User:OdinUSMC/sandbox

Willow Dell

Willow Dell (The Reuben Clark House) is a registered historical landmark in Hampton Virginia. Built in 1854 by a riverboat Captain Reuben Clark. The house sits in what is histrionically known as Phoebus, and prior tot hat nomenclature, Elizabeth City. It sits within a hundred yards of the  main causeway to historical Fort Monroe. Willow Dell was the first piece of southern land occupied by the union during the civil war due to tits location and large natural drinking well. During the war it was used as a listening post/outpost for Fort Monroe and also as a makeshift hospital after the battle of Big Bethal. It is the scene of the infamous murder of Cpl. Michael McCarthy after the civil war.

Capt. Reuben Clark

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Reuben Clark was born in New York state in 1805. By 1850 Clark moved to Tidewater, Virginia where he worked as a James River steamboat captain. As a direct consequence of this occupation, the name "Captain Clark" remained with him throughout his life. In 1853 Clark retired from the steamboat business and settled in what was then Mi11 Creek, a small village located on the body of water by the same name. He most likely lived at first in a tavern owned by Joseph and Mary E. Segar. In July 1854, Clark purchased from the Segars the tavern and adjacent property and according to the deed, Clark was permitted the use of a wharf and was allowed to add, "to said wharf, bathing houses, fr other buildings and attachments, that shall not obstruct or injure the said wharf." Clark also ran a store selling groceries and dry goods. The store was located on the west bank of Mill Creek on the south side of Water Street. A photograph of the Clark Store is preserved in the Larrabee Collection at the Casement Museum, Fort Monroe. In the same year in which he purchased the Segar property, Clark erected for himself a new residence that is one of the oldest remaining in the city of Hampton. For inspiration in designing his dwelling, Clark presumably turned to architectural pattern books of the day, most likely A.J. Downing's Cottage Residences. While the book was extremely popular in the north, it was apparently not well received in Tidewater, Virginia where few examples are known to have been built. Working with an unknown build&-, Clark borrowed details for his side-hall plan residence such as his lattice-post porch and ornamental roof brackets. These architectural elements served to distinguish the Clark House from other Hampton houses of the period. Although the landscape around the house has not been preserved, descriptions of the house by Hampton's older residents suggest that Clark followed Downing's advise as to landscape: the residence was surrounded by trees, shrubs, and ornamental flower gardens. While no outbuildings survive from the 19th century, early plans indicate that Clark erected a number of such structures. On a map of 1877 one structure is identified as a store. Clark's other store and tavern were both located a short distance from the main house, the three structures all reflecting Clark's cmerical prosperity. One of the more noteworthy items on Clark's property was a large well, about twenty-five feet southwest of the main house. Soldiers from Fortress Monroe used the well, as the water at the fort was poor for drinking. During the Civil War, U.S. troops from the fort took possession of the village and continued to make use of the well on Reuben Clark's property. The well proved to be especially valuable, as indicated in the correspondence of General Butler stationed at Fortress Monroe to General Scott in Washington, D.C. A letter of May 24, 1861, read, in part: "I found that the Minnesota (U.S.S. Minnesota, screw, -1 L steamer, frigate, wood, tonnage i3.307, 47 gurts) was , supplying herself from a well or spring on land of Mr. Clark near the end of Mill Creek bridge, about a - mile from the fort, and that after pumping 800 gallons the well was exhausted, but refilled itself during the night, and from personal examinations of its surroundings I think it may be trusted to supply 700 to 1,000 gallons daily with a little enlargent of the reservoir. The water is of the best quality.

The water was used to fill the ship's boilers to the displeasure of the local Confederates. According to one source, the local Confederate militia attempted to prevent the Federal troops from withdrawing the water, only to be thwarted by the Union army. It is not known if Clark remained in the house dter the well was confiscated. It has been suggested that since Clark was originally a northern sympathizer, he was allowed to remain in his house during the entire war. Civil War period lithographs of Camp Hamilton, which stood on the adjacent Segar property, depict the Clark House. The house was called 'Willow Dell" by 1877, appearing by that name on a map of what was then Chesapeake City, later Hampton. Reuben Clark died in the original master bedroom of the home on May 1st. 1895 at the age of 89. His wife, Amanda Clark, died in 1903. Both are buried in Oak Lawn (now known as Oakland) Cemetery in East Hampton. Clark's adopted son, Reuben 0. Clark inherited the house as well as Clark's surrounding property. The Property ultimately passed out of the Clark family during the 1920s, when it was purchased by the Newcomb family.