Fairhaven

“ Fairhaven is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway and by electric railway to Mattapoisett and Marion, and is connected with New Bedford by two bridges, by electric railway, and by the New York, New Haven & Hartford ferry line. The principal village is Fairhaven; others are Oxford, Naskatucket and Sconticut Neck. As a summer resort Fairhaven is widely known. ”

“ The scenic attractions of Fairhaven and the other Bellingham Bay towns are fully as great as any of the cities farther on Puget Sound, and its natural resources appeared to me to be almost identical with those of Anacortes, except in the matter of distance from the Strait and length of water-front. Vessels require no towing to the wharves of either. The same valleys are tributary to both, the same iron, coal, and marble deposits, the same timber, and the same fisheries. ”

“ I had schemed that the inauguration should take place on Christmas-day, and I proposed that all my friends--the Silvers and their children, Mr. Merrywhistle, Jimmy Virtue, Robert Truefit and his family, and Blade o'-Grass--should spend the day at Fairhaven. It was thus arranged, and this Christmas two years, Fairhaven received more than sixty poor orphaned children, and the good work was actually commenced. ”

“ The next is that the hundred pounds a year he had hitherto given me to spend among my poor was stopped from that day. This grieved me exceedingly. I think I had never fully understood the power of money until then.
VII. HEALTHY BODY MAKES HEALTHY MIND.
It was but natural that the loss of so good a friend as Mr. Fairhaven should have had an effect upon my spirits, and I felt it the more deeply because he had parted from me in anger. I did not for one moment doubt that I had decided rightly, but it would have been a happiness to me to have retained Mr. Fairhaven's friendship. ”

“ In front of Fairhaven, which is about seventeen miles due north, and a little east of Anacortes, is a narrow peninsula similar to that on which West Seattle is situated, which is occupied as a reservation by the Lummi Indians, and Lummi Island, extending a few miles south of the peninsula. The town-site slopes down handsomely to the bay, presenting an attractive view to the passenger on the incoming steamer, which is enhanced by the character of the buildings already completed and in course of erection, some of which are surprisingly ornate for the size and age of the town. ”

“ The whaling fleet it formerly guided is all gone, but now it is the beacon for an enormous trade in coal, landed here for distribution by railway throughout New England. Another little stone fort is also built on the opposite side of the harbor, on a rock at the lower end of Fairhaven. Outside is the broad surface of the bay, a noble inland sea, with irregular and generally thinly populated shores, but with attractions that have drawn to it, in various localities, a large summer population, with many ornate villas of modern fashion. ”

“ It is rather ironic that neither Lord Culpeper nor Lord Fairfax, who inherited his estate and for whom the County and Town were named, cared particularly for Virginia. Lord Culpeper came under duress and returned as soon as possible to England. Lord Fairfax came, according to tradition, only after he had been disappointed in love in England and because his holdings demanded his attention. The people struggled on, however, and gradually the wealthy land owners began to move northward to occupy the tracts of land upon which their grandfathers had speculated. ”

“ The bay on which the town of Whitehaven is erected is so deeply seated, that the adjacent shore, rising like the grades of a magnificent amphitheatre, appears to enclose it on every side. In approaching it from the north, the stranger is uniformly struck with its sheltered position, and from the heights looks down upon it as on a map spread at his feet. From the south the view is particularly beautiful. The town is well built, the streets wide and enlivened with well-furnished shops, and inhabited by a cheerful and thriving population. ”

“ The inhabitants of Whitehaven are noted for their public spirit, honourable conduct in trade, and for that indefatigable attention to business which has so happily distinguished them through a long series of years. It has several schools, two weekly papers, and the study of literature and science is much cultivated and encouraged by the families of affluence and respectability who reside in the town and vicinity. Social and hospitable intercourse, with balls, assemblies, and public fetes, render the stranger's residence at Whitehaven extremely agreeable. ”

