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—Rappahannock Nfw* Photo/
Bill Young BORN IN WASHINGTON in 18%, Jack Miller is one of the town’s treasures.
je at the end of Judge Snead's driveway and they jut him on a horse, tied a ■ope around his neck and :hen hit the horse. It happened about 1900, I think.”
Years later, youngsters vould brave the scarey lark ness to stand under the ;ree and ask the ghost of the ynched man why he was hung. Fitzhugh was supposed to answer “Nothing at all, so when the children told their friends of their adventure, they could report that they’d heard the ghost reply “Nothing at all,” Jack related. When Jack Miller was a young man, it took three hours to travel from the town of Washington over the mountain to Front Royal—by horse and buggy. “Once they made it macadam, it was a toll road. There were three stops between Washington and Front Royal. 1 think it cost 25 cents at each.” Miller also made the trip often by horseback. "I drove cattle for people and we’d put the cattle on the train at Front Royal. We’d also drive hogs. Generally with hogs, we’d walk and lead the horses and then ride back. And we drove sheep—even turkeys.” The trip to Culpeper by horse and buggy took about four hours in those days. "That was considered good time,” Jack noted. “It wasn't anything at all to drive to Culpeper or Front Royal. We’d visit, shop and stay overnight.”
Back then, poker playing was one of the major social events for gentlemen in Washington. ‘‘It wasn't anything at all to play for $400 or $500 as table stakes,” Jack recalled. One of the most popular gathering spots was “Buzzard’s Roost,” the name bestowed on the upstaris of Thornton’s butcher shop across the street from Washington House. It wasn't just a Friday or Saturday night outing either. “Whenever three or four men would get together, they’d go up to play...I’d rather go up and watch them play than eat when I was hungry,” Mr. Miller recalled, laughing.
Washington had quite a reputation then. “The Flint Hill people called Washington ‘the hell hole of Rappahannock County,” Jack reported with a chuckle. “We did our gambling and we did our drinking but we were honest about it. We did it openly. In Flint Hill, they did it at night in the cellar with the lights out.”
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