Hartshorne lived with me some Time--They are Industrious, careful,
Sober men; if Cap^t Harper should want to draw on this place for Five
hundred Pounds, I will engage his Bills shall be paid--Any Civilitys
shewn him will be returned by

Thy Friend

REESE MEREDITH[138]

Harper did nothing with these newly purchased lots until after the
Revolution, when he began to sell and to build at astonishing speed. The
number of deeds in the clerk's office in Fairfax and in Alexandria of
property transferred to or from him fill page after page in the records.
A book on John Harper's activities would be a good history of early town
housing. Twice married, he had twenty-nine children--and to every one he
left a house and lot.

[Illustration: 211 Prince Street was John Harper's gift to his daughter,
Peggy Harper Vowell, April 10, 1793. Here Dr. Dick lived from 1796 to
1804. As he was here in 1815 it is safe to assume that he occupied this
house for nineteen years. He paid John Harper L70 a year rent.]

John Harper's property housed many of Alexandria's important citizens.
Two of Washington's physicians occupied adjoining houses built by him on
Prince Street, though not at the same time. Dr. Craik lived at least
three years and probably five at 209 Prince Street--from 1790 to 1793,
and doubtless until 1796, when he moved to the house he purchased on
Duke Street. Dr. Dick lived at 211 Prince Street from 1798 certainly
until 1804, and then again at the same house in 1815. Surely it is
safe here to domicile the restless Doctor, for these ten undocumented
years between 1805 and 1815. The Doctor paid for this house L70 per
annum.

[Illustration: The Harper-Vowell Houses or the Sea Captains' Row]

The early Harper houses which fill lower Prince Street are known in
Alexandria today as "the Sea Captains' Houses" or "Captains' Row" and in
truth they were either owned or occupied by captains or masters of
vessels. After weathering the storms of a hundred and fifty years or
better, their sea legs, or foundations, are well established in the soil
of Alexandria, and they present one of the attractive sights of the
town. The street slopes at a steep angle from the top of the hill, at
Lee Street to the river, and the quaint old houses go stair-step down
toward the Potomac in an unbroken line; sometimes a roof or a chimney
sags with age, or a front facade waves a bit. The first house in the
block on the nor