Salona, Fairfax County, Virginia Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Salona farm, about 1890._]

Like William Maffitt, Jacob Smoot died intestate, in 1875. He was survived by his widow Harriet and their four children, William S., Helen M., Harriet E., and Catherine C. After his widow died, each of the children received one-fourth of the estate. Even before Jacob's death, William Smoot, Sr., had taken over management of the farm while his unmarried sisters kept house. Each of the sisters took one of William's sons to raise. Jennie, William's wife, according to the Smoot descendants, acted as hostess, greeting visitors and entertaining them. Their son John moved to Georgetown; William Jr., went to Waterford to be the miller there; Gilliam stayed with his parents and gradually took over the farm operations. Life at Salona went on as usual, with no question of selling the farm or dividing its acreage.

William S. Smoot, Sr., died in 1900 leaving his share of Salona by will to his widow, Jennie K. Smoot. When she in turn died intestate, their three children, John D. K., Calder Gilliam, and William S., Jr., shared her portion of the estate. Jacob's three daughters never married, so their portions descended to their three nephews, William's sons, John, Calder Gilliam (known by the family as Gilliam), and William, Jr.

Both John and William died intestate. John's share of Salona was divided among his widow, Julia B., and their children, Jane Smoot Wilson, John D. K. Smoot, Jr., and Henry B. Smoot. William's share went to his widow, Elizabeth, and their two sons, William S., III, and John J.[113]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _"Salona," from an unpublished picture taken by "The Rambler," about 1914. See_ Sunday Star_, "The Rambler," August 2, 1914._]

In 1914, The Rambler, a Was.h.i.+ngton Star columnist, visited Salona, talked with the Smoots, and wrote a charming word picture of the exterior of the house:

You draw up in front of the garden which surrounds the house. A white-washed fence four boards high, incloses the garden.

Inside are old cedars thick through the trunk and solemn in foliage. There are clumps of rose bushes and borders of jonquils. Stumps of trees that have been wrecked by wind or lightning support bark-bound flower boxes. A driveway curves to the left and a gravel path leads straight to the front porch before which the box trees are growing. The porch is capacious with a balcony on top. Under the porch and in the middle of the house is an arched doorway. On the left of the garden around the house is an apple orchard and on the right is a flouris.h.i.+ng grape arbor. This is Salona. It is a fine, quiet and dignified old place.[114]

Some years later, in 1932, for the first time in history (as far as it is known) Salona was open to view by the general public. It was one of the occasions in local observance of the George Was.h.i.+ngton Bicentennial Birthday Anniversary. Mrs. John Kurtz Smoot was the official hostess and she and her house tour guides were dressed in floor-length period costumes.[115]

World War II brought the end of the estate as a family farm. Gilliam was growing older and was suffering from arthritis; help was almost impossible to find. Unable to carry on with farming, Gilliam rented the land to the Carper family as pasture and moved from the mansion into a smaller house nearby. A family of Negro caretakers moved into Salona for a time. After the Carper lease expired without renewal, the caretakers left. William S. Smoot, III, occasionally lived on the property, sometimes in a portion of the main house, and sometimes in the old stone house, which he dreamed of remodeling. The main house was rented to an antique dealer who, according to a Smoot descendant, had the house "filled with junk from top to bottom."

Since they could no longer maintain Salona as a working farm and none of them wanted to occupy the main house on a permanent basis, the Smoots decided to part.i.tion the property. In 1948, Calder G. Smoot, only surviving son of William S. and Jennie K. Smoot, Sr., received as his share some 65 acres and the house. He did not, however, occupy Salona.[116] In the late 1940s and early 1950s, small parcels of the Salona property were sold to the McLean Baptist Church, the Salona Shopping Center and Trinity Methodist Church.[117]

In the early 1950s, Salona was rented to the McLean Summer Theatre as a dormitory for the actors. Reportedly, they left the house "a shambles." The next tenants were a Danish captain and his family who occupied the east wing.

In 1952, Calder Gilliam Smoot died "unmarried and intestate" and his 65 acres and the house became the joint property of his four nephews: John D. K. Smoot, Jr., Henry B. Smoot, William S. Smoot, III, and John J. Smoot, and of his niece, Jane Wilson Smoot. Most of this property, in three separate land transactions, became the property of Clive and Susan DuVal.[118]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Chapter IV Notes

Salona and the Smoots

[95] Harry Wright Newman, _The Smoots of Maryland and Virginia_ (Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.: by the author, 1936), pp. 1-2.

