28. Mr. Stedlar went away. I rid to Alexandria to see how my House went on. Returnd to Dinr.
GW had paid £48 10s. in 1764 for two lots on Pitt Street in Alexandria: No. 112 at the corner of Prince Street and No. 118 at the corner of Cameron Street (
, folio 180; plan of Alexandria, , 22–23). The lot at the corner of Prince Street would remain vacant for most of GW’s lifetime, but during the spring of this year he had engaged to have a small town house built on the other one. Construction of the house, which would continue until sometime in 1771, was primarily the responsibility of two Alexandria men: Edward Rigdon (d. 1772), a joiner, who was paid £30 19s. 2d., and Richard Lake—variously spelled Leak and Leake—(d. 1775), who was paid a total of £59 16s. 1½d. ( , folio 278, 323, 333; Fairfax County Wills, Book C–1, 136–37, 225, Vi Microfilm). Lake had been granted a license to keep an ordinary in Alexandria during the previous fall but apparently did not remain long in that business, as his license was not renewed (Fairfax County Order Book for 1768–70, 66, Vi Microfilm).