King George Courthouse: Respecting the Past, Embracing the Future

by Sean Gates

When King George County was chartered in 1720, it was a rather different shape than it is today.  It didn't extend north to the Potomac River, but spread farther east-to-west along the bank of the Rappahannock, so that Ferry Farm was encompassed in its borders.  That is to say, George Washington was raised in King George County.  This is why, as Neil Richard notes in his own Courthouse article, George's father Augustine Washington filed his will at King George Courthouse.

The building we know as King George Courthouse today is the third structure to serve our county.  The first was built at Canning Farm near Dogue.  Canning is part of Cleve Plantation, where Charles Carter produced the first internationally recognized fine wines made in America.   Today the Carter family still produces wine -- the Philip Carter Winery is located between Warrenton and Front Royal.

Cleve, after the first fire and reconstruction.

The problem with the original boundaries of King George was that the county was so long end-to-end, and travel by horse or carriage so slow, that it was inconvenient for citizens at the far ends to travel all the way to Dogue to visit county offices.  By 1776 a deal was struck to exchange land with Stafford, and in 1777 the same with Westmoreland, so that the county took on the current saddle-shaped outline we all recognize on any map.  With the boundaries now extending north all the way to the Potomac, it was determined that a new location was needed for the courthouse.  In 1785 construction began on a new courthouse, situated at the site of the present building.  This structure was brick, had a hipped roof, two chimneys, and a simple covered entry.

The second King George Courthouse, and the first to stand on the current property. 
Photo from the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center archives.

Construction on the current courthouse was begun in 1922.  In nearly a century of service, it has seen countless expansions, upgrades, and renovations.  What's remarkable is that the original courthouse was in use for sixty-five years at most, and probably less -- it's unclear when it was built -- and the second one for nearly a century and a half, and yet both were demolished when their usefulness had ended.

The current courthouse in its original configuration, circa 1923.

Much of our local history has gone this route.  In the last five years, Peyton's Market and the Weedonville Post Office have both been demolished.  Willow Hill near Arnold's Corner burned down in 2004, and Hop Yard in 1960.  Cleve burned twice.  The original Oakland Baptist Church was a quaint country church that stood in Owens at the corner of 206 and Windsor Drive, beside the cemetery.  The big building on the hill off 301 opened in 1965, and the original is long gone.

All that remains of Office Hall is a kitchen and a slave quarters slowly disintegrating beside Tractor Supply.  Buddy's Supperette in Dogue is in the early stages of that same fate.  Not all things can be saved.  Not all things should be.  It's clear that King George is in need of a new Courthouse.  The current one simply cannot do the job any longer.  It's too small, and even with renovations or repairs it won't meet the needs of a growing community.

Ferryman at Port Conway, circa 1930

It should be noted that when the current site was selected, in 1922, travel in King George was quite different.  There were no bridges out of the county to the north or south.  The James Madison Bridge from Port Conway to Port Royal didn't open until 1934.  The Harry Nice Bridge, previously called the Morgantown Bridge, opened in 1940.  Without the bridges, there was no through traffic running north-to-south.  The only way across the rivers was by boat; indeed Port Conway was a working port and there was a small ferry where a man in a straw hat would convey people across the Rappahannock.  This is where John Wilkes Booth was ferried across the river by William Rollins and sought lodging in Port Royal, finally meeting his death in a barn on Garrett's farm a few miles outside of town.

Route 3, or Kings Highway, would have been the main road through the county.  In that sense it was only reasonable to place the courthouse midway along this route, but it isn't hard to imagine that if they had known the two-lane road from Dahlgren to Port Conway would become part of a continuous four-lane route from New York to Florida, they might have planted the county seat at Office Hall or Edge Hill.

Ruins of Office Hall.  This is an old picture; they're barely standing anymore.

With the county the way it is, the Courthouse area probably gets less commercial traffic than anyone envisioned in 1922, let alone 1785.  The Opp Shop was once a supermarket with gas pumps, run by Junior Morris and his father, Elmer Morris Sr.  The large house beside it, directly across from the courthouse, was actually a hotel.  The two red brick buildings next to Trinity United Methodist Church were the King George Post Office and a bank.  King George Tire was the original firehouse.  Rectory Lane and Luther Lane dead-end in short order.  The sidewalk abandons route 3 and follows St. Anthony's Road to the old school.  In fact prior to 1954 Saint Anthony's Road was route 3, as was Willow Hill Road, crossing the current right-of-way and following what is now a gravel road between the High School and the houses on Route 3.  There are no major intersections near the courthouse, no north-south roads, just a single east-west route that is more often than not bypassed entirely.  It was never the place to try to build a downtown.

The point is, things change.  Sometimes they have to.  Quaint old post offices become too small for the community they serve, old firehouses insufficient for modern needs.  Automobiles make hotels next to courthouses unnecessary.  Supermarkets drive country stores out of business.  Times change.  Communities adapt.

However, as we face the future it's important to remember who we are.  And although I think a new courthouse somewhere near Office Hall is inevitable and necessary, I do not believe we ought to discard a noble building with a century of service, to let it crumble and become blight, or demolish it and make room for the fifth auto parts place or twelfth convenience store.  It should be a museum.  What better tribute for a piece of living history, than to dedicate it to the preservation of history itself?

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Wakefield was once within the borders of King George County. Although parts of present-day Westmoreland were in King George, and vice-versa, Wakefield, being near the Potomac, was not included in the land-swap.