The changing boundaries of the Town of Washington throughout its history
1796-1797
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TOWN
The history of boundary changes for the Town of Washington, Virginia, begins with a petition on Nov.10, 1796, by George Calvert, James Jett Jr., and James Wheeler to the General Assembly of Virginia to "establish a town by the name of Washington on land of your said petitioners." The town was to be named for George Washington, who had announced his retirement from the presidency six weeks earlier. The General Assembly responded by passing an act on Dec.14, 1796, establishing the Town of Washington on 25 acres of land of the three petitioners, to be laid o in “lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets.”
One year later, Calvert, Jett, Wheeler, and William Porter sent a second petition to the General Assembly, requesting that part of Porter’s land be added to the Calvert/Jett/Wheeler land. They submitted a plan of the proposed 51 lots and seven streets of the town. In response to this second petition, the General Assembly passed an act on Dec. 25, 1797, "for adding certain lots to the town of Washington." The act stated that "the lots and streets, as the same are already laid o˜ on the lands of William Porter, contiguous to the town of Washington ... are hereby added to and made a part of said town.” The total acreage of the lots and streets was 30.5 acres.
1833
FORMATION OF RAPPAHANNOCK AND SELECTION OF WASHINGTON AS COUNTY SEAT
The land that became Rappahannock County was part of Culpeper County when the latter was established in 1749. Over time, the northwestern part of Culpeper County became more densely populated, and the di culty of traveling to Culpeper courthouse for court sessions and to conduct legal business grew more signi cant. A er many petitions to the Virginia General Assembly, Rappahannock County was created by an act passed by the assembly on Feb. 8, 1833. Immediately therea er, six men who were not residents of the new county were named as commissioners to impartially ascertain the most proper place for holding court and erecting public buildings, i.e., for establishing the county seat. The commissioners concluded that the courthouse should be located in the Town of Washington, "a village with a population of 300 souls ... a populous and productive neighborhood already numbering sixty houses ... and a place of some mercantile capital and business. Its advantages of waters, wood, and fuel are unsurpassed by any other place in the County and it is accessible by good public roads from any point of the county."
1894
AUTHORIZATION TO EXPAND THE TOWN OF WASHINGTON TO 226.7 ACRES
On Feb. 12, 1894, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act "to incorporate the town of Washington in the county of Rappahannock." Section 2 of this act stated that “The boundaries of the said town shall extend three hundred yards on every side beyond the boundaries of the said town, as described in the original charter of the said town. This expansion would have resulted in the town being a rectangle with an eastwest distance of 2355 feet and a northsouth distance of 4194 feet, which results in an area of 226.7 acres.
1983 to 1985
SURVEY AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TOWN BOUNDARIES
In 1983, it was recognized that there existed no survey of the town boundaries. Town Mayor Newbill Miller and the county Board of Supervisors agreed to hold a public hearing to consider an ordinance establishing boundaries between the town and the county. At the hearing, Mayor Miller asked the Board to adopt the boundaries shown on Rappahannock County Tax Map 20A dated February 1967 which were “already accepted as the lines.” The Board of Supervisors agreed to accept these boundaries in principle.
A special boundary line committee was formed of members of the Washington Town Council and the county Board of Supervisors to conduct a survey and determine where the boundaries should be. James G. Butler conducted the survey and prepared a plat dated Oct. 1, 1984 showing the boundaries of the town and an area of 179.7526 acres.
The $2500 cost of the survey was shared by the town and the county, which entered into a joint formal agreement that delineated the earlier history of town boundaries in 1796, 1797 and 1894 and established boundary lines between the two entities according to the survey of Butler.
A resolution of the Board of Supervisors followed in which the county agreed to the corporate boundary as shown on Butler’s plat and directed the county attorney to institute an action in the Circuit Court of Rappahannock County to legally establish the new boundaries. On March 14, 1985, the town was rechartered by the Virginia General Assembly and the 1894 act to incorporate the town was repealed; on June 6, 1985, the new boundaries were approved by the Circuit Court.
1989-1991
BOUNDARY CHANGE PLAN FOR LOTS THAT WERE BISECTED BY THE TOWN/ COUNTY BOUNDARY
In 1989, the Board of Supervisors recognized that several parcels of land were bisected by the town/county boundary line which, “because of their small size and the presence of the boundary dividing two political jurisdictions, are prevented or severely limited from development in either the Town or the County.”
For example, one owner was unable to obtain zoning approval to construct a house on his property because it was divided between the town and the county. The Supervisors stated that “it is declared to be in the joint interest of the Town, the County, and the citizens of each jurisdiction to adopt a procedure for the mitigation of the inequities herein stated” and that “procedures shall be adopted for the benefit of the affected citizens, and it is in the interest of those citizens, as well as the interest of the Town and County, that the cost and complexity of the procedures be minimized.”
A joint resolution of the Town and the County requested applications from owners of parcels of land for inclusion of their property within the boundaries of the town. Eligible parcels would consist of 4 acres or less in size, one-half of which was within the current Town corporate limits, and were in existence as of June 1, 1990. Applicants were to provide a valid survey of the parcel, dated less than twelve months before the application.
