Farmer Larry Muse and his dog Lucy get ready for a ride in the truck. Muse is the latest co-owner of more than 100 acres along the Potomac that have been in his family's possession since 1668. He wants to sell all but his house, barns and four acres. rdt View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Valuable Vista

Tracts surrounding Washington birthplace in Westmoreland on the market, but Park Service says sale would desecrate historic site.

By FRANK DELANO
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 9/29/2002

HE WEB SITE advertising the properties tells much but not all.

It says the two adjacent waterfront parcels for sale in Westmoreland County are virtually surrounded by the George Washington Birthplace National Monument.

It says now is the "absolutely unique, historic opportunity" to buy the land that has been handed down in the Muse family since 1668.

It tells you of the properties' vast Potomac River vistas, the intricate tracery of Popes Creek and the mallards in Digwood Swamp.

It says for $995,000 you can snap up 44 acres with 2,000 feet of Potomac frontage. The same money will buy 63.5 acres of fields, woods and vistas on Popes Creek.

The combined county assessment of the two parcels is $287,000, but the Web site does not mention that.

Nor does it mention a 1983 discovery by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science: The river tract's Potomac shoreline is receding at a rate of 31/2 feet per year. So one of those acres now for sale at $22,613.64 per acre might be washed away in about six years.

Margaret W. Lewis of King George County, who worked at Washington's birthplace for eight years as a National Park Service ranger, is not happy about the listing.

"I find it appalling that this historical land would be allowed for sale," Lewis wrote in a letter to Birthplace Superintendent Vidal Martinez. "I cannot imagine a housing development, or even a single new home, built on land that has such historical significance,"

The Web site is "extremely misleading," she said. "It reads as though the buyer would become part of our nation's heritage, when they would really be desecrating historical land."

It suggests a purchaser "be a hero" by donating scenic or conservation easements, which also would bring tax benefits.

Real-estate agent Alex Long said the sellers will not accept contracts on the properties that are contingent upon zoning changes or other land-use rulings by Westmoreland County.

"It's the Hope Diamond of waterfront properties," Long said. "There are plenty of two- or three-acre lots, but not many of them have viewsheds like these."

The Web site and ads have generated "considerable interest," the agent said.

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Date published: 9/29/2002