Bringing Back Sligo

Author Archives: Lauren Tepaske

• Sligo as a Hospital

  Posted at 7:39 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on July 18, 2019

  To continue our lecture on the fact and fiction of Sligo we now turn to the hospital stories.  If you read the Works Progress Administration (WPA) report or any other articles regarding the house you will find that the previous home at Sligo was a Revolutionary War hospital, a hospital for the local Gunnery Factory, a smallpox hospital, a Civil War hospital, a hospital just for the sake of being a hospital, and a doll hospital because, why not?  That last bit isn’t true, just so you know (sarcasm can be hard to get across when writing).

  I have found a few definitive instances of Sligo being used as a smallpox hospital.  According to Quinn, in 1790 and 1792 the sick were quarantined at Sligo and attended to by a Dr. Brooke and Dr. Kerr (The History of the City of Fredericksburg Virginia, p. 66).  Also, Deaderick did use a legitimate source in her WPA report for Sligo when she cited Council Minutes from 22 June 1796:  “…the Overseers of the Poor be requested to rent the house at ‘Sligo,’ at present occupied as a hospital, to be used as such for one year, and that Dr. Kerr be requested to attend the said hospital when it shall be necessary” (WPA, Sligo – Site, 2 June 1937).  In a few of the reports it states that the house is unoccupied before being commissioned as a hospital and I am not sure what that means exactly.  It does, however, confirm my belief that some people owned the land but never lived there (that’s a post for another day as it is still very much a work in progress as I try to determine who was who and where and when and why and sometimes how).

  A third instance of the house being used as a hospital comes from the City of Fredericksburg’s Historic Court Records archive online (https://www.fredericksburgva.gov/998/Historic-Court-Records) and is written as follows:

  A notice issued this morning calling all the magistrates together to fix upon a site proper for the establishment of an hospital for the diseased with the smallpox, when it was unanimously agreed (present: Robert Lewis, Mayor; William Gordon, Recorder; William J. Roberts; John Hart; and, William Allen, J.P.) that the house now unoccupied belonging to John Ferneyhough near the banks of the Rappahannock below the Hazle Run be immediately prepared for the reception of the sick – that a guard of two men be employed to watch night & day alternately to prevent any communication with the neighborhood & town & to prevent all intercourse with the hospital unless it be by the nurse, physician & those who furnish diet to the sick. At a meeting of the Common Hall yesterday (Present: Thomas Goodwin; William Gordon; Robert Parrott; Henry T. Phillips; Robert Mackay; Joseph Walker; Charles Austin; and, Robert Ellis) to take into consideration the propriety of providing by appropriation for the sick & diseased with the smallpox in the natural way. It was ordered that one hundred dollars be set apart for the purpose & that the Mayor be directed to draw for the same at his discretion for the above purposes.

  I have yet to confirm if the house was truly used as a hospital during any of the wars it has witnessed.  During the Civil War in particular, I find it hard to believe that it was used as a hospital because the Union soldiers looted and ransacked the property after the Ferneyhoughs fled.  It’s also really only speculation that it was a doll hospital however, there were approximately nine little girls (perhaps more) born and raised at the property so one could assume it admitted quite a few injured dollies.  So, despite the concrete evidence for some of the mentions of the house as a hospital, it is safe to say that Sligo has seen it’s fair share of sickness and sadness.

  Posted in Grounds, History, Hospital, Main House, Wars | 1 Comment

• Clearing Up Some Dates

  Posted at 8:18 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on July 17, 2019

  I had an interesting online encounter the other day when I corrected a gentleman about the history of Sligo. What made it interesting is that he was refuting what I was saying by quoting my own, incorrect, material which he had retrieved online from the Department of Historic Resources (DHR). It was the very first form I had filled out in order to start the nomination process for getting Sligo on the National Historic Registry and unfortunately, it was a little less than accurate.

  In the end, I was irritated because it was my fault the incorrect information was out there (though for a brief second I was irritated because I felt like I was being mansplained by having a complete stranger tell me about my house). While I still have yet to fully embrace the idea of living in the house I have come to feel a bit protective of Sligo, it’s people, and the history. What is most important to me, though, is getting the history right which has proven to be a lofty goal.