“ George and Sally Fairfax settled in Bath in a red-brown sandstone house at 11 Lansdown Crescent, where they became a part of the gay parties taking the waters at the Pump Room and attending assembly balls in the fashion of Jane Austen's most aristocratic characters. Friendly letters went back and forth between Bath and Mount Vernon. After the Revolution, Fairfax wrote to Washington: "I glory in being called an American," regretted his inability to contribute to the "glorious cause of Liberty" and offered his "best thanks for all your exertions ... ”

“ In an iron-bound chest, carried up from the sloop, and placed in the room assigned to Fairfax for the night. He considers it perfectly safe under his bed. But before we attempt reaching this, we must attend to those men left below on the boat. They are the only dangerous ones, for there are none of the fighting sort up above. Only two servants sleep in the main house, the cook, and a maid, both women. The others are in the slave quarters, a half mile away. Fairfax is vigorous, and will put up a fight, if he has any chance. He must be taken care of, before he does have any. ”

“ Beyond is tranquil Fairfield, embowered in trees and introduced by a rubber-factory, its green-bordered streets lined with cottages, and church-spires rising among the groves, while along the shore it has the finest beach on Long Island Sound. ”

“ The population of Whitehaven has greatly increased within the last ten years. The neighbouring villages, farms, and pastures, all indicate progressive advancement in the several branches of domestic industry. The land is highly cultivated, and in many instances fertile and productive; while the orchards and gardens, by the nature and abundance of their produce, bear friendly testimony to the mildness of the climate.
To the Lowther family, who have a handsome castle here, Whitehaven owes its foundation as a borough, and much of its prosperity as a trading port. ”

“ Lord Fairfax had taken up his residence at Greenway Court, thirteen miles southeast of the site of Winchester. A graduate of Oxford, accustomed to that society in England to which his rank entitled him, fond of literature, and having contributed some numbers to the Spectator, this nobleman, owing to a disappointment in love, had come to superintend his vast landed possessions, embracing twenty-one large counties, and live in the secluded Valley of the Shenandoah. Here Washington, the youthful surveyor, was a frequent inmate ”

“ Mount Fairfax is the southern and most elevated part of an isolated block, forming Moresby's Flat-topped Range. It rests on a reddish, sandy, sloping plain, on which were occasionally noticed fragments of quartz and ironstone, which latter formation is the character of Mount Fairfax, and apparently of the neighbouring heights. Having completed our observations, which place Mount Fairfax 582 feet above the level of the sea, we continued our journey to the south-east, in the direction of Wizard Peak. Two miles, over a scrubby sandy plain, brought us again to the Chapman or Greenough. ”

“ I set Fairfax down and he gave himself a shake and trotted back to Aunt Myra and Elise, waving his tail in triumph. Fairfax never acknowledges defeat; he is very exasperating.
The porter took us out to our cab and the station returned to its normal condition. Aunt Myra had several things to say about Fairfax on the way across town and several things to say about me. The undignified, unladylike manner in which I had raced around a public railroad station was mortifying in the extreme.
“Well, someone had to do it,” I said. “Elise hasn't the first instinct of a sportsman. ”

“ There are two black churches. There are three schools for elementary students, one junior high school, and one senior high school, and construction will begin soon for a college. There are three shopping centers, several apartment buildings, a medical center, two large telephone buildings, a library, and a bank. Extensive additions have been made to the original court house and an eight acre tract of land has been purchased on South Payne Street for the future Town Hall.
Fairfax is just one small example of the results of colonization. ”

“ Other shots followed the first one and soldiers and spectators alike were seized with panic. Horses ran away, carriages overturned, women screamed and fainted, soldiers and spectators ran for their lives. It was every man for himself. "The roar of their flight was like the rush of a great river". Many of these people made their escape back through the Town of Fairfax, much to the amusement of citizens who had viewed Hunter's parade a few days before. ”

