Welcome to Happy Retreat

In 2019, Happy Retreat facilitated and participated in the presentation “What We Found When We Came Together: Shared Roots Beneath Jefferson County Walls.” The presentation at Fisherman’s Hall, in Charles Town, recounted a compelling and powerful story about intertwining family histories of six women with roots in Jefferson County.

Following that presentation, in October 2022, Friends of Happy Retreat obtained a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council to enable a study of the enslaved community at Happy Retreat, an important element of African American history in Jefferson County.

FOHR retained historical researcher Jane Ailes, to undertake that research. Ms. Ailes’ work, funded in part through the West Virginia Humanities Council grant and in part by the support of an anonymous donor, sought to identify African Americans who lived at, worked at and helped build Happy Retreat;

On July 31, 2024, Ms. Ailes presented the results of her research at Fisherman’s Hall. Her report, titled “Study of the Enslaved At Happy Retreat: The Washington and Hammond Era, 1747-1837,” is available in PDF format below. The report focuses on the years of the ownership of Happy Retreat by members of the Washington and Hammond families.

The next stages of research will be the years from 1837 through Emancipation and the post-Civil War period through the 20th Century.

“Study of the Enslaved at Happy Retreat: The Washington and Hammond Era, 1747-1837” is Copyrighted by Jane Ailes and Friends of Happy Retreat. Any use of this material should follow proper Scholarly Standards of Attribution.