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Rare plan of Charlestown, West Virginia, prepared for the Charleston Mining, Manufacturing and Improvement Company, which includes 4 finely executed profiles of buildings within the town.
In 1780 Charles Washington, George Washington's youngest full brother, left Fredericksburg, Virginia, and moved to the Lower Shenandoah Valley, where he had inherited land in then Berkeley County, Virginia, from his older half-brother Lawrence. Upon arrival he began construction of his home, Happy Retreat, located on a rise overlooking Evitts Marsh.
In 1786 Charles petitioned the Virginia General Assembly for permission to incorporate a town. The petition was granted and Charlestown, Virginia, was founded. At the time of Charles' death in September 1799, Charlestown was still located in Berkeley County. In his will, Charles indicated that should Berkeley County be divided and Charlestown named county seat of a new county, he desired that the town lots on the town square formed by George and Washington Streets be used for public buildings. Jefferson County was formed from Berkeley in 1801 and Charlestown became the new county seat. Among other important early history, Charles Town was the setting for the trials of abolitionist John Brown and six of his followers.
The Charlestown Mining, Manufacturing and Improvement Company was formed in 1890 by Roger Preston Chew, Frank Beck, Forrest W. Brown, T.C. Green, W.F. Lippitt, A.W. McDonald and B. C. Washington to develop an 850 acre parcel of land purchased from the Ranson family, in order to develop a planned community laid out by D.G. Howell, a Washington, D.C. landscape architect and civil engineer.