A Notice of Joint Public Hearing was advertised that listed 15 land parcels that were to be considered by the Town Council and the Board of Supervisors. After this public hearing, a joint resolution was adopted by the Town Council and the Board of Supervisors in which it was agreed that the boundary line between the town and the county should be relocated so as to take two tax parcels into the Town of Washington – parcel 20A-21D and parcel 20A-21E – and that the Circuit Court of Rappahannock County would be requested to approve the relocation of the boundary line between the town and the county.
Despite the significant amount of time spent on this issue by the Board of Supervisors and the Town Council, a joint resolution was not presented to the Circuit Court for approval.
1998-1999
TOWN BOUNDARY WAS EXTENDED TO THE NORTH
During 1998-1999, Washington Town Council again raised the issue of lots divided by the town/county boundary line and requested that the Board of Supervisors agree to boundary adjustments for such lots.
The Board of Supervisors agreed by general consensus to join with the town in this matter, conditioned upon using the same criteria as was used during 1989-1991. The Board voted unanimously to advertise in the Rappahannock News for affected owners to submit requests if they had properties that straddled the town/ county boundary line and wished to have the entirety of their property either brought into the town or placed in the county.
A joint meeting was held with the Board of Supervisors, the Town Council, and their attorneys to consider applications from persons who owned properties of 4 acres or less, at least half of which lay within the town and the balance in the county, and which were in existence as of Oct. 1, 1984 and who wished to have the whole of their property located either within the town or within the county. Valid applications for inclusion entirely within the town had been submitted by Roger Batchelder (parcel 20A-6A), Jerome Goebel Jr. and Teri Sullivan (parcel 20A-6), and Claybert Smoot (parcel 20A-5). There were no applications for inclusion entirely within the county.
At a public hearing on this matter, there were no comments, pro or con, offered from the public. The Board of Supervisors and the Town Council then voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to adjust the town/county boundary to incorporate the lots owned by Batchelder, Goebel/Sullivan, and Smoot entirely into the town, to advertise in the Rappahannock News their intention to approve an agreement relocating the town and county boundaries, and to apportion the costs of the advertisement between the town and county, with the town and the county each paying 50% of the costs. The advertisement included adjustment of the town-county boundary for the three parcels, tax map 20A-1 parcels 5, 6, and 6A, and also stated that the town and the county would consider for submission to the Circuit Court the boundary adjustment previously approved by them in 1991 for the lots designated as tax map 20A-1 Parcels 21D and 21E.
Another public hearing was held in which the Board of Supervisors and the Town Council voted unanimously to adopt a joint resolution to relocate the boundary line between the town and the county. The resolution included the lots designated as tax map 20A-1 parcels 5, 6, and 6A (the Batchelder, Goebel/Sullivan, and Smoot lots) and also included lots 3 and 4 of the LOMP subdivision (tax map 20A-1, parcels 21D and 21E) that had been approved by joint resolution in 1991.
All five lots were to be included within the town, and the town/ county boundary was to be adjusted accordingly. A new survey and plat dated April 23, 1999 were prepared by John M. Baumgardner based on the Oct. 1, 1984 survey of James G. Butler; this new plat showed the town boundaries as they would exist after adoption of the resolution. In the plat, the town boundaries were extended at two places along the northern boundary and the area of the town was shown as being 182.0171 acres.
A petition was submitted to the Rappahannock County Circuit Court by the Board of Supervisors and the Town Council on June 1, 1999. This petition was approved by the Circuit Court on June 8, 1999.
1833 to 2012
TOWN LAND CONVERTED TO COUNTY-OWNED LAND
Another aspect of boundary changes for the Town of Washington is the acquisition by the Rappahannock County government of land within the corporate limits of the town. According to the Rappahannock County Comprehensive Plan, the total acreage of Rappahannock County, excluding Shenandoah National Park land, is estimated to be about 138,900 acres. The town of Washington comprises 182.0171 acres, or 0.13% of the Rappahannock County acreage (excluding Shenandoah National Park). During 1833 to 2012, the County government acquired 8 parcels of land totaling 6.1 acres within the town; this is 3.4% of the town land.
2021-2022
TOWN COUNCIL REQUESTED AN ADJUSTMENT TO THE EASTERN BOUNDARY
The mayor of the Town of Washington submitted a letter to the county Board of Supervisors requesting that the land designated as tax map 20, parcel 18A, containing about 4 acres, be brought under the town’s jurisdiction. This matter is now being considered by the Board of Supervisors.
This article is based on legislative petitions to the Virginia General Assembly, acts of the Virginia General Assembly, deeds relating to sales and purchases of town land, minutes of the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors for the years 1983-1985, 1989-1991, and 19981999, deliberations of cases brought to the Rappahannock County Circuit Court, and surveyor’s analyses of the town and county boundaries.
The writer, who wrote a history of the Town of Washington, lives in Woodville.