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By Frank and Gloria Womble

This article is the first in a series of three based on an undated booklet published by the Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society. The research was compiled by Marion J. Watson. For details of the 2025 celebration of Lafayette’s arrival at the Visitor’s Center/Riddick’s Folly on Sunday, Feb. 23, from 1-4 p.m., visit Suffolkva250.com for more information.

General Lafayette’s last visit to the United States was by an invitation sent by Congress in 1824. The 68-year-old general had been in the United States about six months when Mr. Thomas Newton, Jr., Suffolk’s representative in Congress, issued an invitation from the citizens of Suffolk and Nansemond County inviting him to dinner and a ball. He began his southern tour. Lafayette was still formulating his itinerary and was unable to give them a definite date and time he would visit. And so the people of Suffolk waited.

On Thursday, Feb. 24, 1825, at six o’clock in the evening, the citizens of Suffolk were informed that Lafayette would arrive in Suffolk the very next day. A town meeting was immediately called and a committee was appointed to make the necessary arrangements for the visit. Suffolk would have a dinner, but not a ball. Mills Riddick, a lumber dealer, was elected President of the Arrangements Committee and Matthias Jones, a merchant, was elected Vice-President.

Catherine Cross Dickinson, who leased Castle Inn from Josiah Riddick, Jr., was selected to accommodate Lafayette and his entourage for the night. Arrangements were made with James Holladay, formerly of Chuckatuck, and proprietor of the Holladay Hotel on Main Street, to cater the banquet. As the banquet would be held on the second floor of the Nansemond County Courthouse, Mr. Holladay’s establishment located across from the Court House allowed for easy access. Invitations were sent out by messenger to the gentlemen of the community inviting them to the dinner. The men on the Arrangements Committee and their wives were up most of the night getting Castle Inn and the banquet room of the Courthouse ready for the next day. The most suitable menservants in the area were loaned to serve the dinner. Furniture, silver, crystal, china and linens were loaned to Mrs. Dickerson. Even quilts for the guests’ beds were brought in to insure every comfort during their stay.

As the citizens of Suffolk were preparing for the visit, Lafayette and his entourage began their journey from Washington, D.C. by steamboat down the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk. Lafayette’s travelling companions included his son, George Washington Lafayette, his secretary, Auguste Levasseur, his valet, Sebastien Wagner, called “ Bastien”, and a young Frenchman named De Syon, whom Lafayette had met in Washington and invited to accompany him on his tour. They breakfasted with the Corporate Authorities of Norfolk before leaving by stage for Suffolk. 

At one o’clock the afternoon of Friday, February 25, 1825, the Committee of Arrangements, with other gentlemen, set out in carriages and on horseback to meet Lafayette about six or seven miles from Suffolk at Tony Pugh’s. Tony was a free black man, who ran an ordinary near the present community of Driver. Lafayette was greeted by the committee and local residents upon his arrival at the ordinary, and an address of welcome was given by Joseph Prentis on behalf of the citizens of Suffolk and Nansemond County.

Joined now by the gentlemen of Suffolk, Lafayette’s group entered the town to the cheers of many admiring citizens. They were met by a company of volunteer infantry, the Suffolk Columbians, commanded by Captain Francis David Charlton, a local merchant. The Columbians and citizens formed a procession which led Lafayette to Castle Inn on Main Street. 

When they arrived at the inn, Sheriff John Cowper Cohoon, Jr., introduced Lafayette to the men, women and children of the area. When asked whether he preferred to be addressed as “Marquis” or “General” he replied, “I am an American general.” Lafayette greeted everyone in a receiving line as they filed past and exited in the rear of the inn. For many years after that, people reminisced about having shaken Lafayette’s hand.

The American Friends of Lafayette is partnering with Suffolk 250, the Constantia Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Riddick’s Folly, Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, and the Suffolk Nansemond Historical Society to commemorate the Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour. TowneBank is a presenting sponsor.