  In the beginning all of the information I had of the house came from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of Virginia Historical Inventory. In a nutshell, the WPA was a program meant to employ men and women until the economy recovered from the Great Depression. One of the smallest branches of the WPA was the Historical Records Survey whose official mission statement was the “discovery, preservation, and listing of basic materials for research in the history of the United States” (taken from Wikipedia and if my college professors knew I used it as a source they would die).

  Sligo’s WPA report was written by Nettie Moore Deaderick in 1937 and her bibliography lists various persons of Fredericksburg and Deed Books. So, while the information Deaderick retrieved from the Deed Books are certainly valid, I have to take with a grain of salt what statements were given by folks who had simply lived in the area for a long time. It’s through the WPA that I was given misinformation such as the house burning down in 1863 and, who can forget, the infamous skeleton in a cage. In my haste and excitement to get the nomination started I didn’t take the time to fully appreciate what the WPA reports were and how accurate, or inaccurate, they might be.

  So, to clear just a few things up: The house burnt down in 1888 and was promptly rebuilt, with construction likely ending in 1889. This was confirmed by the discovery of a newspaper article as well as the inscription carved into the brick of the foundation and an interior brick of the basement. There have only been two dwelling homes on the site, the first one built circa 1760 (this is according to the City of Fredericksburg’s records and I have yet to verify it though Mutual Assurance Society maps of the early 1800s show a single-story structure in the same shape as the current house) and the second house was built in 1889 (as previously stated so remember that date because there may be a pop quiz later).

  While I have much more to write in order to clear-up a few of the details of the house I will leave it at this for now. Supposedly, blog posts should never reach more than 600 words and I am rapidly approaching that number. I tend to give more information than necessary like when someone asks for directions and I give them more landmarks than actual directions because I’m trying to be helpful but in reality I’m just making the situation more confusing for the driver of the car, crap I’m over 600 words.

  Posted in History, Life | 1 Comment

• First World Problems

  Posted at 1:19 am by Lauren Tepaske, on June 8, 2019

  As I drove to Wal-mart at 10:00 this evening to purchase lice treatment I thought about all of the ways my life is feeling just a little unsettled.  I also thought about all of the other things I would rather be doing besides going to Wal-mart which included, but was not limited to:  Removing my fingernails one by one, stabbing my eyes with needles, and/or walking through fire.  You may think I’m being dramatic but I would do just about anything to avoid Wal-mart and especially Wal-mart late on a Friday night.

  Anyway, you all aren’t here to listen to me tell you about how Wal-mart is the worst and you’re probably not here to listen to my gripes but, too bad.  Marcus is gone again, this time to London and Germany.  He left just as the Cottage was starting to resemble an inhabitable space.  After eight days on travel he will return again only to leave for another four days for Navy Reserves training.  For the first time I kind of wish I had the skills Marcus has so that I could keep working on the Cottage but my skill set leaves me sitting here, late at night after a lice killing party, to write about how I don’t know anything about restoring houses.  I know so little about restoring homes that I managed to stab my hand with the vinyl flooring we’re installing and thus came an end to my short-lived career as a flooring installer.

  Meanwhile, as we have worked on the Cottage for the past few weeks months almost one year, we have also had to reassess our finances, deplete my retirement account (officially saying goodbye to Lauren Rojek), sell a house, consider selling one of the children, and sign our souls over to the devil.  Believe me, I have enough self-awareness to recognize that many of our problems are “first world” but they’re problems nonetheless.

  I also have enough self-awareness to know that things could always be worse.  I mean, at this very moment I have a really stinky dog lying next to me passing gas as if his life depended on it but I could be dead and not a smell a thing at all.  So, there’s that.

   

  Posted in Cottage, Life | 2 Comments

• The Fence

  Posted at 7:12 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on May 22, 2019

  There have been a few things going on behind-the-scenes (if you will) that I haven’t talked about for fear I would jeopardize their outcome.  One of those was a request to erect a six foot tall fence around the property.  We had to gain special permission from the Zoning Board in order to have such a tall fence at the front of the property.

