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Slave Quarters - Ridgeley, West Virginia
Ridgeley, West Virginia is located in Mineral County, directly across the Potomac River from Cumberland, Maryland.
As noted in "Ridgeley and Carpendale, West Virginia - From 1759, A History" by Gary Lee Clites, Sr., George Calmes built his stately mansion as the centerpiece of a growing estate high atop a bluff in what is now Ridgeley, West Virginia. This was in about 1793 or 1794 and at a time when Mineral was still a part of Hampshire County and West Virginia still a part of Virginia.
Tax records for the year 1800 indicate that George Calmes had three slaves. Though the Calmes Mansion itself is now gone, one building from that estate still remains, this being the slave quarters which records indicate was constructed in 1796. Located on Carpenter Avenue atop Club House Hill the three-story structure also served at times as a stable and possibly servants' quarters as well.
The photographs depicted here portray the front and back of the former slave-quarters. It is now a privately-owned apartment building.
Text: Information from "Ridgeley and Carpendale, West Virginia - From 1759, A History", by Gary Lee Clites Sr. and published in 2008 by Knobley Mountain Press, Chesapeake Beach, MD.
Photographs: Albert L. Feldstein
Note: West Virginia separated from Virginia and became a state in 1863, and Mineral County was formed from the western-half of Hampshire County in 1866.