Study of Enslaved Community at Happy Retreat Made Possible by a Grant from the WV Humanities Council

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.

Enslaved Quarters on Happy Retreat Grounds

At Happy Retreat we are always looking for hidden history. Lately we have been studying all the residents who lived at Happy Retreat. There are parts of Happy Retreat that began in the early 1780s when Charles arrived from Fredericksburg along with his wife Mildred, two children and very likely his enslaved people.

Thankfully, this history is available to us if we look for it. Recently we had a professional genealogy researcher help us uncover some of this information.

We believe Happy Retreat was a working farm as there were many animals noted in Charles’ Will. We know of some buildings that existed in foundation only. Charles’ Will mentions livestock that would have had to have shelter. He would also need more than the family to help him. An existing building indicates an outdoor kitchen with a full loft upstairs. This was likely the home of the house enslaved. Then the foundation and an old photo indicates another two story brick building that would have been the home of the rest of the enslaved people.

Unlike many enslaved quarters, the enslaved quarters on the grounds of Happy Retreat were built of stone rather than the wood cabins common on many other plantations. We have evidence of two enslaved buildings; 0ne is featured here. The second is no longer standing.  It was demolished in the 1940s. We know where the foundation of that building is and we will be working with the African American community to properly recognize it.

When Friends of Happy Retreat purchased Happy Retreat in 2015, there were only four original structures on the property: the mansion, a brick smoke house, an attached stone kitchen and a wooden octagonal building.  The smoke house dates to the 1780s.  The stone kitchen dates to the 1840s or 1850s.  The octagonal building is also late 18^th Century,

Archeological excavations around the exterior walls of the stone kitchen found two artifacts suggesting enslaved occupancy of the building.  One was a small bead.  The other was a piece of a broken glass bottle which appears to have been used as a scraper.  Similar artifacts have been found in other enslaved structures in Jefferson County.

Inside the stone kitchen there is a small brick beehive oven attached to the cooking fireplace which has an iron crane for holding pots.  Narrow stairs lead to an upstairs sleeping loft.  It is likely this building was used as enslaved quarters, for both cooking and sleeping.

What We Found When We Came Together: Shared Roots Beneath Jefferson County Walls

Happy Retreat African American Residents from 1945 – 1954

R.J. Funkhouser 1888-1968 purchased the Happy Retreat Mansion in 1945. The home was then occupied by three families: author, Charlotte Judd Fairbairn and her two children, Tom and John. Charlotte’s sister Florence and her husband David McMillan and Charlotte and Florence’s parents Tremor and Gertrude Judd.

From a story given to FOHR by John Fairbairn, there was an African American husband and wife team working at Happy Retreat in this time period.

Anna Washington was the family’s cook and housekeeper and her husband Henry Washington was employed to do the jobs that needed to be tended to. Thanks to Mr. John Fairbairn who now lives in Minnesota, we have a record of this little bit of current African American Heritage at Happy Retreat in the 1940s and 50s. He was kind enough to forward his recollections and photos of that time. The photos included one of Anna with a young John Fairbairn and one of Henry Washington.

Thank you, John Fairbairn, for this information.

If readers can offer any information on Henry and Anna please let us know. We are looking to recognize all Happy Retreat residents.

Learn more about the history of Happy Retreat