Heritage Week Gathering

Family members gathered June 2-5 at the Inn at Warner Hall near Gloucester, Virginia, to celebrate our shared heritage, and honestly, each day was filled with the fine food, drink and joyous laughter that a wonderful family reunion should have. And in between those moments, we solemnly paid tribute to the rich history and famous connections that are a hallmark of the Washington-Lewis family line.

Please enjoy some images from our time together. We believe they convey the good times, historical significance and meaningful reflection we shared.

A Tribute to John Lewis, the Emigrant

Thanks to hard work by Dr. Augustine "Gus" Lewis, a Virginia resident and member of the King and Queen Historical Society, the gravesite of John Lewis, the Emigrant, has been faithfully restored and now encircled with a brick wall similar in style and construction to the cemetery of our ancestors at Warner Hall. Family members trekked to the site to pay tribute and lay a wreath in remembrance.

From the top: President John Lewis Jr. and his wife, Debbie, carry flowers to the gravesite's remote location near Poropotank Creek. Jim Bird officiates a brief ceremony at the gravesite. Dr. Augustine Lewis informs family members of the site's restoration efforts.

Reflection at the Warner Hall gravesite

David Brown and Thane Harpole write in their book, Warner Hall: Story of a Great Plantation, that the historic site evokes feelings of the gentility and wealth of Virginia's history. "A brick-walled cemetery beside the tidal salt marsh of the upper Severn River is one of the oldest cemeteries in Virginia, harboring gravestones of the Warner and Lewis families."

At this year's Heritage Week Gathering, family members paid homage to our ancestors buried there. A rose was laid on each of the gravestones as Jim Bird softly read aloud each name in remembrance.

Augustine Warner was the great-great-great grandfather of George and Betty Washington and a progenitor of family lines that include Queen Elizabeth II, Meriwether Lewis and Robert E. Lee. Brown and Harpole write that Warner immigrated to Virginia in 1628 around the age of 17 and may have been an indentured servant. He would eventually establish the Warner Hall plantation in 1642 when he patented a 600-acre tract named "Austin's Desire" at the head of the Severn River.

We share with you some photos of the beautiful Inn at Warner Hall, now a Colonial-style bed and breakfast where many Lewis Family Descendants stayed, as well as pictures from the early evening ceremony.