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Whitehaven Cumbria


St Nicholas


Mildred Warner Washington, grandmother of America's first President George Washington, is buried in the church yard of St. Nicholas in the centre on the town. The grave, unfortunately, is not marked, but in 1955 a tablet in her memory was put up inside the church.

Mildred had married Lawrence Washington in Virginia and they had three children one named Augustin, later to father George. Lawrence died and Mildred met and married a man from Whitehaven who was in America to run the family's plantation. Having married, Mildred sailed for Whitehaven but died in childbirth soon after arrival. The children from her first marriage returned to the Washington family in Virginia. George Gale, the man from Whitehaven whom Mildred had married was quite a colourful character. He went on to found the small town of Whitehaven in Maryland. His grave is a few miles from the town.

During the late C19 and early C20 Whitehaven began to decline like other ports on the west coast too small to accommodate the larger ships being built. The long history of coal mining came to an end in 1985.

Today Whitehaven's advantages are its intrinsic beauty and attractions, a new exhibition centre, theatres and good shopping and proximity to other places of interest, including the Lake District which is only 6mls/10km to the east.Whatever your plans in the county Whitehaven should be very high on your list of places to visit.

  For more on George Washington try
~gwpapers/
The Papers of George Washington.

 

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