“We arrived at Staunton by the road through Rockfish Gap. The most frequented road to the Sweet, Warm and Hot Springs at Greenbriar, and from thence to Kentucky, passes through Staunton. Eight inns are established there, three of which are large. Hemp, which grows very fine, is cultivated throughout the whole of this country. Wheat in this region is mowed with the sickle, as in Europe, and is infected with the rot. On the other side of the Blue Mountains they mow with the scythe. From Staunton we passed by Keyssel Town, Newmarket, Strasburgh (formerly called Stover’s Town), and Newtown, to Winchester. Winchester sends to Alexandria the whole produce of the upper country, and draws from Baltimore, but especially from Philadelphia, all sorts of dry goods. Upwards of thirty well-stocked stores, or shops, have been opened at Winchester. The town contains ten or twelve inns, large and small, which are often full. In the course of last year upwards of 4,000 persons passed through the place, going to settle in Tennessee or Kentucky. Landed property in the vicinity of Charlestown is more divided, perhaps, than in any other part of Virginia. Very few of the planters possess more than 2,000 acres of land, and few even so much. Alexandria is, beyond all comparison, the handsomest town in Virginia, and, indeed, is among the finest in the United States. Alexandria carries on a constant trade with the West India Islands, and also some with Europe. There is a bank at Alexandria, the only one in Virginia. The establishment of a bank at Richmond was authorized by the Legislature of Virginia in December, 1792, but the subscriptions not filling it does not exist.[L] “The roads are in general good throughout this State; and although the inns are sometimes bad, yet upon the whole they are better than in the other States. Those in the back country, where I have traveled, are preferable to the inns in many of the most inhabited parts of New England.” _XI._ _JOHN DAVIS OF SALISBURY._ _1801-1802._ _The Sailor Turned Author--Vice-President Burr--Washington in 1801--Cherokees--Gadesby’s--Colchester--Occoquan--Romantic Situation--Tavern Luxuries--Eloquence and a War-Dance--Parson Weems--Scholarship Per Se--Frying Pan--Newgate--Mr. Ball--‘To Virginia.’_