  A few months ago (that’s how long this process has taken), we were all ready to give the go-ahead to the fence contractor when Marcus decided to peruse the city’s requirements.  Thank goodness he did because we would have been in for a rude awakening when it turns out the maximum height for a fence at the front of a property is four feet.  We immediately put a hold on scheduling for the fence and went to work gathering the requirements for the Zoning Board (one of those things was a survey of the property which I had suggested we get months ago but never did…its uncanny how right I am all of the time).

  I was really worried about putting such a short fence on the property for one big reason and he has four legs and his name sounds a lot like “Asshole.”  I love my furry guy but he’s a doofus and all I could think about was him chasing a bird shadow out into the four lanes of Dixon Road.  Of course protecting my children is high priority as well but they’re less likely to chase birds or shadows out into traffic.

  We also felt a tall fence was necessary to protect the property from any future vandalism.  Before, when the house was already in rough shape, it was hurtful when another window was broken or a fire extinguisher sprayed throughout the house (that happened) but if it were to happen now things could get ugly.  Luckily, we haven’t had any problems since work began but it would still be nice to have the added security of a  fence.

  Anyway, this is all to say that this past Monday we sat in front of the Zoning Board Commission and were unanimously approved for our six foot tall fence.  It was clear to everyone that our situation is unique within the city as we sit on nearly 1.5 acres of land and are surrounded by the park and a four lane road.  I appreciate the work that the Zoning Department did for us presenting our case to the Commission.  Plus, we were able to take both of the children and they got a tiny little lesson in how the government works so, parenting win for us!  The girls would probably argue that it was not a win but they’re young and immature and have no right to an opinion (because that’s how my government works in this house).

  Now we just need to file for the permit and work can begin so we can start to really enjoy our little bit of land.  I know ol’ Asshole is going to love it.

  Posted in Contractors, Grounds, Life | 0 Comments

• Connections

  Posted at 8:48 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on May 15, 2019

  Of all the things I expected when we purchased Sligo and by starting this blog the last thing on my mind was making connections with strangers.  I knew family and friends would want to know what was going on, curious to watch our slow descent into insanity and, of course, the progress of the house but I didn’t expect to hear from people with real connections to the property.

  Over the last few months I have heard from and met(!) descendants of the family who built the house.  I have talked genealogy and researched extensively said family that they kind of feel like my own at this point.  I have met, by total chance, a possible descendant of Dr. Mortimer, one of the first men to own the property.  I have talked with folks who either lived at the property or who knew someone who lived at the property and remember visiting.

  I never expected my life to be so enriched by this project but here I am, with my “two sizes too small” heart slowly growing.

  Posted in Life | 0 Comments

• Paranormal Activity or User Error?

  Posted at 12:22 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on April 14, 2019

  I have hesitated to write about my possible paranormal experience at the house because I don’t want you all to think I am crazy (spoiler alert:  I am).  In all honesty, I cannot say whether I do believe in ghosts though I love a good, real-life ghost story.  I have never experienced a haunting aside from the few times I have been walking up a set of stairs and my brain tells me someone is behind me and I race to the top to escape (and don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about).

  Last week I gave a tour of the house to my friend, her mom, and her mom’s sisters.  We made it to the master bedroom area and from there you can look down, onto the porch roof.  We added snowbirds to the roof which are there to stop ice from falling on a person’s head…I think…I mean, that’s the general idea.  There could be more to them but that’s how I understand their existence.  The ladies that were touring the house didn’t know what they were and suggested I take a picture to add them to the Instagram page with an explanation of what they are.  I did just that, took a picture with my phone and then we moved on.

  Later that evening, I went back to look at the picture and post it to Instagram but it wasn’t there.  No big deal.  User error.  I figured I would take another one next time I went to the house.

