were expected to furnish a “treat” for their followers. These supplies of food, and especially of drink, became an expense which friends sometimes had to share. Rum punch was the usual drink, although cider was also offered.

The procedure was as follows: the voting was by voice. A long table was placed in the court room. At the center of this sat the High Sheriff; on either side of him were a few of the county Justices; then at the two extreme ends were the respective candidates, each with a clerk who recorded his party’s votes. The room was open to the crowd. Singly, each voter advanced before the bench. If unchallenged, the Sheriff asked his choice and the man named his candidate. The candidate then usually rose, bowed, and expressed his thanks: “I thank you, Sir”; “You honor me, Sir.” The crowd at the same time expressed its feelings in cheers or sharp retorts. (See The Freeholder, Charles S. Sydnor, Chapel Hill Press.)

It is interesting to know that Jefferson and Monroe both voted in such elections many times. This method continued until after the death of both men.

On one occasion, April 1810, Mr. Jefferson came down hurriedly from Monticello and lobbied on this green for Monroe, who at that time was undergoing a brief decline in popular favor. The contest was for the State Assembly. The local party had gone so far as to decide to nominate another man; Mr. Jefferson’s intervention, however, nipped this in the bud; the proposed candidate withdrew at Jefferson’s solicitation; Monroe was substituted and elected.

JOHN S. MOSBY.

Coming momentarily down to the War-Between-the-States era, Virginia’s famous cavalry officer, Col. John S. Mosby, is doubly connected with this building. Mosby came to Albemarle as a small boy, grew up near town, and attended the University. While a student, he—in an altercation—shot and seriously wounded a man. He was tried in this building and sentenced to a year in prison; but he was pardoned after serving seven months.

During the war, as “Ranger Mosby,” he had a brilliant guerrilla career. In March, 1865, about a month before the surrender, he happened to be in Charlottesville at the time of Sheridan’s raid through the town. He was warned that Sheridan would enter from the West. He obtained civilian dress. Believing he had time, he entered a Main Street shop. However, the Union troops had spread out and a small company was entering from the North, down Park Street, at that very time. A running colored boy warned Mosby of his danger; hearing the words ‘Park Street,’ he supposed he was to escape in that direction. Rushing for his horse, he entered Fifth Street on the dead run. Reaching Jefferson Street he found the company was already at the court house and disbanding. Dashing through unrecognized he cleared High Street at one jump, ‘with mud splashing to Heaven,’ and escaped down Park Street after all.

Sixth Street. Eastern Boundary of Village. J. Rawlings Thomson

BUILDINGS ON THE SQUARE

TOWN HALL

These old, early nineteenth-century houses have a grave and quaint charm of their own. At the corner of Park and East High Streets stands a large red brick building now known as the Park View Apartment, 350 Park Street. It was erected in 1851 “for the purpose of a town Hall.” Up to that time the lot had served as a playground for men and boys, and was known as the Battery. Later, the hall became the Levy Opera House, but with the coming of the movies its public functions declined.

SWAN TAVERN

The Red Land Club now occupies the site of one of the old buildings of the village, the famous Swan Tavern. The exact date of the tavern’s building is not known; the lot was bought in 1773. The building was a wooden structure with its painted sign of a swan hanging over the door. It was the home of the Jouett family. Jack Jouett, hero of the famous ride, lived here, and here the refugeeing members of the Virginia Legislature convened in 1781. In 1812 the tavern became known as the War Office, as military matters connected with that war were handled here. Following this, it gradually fell into decay and in 1832 collapsed. The present brick building was then erected.

SLAVE TRADE

Farish House. Now Old Wing of Monticello Hotel. J. Rawlings Thomson

Number Nothing (now Numbers 240-242 Court Square) is the original house on this lot. It was built in 1820; a double store, separately owned and handled. The name comes from the fact that at first the lot was intended for a horse lot. When it was sold the other lots had been numbered in rotation; a sequence was impossible, so Number Nothing was chosen. Traditions of the slave trade cluster here. Until some forty years ago there was on its Southern side, at the curb, a large stone, some eighteen inches high, by fifteen inches wide, and thirty long, which was known as the slave block. Here the village auctioneers long functioned, and doubtless when slaves were brought in, their dealers made use of these facilities. A fragment of an old sign may still be deciphered on this wall: “... and Bros. Auction Rooms.” The stone was unintentionally removed during recent street repairs.

VILLAGE LIBRARY

223 Court Square was built in 1815 as a store. Next, where Number 222 now stands, formerly stood two small wooden buildings. The first was a small, one-room affair, the village library. Mr. Jefferson made substantial contributions of books from his great collection. A few of these volumes, bearing both his signature and the stamp of the library, are preserved in the Alderman Library at the University.

SWISS WATCH-MAKER

The second little house was the shop of a Swiss watch-maker, who was induced to settle here by Mr. Jefferson, who at intervals brought in other European artisans: Italians to introduce wine-making, an Italian coach-builder, and stone-cutters to carve the capitols at the University.

EAGLE TAVERN

On the Square’s South side stood the famous Eagle Tavern. Its site is now the East wing of the Monticello Hotel. For almost two centuries this spot has been the site of a house of entertainment, and has never had any other use.

The date of the first building is not recorded. The lot was cut off and sold in 1765; the village then was two years old, and the lot was new. When sold for the second time, in 1791, it is described as a tavern. The building probably followed the first purchase.

The Eagle Tavern was a wooden, two-and-a-half story building, with the sign of the eagle displayed. A deep porch covered its front, and on this travelling peddlers habitually sold their goods: saddles, boots, dry goods, etc. This for some decades was an important item in the supplies of the village, but after 1835-36 it died away.

Later, this wooden structure was replaced by the present low brick building. The name became Eagle Hotel, and so continued until 1863, when it became the Farish House.

Of its use before the coming of the railways we are told that on court days 200 or more persons dined here, and in the stables and lot 250 horses were fed. Reminiscing, an early citizen wrote:

“In 1833 the price of board and lodging was ten dollars per month. The public room was a spacious