Historic View –

Local historian Val Green points to a military spy glass held by President George Washington in a portrait at the Fairfield County Museum. Green spoke Monday evening at Christ Central Community Center in Winnsboro about his ancestors’ connections with the family of Washington. A similar spyglass used by Washington during the Revolutionary War was bequeathed to Green’s great, great grandfather, William Lowndes Yancey, in 1858, by a grateful Mt. Vernon Ladies Association, after Yancey had raised $75,000 of the $200,000 needed for the Ladies to purchase Mt. Vernon from the Washington family, the first step in saving the estate from neglect and ruin. Upon Yancey’s death in 1863, the spyglass was bequeathed to his friend and political comrade, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. In 1899 the spyglass was returned to Mt. Vernon. Recently, the newly opened Museum of George Washington at Mt. Vernon incorporated information researched by Green into an artifact display among their permanent exhibits. For future programs presented by the Museum (635-9811) or the Fairfield County Historical Society (635-3027), that might be of significant interest to residents of Blythewood and Fairfield County, see the Museum Calendar below, right.

Contact us: (803) 767-5711 | P.O. Box 675, Blythewood, SC 29016 | [email protected]