  Marcus and I went to the house this past Friday and I specifically ran upstairs before we left so I could take a picture of the snowbirds.  I made sure to check that the picture had been taken and we left.  Again, later that evening, I went to post the picture to Instagram and…it wasn’t there.  Now I don’t know what to think.  I mean, newfangled technology confuses me from time to time but taking a picture is pretty straightforward.  To take a picture of the same thing twice and to somehow lose it twice is strange.

  What do you think?  Is there a friendly spirit messing with me or is it user error?
  Posted in Haunted, Main House | 0 Comments

• Slavery at Sligo

  Posted at 12:11 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on April 5, 2019

  I would be remiss to not mention the slaves that the Ferneyhoughs would have had during the 18th and 19th centuries. This isn’t to say that slaves were not present at Sligo prior to the Ferneyhoughs it’s just that the majority of our research has focused on the family who owned and operated Sligo for the longest period of time.

  In 1783 we know of Edmund Hollinger, the son of Barbara Hollinger a free woman, who is indentured to John Ferneyhough Sr. for training in coach making. I realize he is not a slave but I wanted to mention him all the same. By 1788 Edmund has turned 21. By 1806 it is verified under oath that Edmund is a free man and has appropriately served his apprenticeship.

  In 1799 we know that there is one runaway slave named Daniel. I plan to write what we know about his story in a separate blog post.

  In the early 1800s we have the names of Cornelius, Anderson, and Sally (listed as mulatto).

  In 1823 to 1824 the names of the slaves along with most of their ages are as follows: Mary (25); Joice (18); Betty (9); William (7); James (4); Aaron (2); Reuben.

  In 1833 the names of the slaves along with their ages (and in two instances their trade) are as follows: James (blacksmith) (45); Sally (cook) (35); Mary (16); Join (10); Juddy (12); Jim (7); Scipio (3); Bell (4); William (1).

  I am trying desperately to not confuse you by throwing out so many different dates but I also want to be sure that my information is corroborated by actual documentation. So, from the 1829 plat we know that there were at least four buildings on the property: The dwelling, a kitchen, a carriage shop, and a smith shop. With that being said, we know that by 1860 Sligo is 44 acres (according to John Ferneyhough Jr.s’ will). None of the plats mention slave quarters despite the fact that we know there are slaves.

  In the 1860 United States Census Slave Schedule in Spotsylvania County we know that John Ferneyhough Jr. owned 16 slaves ranging in age from 1 year old to 35. I do not know how any of these 16 slaves relate to the aforementioned slaves listed by name because no names are given, just their ages and sex.

  We also know the names of slaves thanks to varying documents such as John Ferneyhough Jr.’s will (1860) which leaves “one negro man named George,” a “negro boy named ‘Ned’,” and a “negro woman Corinna” to a daughter-in-law. Also, in the 1937 Works Progress Administration (WPA) of Virginia Historical Inventory we learn of an old slave referred to as “Uncle Isaac” who attempted to save some of the Ferneyhough’s belongings from the Union soldiers. The WPA also states that the Union soldiers burned “all but one of the out-buildings” and threw many of the Ferneyhough’s belongings in the well.

  After the Civil War I cannot say what happened to the slaves or where they went. However, on one of my many walks along the Rappahannock River Heritage Trail in downtown Fredericksburg I happened to stop and read an informational sign about the slaves of Fredericksburg during the Battle of Fredericksburg. It states that “many slaves saw opportunity in the resulting chaos (of the arrival of the Union army across the river at Falmouth)…(and) thousands of…African-Americans left their homes, seeking their own freedom through the Union lines.”

  If anyone has more information to share about the slaves at Sligo I would love to hear from you. Especially any descendants or further information of their stories since so little is known.

  Posted in Ferneyhough, History, Slaves and Servants | 7 Comments

• New Sligo Video

  Posted at 10:27 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on March 22, 2019

  Thank you so much to our friend who created this YouTube video featuring Sligo and the surrounding buildings.  I have completely erased from my memory for self-preservation purposes all but forgotten just how bad the house looked when we first purchased it.  Enjoy!

