Rich Hill Photos

[RJNorton]

Thank you to Laurie for sending this information about the red roof.

Cathy Thompson wrote to Laurie:

"Just a bit more detail on the roof replacement project. There were at least four layers of roofing material that were removed, leaving the historic sheathing intact. Those layers removed were two rows of cedar shakes, tin, and then an overlayment of plywood and asphalt. We removed a lot of weight from the roof which will takes a great deal of pressure off the frame and allow us to move forward with structural repairs. Plus we eliminated further water damage since the existing roof was failing. The color selection was based on the 1884 description provided by George Alfred Townsend which I've attached. It describes the property at the time of Booth's arrival as green shutters and dark red roofs."

Here is a part of what Townsend wrote with the key section in red:

"...made his acquaintance during that fall or
winter on his first visit to the country, and
some of Dr. Mudd’s relatives admit that he
knew Booth well, and probably was in the
abduction scheme. The calculation of the
conspirators was that the pursuers would
have no opportunity to change horses on the
way, while the captors would have fresh
horses every few miles and drive them to the
top of their speed, and all they required was
to get to the Potomac River, seven hours
distant, a very little in advance. The distance
was from thirty-six to thirty-eight miles, and
the river could be passed in half an hour or lit-
tle more with the boat all ready. Jones thinks
that this scheme never was given up, until
suddenly information came that Booth had
killed the President instead of capturing him,
and was supposed to be in that region of
country. Jones had never seen Booth, and
had scarcely any knowledge of him.

When J ones went to Richmond, just before
the assassination, it was to collect his stipend,
which he had confidingly allowed to accumu-
late until it amounted to almost twenty-three
hundred dollars, presumably for three years’
work. He reached Richmond Friday, and
called on Charles Caywood, the same who
kept the signal camp in the swampy woods
back of Grimes’s house. The chief signal offi-
cer said he would pay five hundred dollars on
Saturday, but if Jones would wait till Tues-
day the whole amount would be paid him.
Jones waited. Sunday night Petersburg fell,
and on Monday Richmond was evacuated, so
the Confederacy expired without paying him
a cent. Moreover, he had invested three thou-
sand dollars in Confederate bonds earlier in the
war, paying for them sixty-five cents on the
dollar, and keeping them till they were mere
brown paper in his hands.

Jones heard of the murder of Lincoln on
Saturday afternoon, April 15th, at or near his
own farm of Huckleberry. Two Federal offi-
cers or cavalrymen came by on horseback,
and one of them said to Jones, “ Is that
your boat a piece above here ? ” “ Yes,” said
Jones. “Then you had better take good care
of it, because there are dangerous people
around here who might take it to cross the
river.” “That is just what I am thinking
about,” said Jones, “ and I have had it pulled
up to let my black man go fishing for the
shad which are now running.” The two
horsemen conferred together a minute or
two, and one of them said :

“ Have you heard the news from Washing-
ton ? ” “ No.” “ Our President has been

murdered.” “ Indeed ! ” said Jones, with a
melancholy face, as if he had no friend left
in the world. “Yes,” said the horseman;



“ President Lincoln was killed last night, and
we are looking out for the men, who, we think,
escaped this way.”

On Sunday morning, the 16th of April,
about nine o’clock, a young white man came
from Samuel Cox’s to Jones’s second farm,
called Huckleberry, which has been already
described as about two and a half miles back
from the old river residence, which Jones
had been forced to give up when it appeared
probable that the Confederate cause was lost.
The Huckleberry farm consisted of about
five hundred acres, and had on it a one-
story and garret house, with a low-pitched
roof, end chimneys, and door in the middle.
There was a stable north of the house, and a
bam south of it, and it was only three-quar-
ters of a mile from the house to the river,
which here runs to the north to make the
indentation called Port Tobacco Creek or
river. Although Jones, therefore, had moved
some distance from his former house, he was
yet very near tide-water. The new farm was
much retired, was not on the public road, and
consisted of clearings amidst rain-washed
hills with deep gullies, almost impenetrable
short pines, and some swamp and forest tim-
ber. Henry Woodland, the black servant,
who was then about twenty-seven years old,
was still Jones’s chief assistant, and was kept
alternately farming and fishing.

The young man who came from Cox’s was
told, if stopped on the road, to say that he was
going to Jones’s to ask if he could let Cox have
some seed com, which in that climate is planted
early in April. He told Jones that Colonel Cox
wished him to come immediately to his house,
about three miles to the north. The young man
mysteriously intimated that there were very
remarkable visitors at Cox’s the night before.
Accustomed to obey the summons of his old
friend, Jones mounted his horse and went to
Cox’s. The prosperous foster-brother lived
in a large two-story house, with handsome
piazzas front and rear, and a tall, windowless
roof with double chimneys at both ends;
and to the right of the house, which faced
west, was a long one-story extension, used by
Cox for his bedroom. The house is on a
slight elevation, and has both an outer and
inner yard, to both of which are gates. With
its trellis- work and vines, fruit and shade
trees, green shutters and dark red roofs,
Cox’s property, called Rich Hill, made an
agreeable contrast to the somber short pines
which, at no great distance, seemed to cover
the plain almost as thickly as wheat straws in
the grain field.

Taking Jones aside, Cox related that on
the previous night the assassin of President
Lincoln had come to his house in company..."