“ On the way out to Versailles from the top of the tram, lifted high above Paris and the river, alongside of the vulgar head, alongside of the strange little English girl, Fairfax listened to the outpouring of her heart. She took his interest for granted. With an appreciative understanding of human nature, and as though she had been bearing a burden for years which she had never let slip, she rested it now, and her blue eyes on his, her hands in the old woollen gloves, which she had slipped on before they started, clasped in her lap, she talked to Fairfax. ”

“ The ringing of the bells, the crying note of the whistles, had become musical to Fairfax.
There was no reason why he should not marry the Irish girl who doled out coffee to railroad hands.... Was there none? The figure of his mother rose before him, beautiful, proud, ambitious Mrs. Fairfax. She was waiting for his brilliant success, she was waiting to crown [Pg 118] him when he should bring his triumphs home. The ugly yards blurred before his eyes, he almost fancied that a spray of jasmine blew across the pane. ”

“ As for Lord Fairfax, he was in high glee to learn what a valuable property he had across the hills, and especially how fine a country it was for hunting. He soon left Belvoir and made his home at Greenway Court, where he spent the remainder of his life. It was a very different life from that of112 his early days in the bustle of fashionable life in London, but it seemed to suit him as well or better.
One thing more we have to say about him. He was still living at Greenway Court when the Revolutionary War came on. A loyalist in grain, he bitterly opposed the rebellion of the colonists. ”

“ I do not know when a house or a new building of any kind had been built; the men were farmers, or went outward in boats, or inward in fish-wagons, or sometimes mackerel and halibut fishing in schooners for the city markets. Sometimes a schooner came to one of the wharves to load with hay or firewood; but Deephaven used to be a town of note, rich and busy, as its forsaken warehouses show.
We knew almost all the fisher-people at the shore, even old Dinnett, who lived an apparently desolate life by himself in a hut and was reputed to have been a bloodthirsty pirate in his youth. ”

“ None other than Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and sole proprietor of that vast tract of land known as the Northern Neck. This, his inheritance, embraced all lands lying between the headwaters of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers to the Chesapeake Bay, comprising more than five million acres.
Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax had inherited, in 1719, the Northern Neck of Virginia, through his mother, Catherine, daughter of Thomas, Lord Culpeper, and wife of Lord Fairfax. It was through this marriage that the grant became known as the Fairfax Proprietary. ”

“ The iron gates were closed; within stretched the shining rows of the houses and palaces of the dead, and on their snowy portals and their marble doors fell the first tender glimmer of the day. Holding the gate between his convulsive hands, staring in as though he begged an entrance as a lodger, Fairfax saw rise before him the angel with the benign uplifting hand, and the lettering, large and clear, seemed written that day for him as much as for any man—
"Why seek ye the living among the dead?" ”

“ There were five of us altogether thus favored, but I was the only one owing allegiance to Roger Fairfax. The rude landing wharf along which we lay was already densely crowded with men, their appearance and dress largely proclaiming them to be planters from the interior, either gathered to inspect the consignment of prisoners, or eager to purchase at low prices the stores hidden away in the vessel's hold. ”

“ Fairfax looked at me searchingly, “Where’ll I get my supper?”
“Why, they usually have the church suppers out on the church green unless it rains, and then they go down to the basement rooms.”
Fairfax said apathetically, “No’m, they don’t want me.”
I saw now what was in his mind, and said, to set him right, “Oh, yes, they do. You know the people around here haven’t any of those notions. Come on.” ”

“ From an old history of the county of Durham, Whitehaven appears to have been a resort for shipping in the tenth century; and when the Nevills of Raby were called upon to furnish their quota of men to accompany Henry in his expedition to Ireland in 1172, they were brought to Wythop-haven, or Witten-haven, and transported thence in ships to the Irish coast. When Edward was advancing against Scotland, in the fourteenth century, he found a ship belonging to this place, in which he sent a cargo of oats, to be ground by the monks of St. Bees. ”