  Posted in Barn, Cottage, Main House, Video | 1 Comment

• Termagant

  Posted at 2:35 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on March 21, 2019

  “Termagant” is one of my new favorite words.  From the Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary “termagant” is a noun and defined as “an overbearing or nagging woman.”  If you follow the Facebook page then you’ll know my children, if they knew of the word, would define me as a “termagant.”  But let’s be honest, just about every woman could be defined as such at some point in their lives, such is our burden.

  If you were accused of being a termagant up through the 19th century you faced the risk of being sentenced to the ducking stool, a very primitive way of dealing with us hysterical women.  In the picture below you can see what a sentence by ducking meant and to be perfectly honest if I wasn’t a little crazy before I would certainly be after.  The Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) wrote a recent blog post about ducking stools and their history in Fredericksburg which is what led to our discovery that there is a loose connection between John Ferneyhough Jr. and termagants.

  

  I don’t know about you but I think if strapped to this thing I would become more of a shrew…

  As we know, John Ferneyhough Jr. was a prominent carriage maker in the city of Fredericksburg.  It turns out he was a handy guy because he was also very likely the last person commissioned by the city to construct a ducking stool.  It’s very worth clicking on the HFFI blog post above because I am not one to plagiarize and they did a very nice job pulling up old articles relating to one termagant in particular, why it was deemed that women should not be nags (hint: it hurts the men’s feefees) and the method of using a ducking stool, plus evidence of John Ferneyhough Jr. making one.

  Posted in Ferneyhough, History | 1 Comment

• Haint Blue

  Posted at 9:30 pm by Lauren Tepaske, on March 17, 2019

  The exterior work is really moving along and one of the biggest changes has been with the wraparound porch.  The columns have been repaired, the banisters have been leveled, and everything is getting a fresh coat of paint.  I have learned that tradition dictates for the the porch floor to be painted grey and the porch ceiling painted blue.  And it is the blue ceiling that I am here to write about because I learned a little something Southern that I had never known before (yes, I’m a Virginia girl don’t judge, there are just a few too many Southern traditions and I can’t keep up with all of them…plus this one originates just a little farther south).

  The ceiling of our porch has been painted Benjamin Moore’s Harbor Haze which is a beautiful shade of pale blue that is so pale it almost looks as if the blue of the siding is reflecting onto the ceiling.  I have tried to capture it in a photo but it is so hard to do it justice with a cell phone (I’ll still share it but wanted to make sure you all understand I am not a photographer).  Take my word for it, it’s beautiful but so understated that when you finally do notice it, you point it out to everyone walking by even though they know fully well that the porch ceiling is blue because they were there when it was painted in the first place.

  So, now, on to the “why” the porch ceiling is painted blue.  Some of you may know this answer already so bear with me because I find it fascinating and I think some of our relatives in the North and Midwest will think so as well.  There are actually a few reasons it is said porch ceilings are painted blue.  One is that it keeps the bugs away because they think it is the sky.  That’s cool but kind of boring and I have yet to discover if that’s true or not.

  The second reason porch ceilings are painted blue comes from the Gullah-Geechee people in the Lowcountry of the South.  The Gullah would paint the ceilings of their quarters blue (along with doors, windows, and shutters) in order to ward off ghosts.  The Gullah believed that the blue would confuse the ghosts into thinking it was water which they could not pass through.  The word “ghost” in the Gullah language is “haint” which is where the term “haint blue” comes from.  Eventually, white Southerners adopted the tradition and while it has since lost much of it’s spiritual significance the influence is still there.

  

  Oh gosh, now that I see this on a computer screen it’s hardly clear at all that the ceiling is blue.  If you look closely, you can see the blue over-spray on the white trim…that may help.  Otherwise, you’ll just have to stop by and take a look for yourself.

   

  Posted in Haunted, History, Main House | 0 Comments

• Recent Posts

  • Preoccupied December 20, 2021
  • The “Haunting” of Sligo August 4, 2021
  • Rehabilitation Tax Credits April 27, 2021
  • Put Me in Blogger Jail April 6, 2021
  • Virginia Historic Registry and the National Landmark Registry August 6, 2020
  • My Good Boy, Axel July 14, 2020

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