the trail you’ll encounter tangible evidence of the war and stories that bring the people and events to life. Discover the far-reaching impacts of . . . — — Map (db m97038) HM
The generous resources of the Chesapeake Bay invited Englsih exploration and settlement of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.
With Native American assistance, English settlers developed a cash crop industry. Tobacco cultivation and export was . . . — — Map (db m34136) HM
Most of what we know about George Washington's birthplace has come to us thanks to the archeologist's trowel.
After generations of uncertainty about the location of the main plantation house, archeologists excavated its foundations in 1936. . . . — — Map (db m158346) HM
Sailing ships and the rivers they travelled were vital to the tidewater plantations of Virginia and Maryland. They were the colonial counterpart to our vehicles, highways, and railroads.
In front of you is Popes Creek; beyond is the Potomac . . . — — Map (db m34201) HM
Fifth president of the United States, 1817- 1825. Governor of Virginia, 1799 and 1811. Proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine, December 2, 1823.
Declares the Americas no longer subject to European colonization. — — Map (db m11940) HM
In this vicinity stood the Monroe home where James Monroe, fifth president of the United States, was born, April 28, 1758. His father was Spence Monroe and his mother, Elizabeth Jones. He left home at the age of sixteen to enter William and Mary . . . — — Map (db m11585) HM
Born in Westmoreland County, Charles Bernard Smith (1917-1991) is one of more than 140,000 African Americans who served in the racially segregated U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Trained at Chanute Field, Illinois, in aircraft ground . . . — — Map (db m22255) HM
In reverent tribute to the men and women of Colonial Beach, VA. who have served our country.
Left Column:
World War II
Stanley G. Adams •
James W. Allison •
William D. Bankett •
James R. Barnes •
William S. Barnes •
James B. . . . — — Map (db m20870) HM
Site of eighteenth-century dairy used by the Washingtons for storage of milk, cheese and other dairy products. The original brick floor is still in tact.
Please leave undisturbed. — — Map (db m34081) HM
Here at George Washington Birthplace National Monument, discover the land that began Washington’s journey from English citizen to the first President of the United States. Today, visitors can follow in Washington’s footsteps on the Potomac Heritage . . . — — Map (db m97039)
To weaken the American economy, the British took tobacco and lured the enslaved labor force from plantations along the Potomac River. Physically fit males also provided the British with a valuable source of new recruits.
The British offered . . . — — Map (db m97035) HM
On the ground before you once stood the Tidewater plantation home where, on February 22, 1732, George Washington was born, the son of Augustine Washington and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington. — — Map (db m100726) HM
At the distant end of the field in front of you stood the home of Henry Brooks, the first owner of much of what would become Popes Creek Plantation.
As you look toward the house site, perhaps you can sense the isolation Henry Brooks must have . . . — — Map (db m34080) HM
The James Monroe Building is a nationally-significant historic site attributed to our nation's 5th President, James Monroe. The property's significance dates to the inheritance and active agricultural employ of these lands by Monroe's father, . . . — — Map (db m176509) HM
This marks the birthplace of James Monroe, April 28, 1758
Westmoreland County, Virginia
Attended college of William & Mary; Officer, Continental Army, American Revolution; Married Elizabeth Kortright, 1786; US Senator; Minister . . . — — Map (db m11941) HM
President James Monroe was born here on April 28, 1758 to Spence and Eliza Jones Monroe. He lived on this farm until he left to attend the College of William and Mary. He sold the farm to 1783 following his father's death.
The 500 acre farm, . . . — — Map (db m176501) HM
He has in every instance, maintained the reputation of a brave, active, and sensible officer. (George Washington, 1779)
Turn his soul wrong out side outwards and there is not a speck on it. (Thomas Jefferson, 1787)
There . . . — — Map (db m176526) HM
James Monroe's public service career, the most extensive of any President of the United States, took him far from his Westmoreland County birthplace.
As a student at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Monroe was inspired to . . . — — Map (db m176506) HM
In 1664, John Washington, the great-grandfather of George Washington, built a small house on this site. From these modest beginnings, a powerful and prominent Virginia family would arise.
