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nydus/Notes on the State of VirginiaPublic

Thomas Jefferson compiles these notes in response to inquiries from a foreign official regarding the geography and state of Virginia. The text provides detailed descriptions of the region's boundaries, dimensions, and physical landscape as understood in the late eighteenth century.

Page 197 of 329
Table of Contents

Query XV.

conftrudlion, where hme is convenient, and infinitely more durable. The latter confideration renders it of great importance to eradicate this prejudice from the minds of our countrymen.. A country whofc buildings are of wood, can never increafe in its improvements to any confiderable degree. Their duration is highly eftimated at 50 years. Every half century then our country becomes a tabula rafa^ where- on we have to fet out anew, as in the firfl: moment of feating it. Whereas when buildings are of durable materials, every new edifice is an adlual and permanent acquifition to the fl:ate, adding to its value as well as to its ornament.

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