[96] Regina Combs Hammett, _History of St. Mary's County, Maryland_ (Ridge, Md.: by the author, 1977), pp. 73, 85, 87, 96, 100, 235-6, 246, 285, 437.

[97] James Jarboe Papers, Ma.n.u.script Collection, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore. Cited in Hammett, _St. Mary's County_, p. 100.

[98] Hammett, _St. Mary's County_, pp. 235-6, 246, 285.

[99] Margaret Brown Klapthor and Paul Dennis Brown, _History of Charles County, Maryland_ (La Plata: Charles County Tercentennary Committee, 1958), pp. 52, 192.

[100] Interview with John D. K. Smoot, Arlington, Virginia, January 18, 1979, by Nan Netherton.

[101] Fairfax County, Virginia, Real and Personal Property Tax a.s.sessments, 1854-1900. Virginia State Library, Archives Division.

[102] John Smoot interview, January 18, 1979.

[103] Fairfax County, Virginia, Personal Property Tax Book, 1860.

Virginia State Library.

[104] Letter from Dr. Benjamin Franklin Cooling, U. S. Army Military History Inst.i.tute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to Mrs. Ross D.

Netherton, Fairfax, Virginia, December 5, 1978. Working papers for Salona, Virginia Room, Fairfax County Central Library.

[105] Evan Morrison Woodward, _Our Campaign_ (Philadelphia: J. E.

Potter Co., 1865); McLean _Providence Journal_, February 11, 1977.

Although a number of accounts place Julia Ward Howe, wife of Dr.

Samuel Gridley Howe, in the vicinity when she received the inspiration to write the words to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", the account of Mr. A. J. Bloor, a.s.sistant secretary of the U. S.

Sanitary Commission gives a different version. He and Dr. Howe met Mrs. Howe and her party at Upton's Hill, near Seven Corners, where they observed preparations for General George McClellan's grand review of 70,000 troops. Her poem followed, written that night at the Willard Hotel in Was.h.i.+ngton. Florence Howe Hall, _The Story of the Battle Hymn of the Republic_ (Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, reprint 1971), p. 62.

[106] Original memorandum in possession of Susan and Clive DuVal, II, Salona.

[107] Interviews with Smoot family members by the author; Fairfax County Ordinance of Secession, Lewinsville Precinct, #18, May 23, 1861. Fairfax County Courthouse, and copy, Virginia Room, Fairfax County Central Library.

[108] Interview with John D. K. Smoot, January 18, 1979; personal property tax a.s.sessments, 1868, 1869, Virginia State Library.

[109] Ibid.

[110] Personal Property Tax Book, 1881. Virginia State Library.

[111] Interviews with members of the Smoot family by the author.

[112] Fairfax County Office of Comprehensive Planning, _Fairfax County in Virginia: Selections from Some Rare Sources_ (Fairfax, Va.: Office of Comprehensive Planning, 1974), pp. 126-127.

[113] Fairfax County, Virginia, Deed Book 635, p. 471; interviews with the Smoot family by the author.

[114] "The Rambler," _The Sunday Star_, August 2, 1914.

[115] _Was.h.i.+ngton Star_, May 20, 1932.

[116] Fairfax County, Virginia, Deed Book 635, p. 471.

[117] Interviews with Smoot family members by the author.

[118] Fairfax County, Virginia, Deed Book 1041, p. 123; 1097, p. 32; 1322, p. 453.

V

SALONA AND THE DUVALS

Susan and Clive DuVal, II, arrived in northern Virginia in 1952, hunting for an older house with interesting architectural features and surrounding acreage. When they discovered Salona, it was occupied by the Danish family who were in the east wing. They decided it was just the house they wanted, unprepossessing though it appeared, full of the musty odor of unoccupied houses, ill-treated by a succession of temporary tenants and youthful vandals, and in poor repair inside and out. Inspection of the house would have discouraged the average home buyer but the DuVals had the desire and resources to do what was necessary to rehabilitate the dwelling and to live in it.

The first of three tracts was purchased from the Smoot heirs in January, 1953, and the DuVals spent about a year extensively renovating the house and grounds before they moved in. Without specific descriptions of the original house to use as guidelines, they attempted to preserve as much as possible of the presumed original dwelling while adapting it to modern living.[119]