Since 1932 over a million people from all parts of the world have visited Wakefield and enjoyed its natural beauties and historical associations. The serenity of the restored plantation with its cultivated fields and oldtime flower garden, its fragrant boxwood and sweet-scented herbs, and the lovely water views afforded by Popes Creek and the Potomac River, make unforgettable impressions. The memorial house furnished with beautiful and appropriate pieces from a bygone day, the early 18th-century style kitchen with its huge fireplace and ancient cooking equipment, and the family burying ground at Bridges Creek, almost 300 years old, are integral parts of the scene. In addition to these glimpses of colonial life are the well-kept grounds, the carefully tended flower beds, and the grove of native cedar trees which stand like venerable sentinels on Burnt House Point. Such enchanting scenes which impress the senses and mind are taken for granted today, as few pilgrims realize that not so many years ago the birthplace of our Nation’s First Citizen was all but forgotten. Without the dedicated labor of many people and organizations there would be no Wakefield plantation today, and to these individuals our Nation will forever owe a debt of gratitude. But the restored plantation is more than a monument to the people who saved it. It is a memorial to the boy who played in the red brick house by the tidal creek, in the stables, barns, tobacco sheds, and other outbuildings; in the smokehouse and summer kitchen; in the spinning and weaving house and buttery; and near the forge where the blacksmith beat red-hot iron rods into tools and hardware and farm implements. The restored plantation is a shrine to the young boy with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes who romped through the green meadows and fields of corn, and watched the growing wheat, rye, and tobacco; the youth who picked luscious figs, climbed the gnarled apple trees, and played games in the cedar grove of that day. Countless times he must have walked along the high banks of Popes Creek and the sandy shore of the Potomac River, and stalked game in the nearby forest. Wakefield is a monument to the growing boy who returned to the place of his birth when he was 11 years old and learned his first lessons in surveying. The impressions which the peaceful farm made on his mind were lasting ones, and as he grew from youth into manhood and assumed greater responsibilities, the happy memories of days spent on his father’s plantation were never forgotten. [Illustration: _The memorial house._] _Guide To The Area_ The information which follows, supplements that contained in the narrative of this handbook. It has been arranged to enable you to make your own tour of the area. The numbers given correspond to the numbers on the map of the national monument on pages 34-35. 1. Granite shaft.