illiam Fitzhugh. A man of charm and culture,
reared in the days and traditions of the great planters, he kept open
house at Chatham, near Fredericksburg, the year around. Travelers en
route to and from Williamsburg and Richmond were entertained in a lavish
fashion. With the formation of the new government, the stream of
visitors increased to such an extent that the Fitzhughs were being eaten
out of house and home, and found it necessary to escape from their
friends. They selected Alexandria as a place of domicile. Chatham was
placed on the market in 1796.

A lifelong friend and associate of George Washington, there was great
intimacy between the two families. Fitzhugh contributed two fine does to
the Mount Vernon deer park in 1786, and the same year forwarded a supply
of orchard grass seed for the General's use. A year before Washington's
death his good offices as neighbor and friend were directed toward the
acquisition of a horse that would best serve Washington's purpose.
Entries in George Washington's diaries attest the many times that the
Fitzhughs were at Mount Vernon, and the Washingtons at Chatham or
Alexandria. On January 3, 1798: "Mrs. Washington, myself, etc., went to
Alexandria and dined with Mr. Fitzhugh,"[164] and on April 3, 1799,
"went to Alexandria and lodged myself with Mr. Fitzhugh";[165] the next
day he "returned to Alexandria and again lodged at Mr. Fitzhugh's."[166]
The last mention in Washington's diary of his old friends is in the last
month of his life, dated November 17, 1799, "went to Church in
Alexandria and dined with Mr. Fitzhugh."[167]

[Illustration: The Alexandria home bought by William Fitzhugh of Chatham
to escape from his friends]

To Fitzhugh's house came Washington Custis wooing, and successfully,
too, Mary Lee Fitzhugh. George Washington did not live to see the
marriage between the daughter of this old friend and his adopted son,
George Washington Parke Custis; nor the splendid Arlington mansion,
following that new fashion of likeness to a Greek temple, that was to
house the Custis and Lee families for three generations. He knew those
rolling acres of the Arlington plantation, but never dreamed they were
destined to become the emerald pall for America's warrior dead.

In the _Alexandria Daily Gazette, Commercial and Political_ of Friday,
January 12, 1810, appeared the following advertisement:

On Wednesday, the 17th instant will be sold between the hours of ten
and eleven