During his thirteen years here, John Washington . . . — — Map (db m34079) HM
Having commenced my service in early youth, and continued it since with few and short intervals. I have witnessed the great difficulties to which our union has been exposed, and admired by the virtue and intelligence with which they . . . — — Map (db m176529) HM
King George County. Area 180 Square Miles. Formed in 1720 from Richmond, and named for King George I. James Madison, "Father of the American Constitution" and President of the United States, was born in this county. . . . — — Map (db m22268) HM
While the essentials of life could be had from the waters, fields, gardens, and forests of Popes Creek Plantation, true economic prosperity depended on the plantation's link to the world; the Potomac River.
The boat landing for Popes Creek . . . — — Map (db m34067) HM
Monroe Creek is one of many tributaries of the Potomac River contributing to the form and character of Virginia's Northern Neck region.
Context
The creek owes its name to descendants of Andrew Monroe, the first Monroe to settle here in . . . — — Map (db m176552) HM
As one of five children, James Monroe spent the better part of his youth on these lands.
The Home Site
His father, Spence Monroe, was a middling farmer of modest but respectable means and a trained joiner, or cabinet maker. The family . . . — — Map (db m176514) HM
The ...inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay Region made ...its bountiful resources. The large pristine bay and its waterways including the Potomac River before ... sustained nearly 27,000 Native Americans.
...around...creeks... of the watershed. . . . — — Map (db m34070) HM
Look at the landscape around you. Augustine Washington's reasons for settling here in 1718 are apparent. The ground to your left is slightly elevated and well drained - perfect for farming. Before you, Popes Creek teems with life: fish, crabs, and . . . — — Map (db m34192) HM
It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty. (James Monroe, 1801)
This skiff was built by Clarence Stanford for James A. "Billy" Powell in the early 1950s. Billy, a well-known local waterman and owner of the Colonial Beach Oyster Packing Plant, used the skiff for fishing and haul seining for several decades. . . . — — Map (db m176553) HM
On the morning of December 26, 1776, a small detachment of American Light Infantry, led by Lieutenant James Monroe, aged 19, breached the Hessian defenses at Trenton. This gallant action, in which Monroe was severely wounded, enabled the . . . — — Map (db m11942) HM
As a friend of humanity, I rejoice in the French Revolution, but as a citizen of America, the gratification is a greatly increased.
(James Monroe, 1791)
1794: Commissioned Minister to France by President . . . — — Map (db m176520) HM
The Chesapeake Bay continues to be a generous provider of food, industry, and income. Millions of people are now drawn to the Bay in pursuit of leisure and tranquility.
Recreational uses have increased since Washington's time, when the . . . — — Map (db m34138) HM
At Popes Creek Plantation, George Washington was born into the plantation culture he would know his entire life. Today, no visible vestiges of the plantation remain. Instead, exhibits, buildings, and interpreters on the site give a sense of the . . . — — Map (db m34139) HM
Generations of Americans have expressed their reverence for George Washington at his birth site. The park is the cumulative result of a century of memorial efforts.
In 1923, on the eve of the bicentennial of Washington's birth, interested . . . — — Map (db m34203) HM
The occasion has been judged proper for asserting as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved that the American continents by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are . . . — — Map (db m176524) HM
"The Birthplace of a Nation"
Lying between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, the Northern Neck provided fertile land that supported production of tobacco, the first great cash crop of the Virginia colony.
Six counties were formed . . . — — Map (db m176507) HM
During the War of 1812 the young United States was embroiled in conflict with Great Britain. From 1812 to 1815 Americans fought to protect their rights and economic independence. They faced superior enemy forces on the homefront and the high seas. . . . — — Map (db m97037) HM
Here at the then thriving port of Leedstown on February 27, 1766, ten years before the Declaration of Independence, the Leedstown Resolutions (or Westmoreland Association) were drawn. This association, a protest against the Stamp Act and a pledge of . . . — — Map (db m22085) HM
The Pissaseck Indians lived along the Rappahannock River, here at Leedstown and in a few other villages in Westmoreland County. They spoke a language derived from the Virginia Algonquian family and were hunters and farmers. The Pissasecks were . . . — — Map (db m22106) HM
