Tuesday 9th. Thermometer at 68 in the Morning—72 at Noon and 74 at Night.
Having provided a light & convenient Boat—hired two hands to work her and laid in some Stores, Colonels Fitzgerald & Gilpin, and myself embarked in it, leaving Mr. Rumsey to engage more hds. & to set those he had to work about 6 Oclock P.M.
In this Boat we passed through the Spout, and all the other Falls and rapids, and breakfasted at a Captn. Smiths on the Maryland side; to which place our horses had been sent the Evening before—after which and dining on our prog at Knowlands Ferry (about 15 Miles from Harpers) we lodged at the House of a
Mr. Tayler, about three Miles above the Mouth of Goose Creek and about 10 M. below Knowlands.
captn. smiths: probably the home of Capt. John Smith, near the Smith’s ferry mentioned by GW on 10 Aug. (, 63). prog: food, victuals, provender; especially provisions for a journey. knowlands ferry: Noland’s Ferry crossed the Potomac downstream of Noland’s Island from Loudoun County, Va., to the mouth of Tuscarora Creek in Montgomery County, Md. The ferry was established before 1757 by Philip Noland (Knowland) and in 1785 was owned by Philip’s son Thomas (, 503–4). mr. tayler: possibly Thomas Taylor who lived in the vicinity of Harrison’s Island. Taylor appears in the Montgomery County, Md., census of 1790 and his will, probated in Loudoun County in 1797, shows him as owning land in both Virginia and Maryland (, 67; , 73).