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A HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF FAIRFAX

Sketch by John H. Rust, Jr.

Jeanne Johnson Rust
1960

Illustrations by Paul R. Hoffmaster

FIRST EDITION
SECOND PRINTING

Copyright 1960, by Jeanne Johnson Rust
All rights reserved
Printed by Moore & Moore, Inc., Washington, D. C.
Designed by William M. Guillet
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-11281

To My Husband

and his favorite town—his birthplace.

MAP LEGEND

CONTENTS

A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF FAIRFAX

I. JAMESTOWN

At Jamestown the colonists found that they could not succeed without expanding the Indian's agriculture. They found the savages of the Tidewater section growing corn, muskmelon, pumpkin, watermelon, squash, maypops, gourds and peas in their fertile well-organized gardens. Grapevines were cultivated at the edge of clearings and there were rich harvests of chestnuts, hickory nuts and acorns. Strawberries and other small fruits grew in abundance and mulberry trees stood near every village. Tobacco was grown to itself, in carefully prepared hills arranged in well-organized rows. It developed into a slender plant less than three feet tall and the short, thick leaves, when ripe, were pulled from the stalk and dried before a fire or in the sun. The colonists learned to grow and store the Indian foods for cold winters and they learned to earn their livelihood from the export of the tobacco they grew.

In the northern part of Fairfax County, the Indians grew corn. They fished, mined, and herded buffalo. In order to have sufficient grassland for their "cattle", or buffalo, the Indians deliberately set fire to the forests. They also burned their "old fields" that had once been cultivated for they found that grass grew voluntarily on them if the trees were kept down.

Maxwell in "The Use and Abuse of Forests by Virginia Indians" tells us, "Virginia, between its mountains and the seas was passing through its fiery ordeal and was approaching a crisis at the time the colonists snatched the fagot from the Indian's hand. The tribes were burning everything that would burn and it can be said of the Alleghanies that if the discovery of America had been post-poned five hundred years, Virginia would have been pasture land or desert."

This point is further illustrated by the Manahoac Indian's remark to Captain John Smith that he knew not what lay beyond the Blue Ridge except the sun, "because the woods were not burnt".

Although the settlement by colonists helped to slow down this burning process, it did not stop it altogether. The colonists cleared their land by burning also and when they had exploited one area moved on to another. (They did not burn as large areas as the Indians.) As other freemen came, they pushed upward and inward along the waterways to find unexploited land. This, of course, hastened the development of the Fairfax County area but it left acres of "old fields" going idle for want of a little fertilizer. Many ignorant overseers of large land holdings knew little of fertilization or replenishing the soil and they too, when they had exhausted one part of the proprietorship, moved on to another, which they cleared by burning. They gathered slaves from other plantations to help fell the trees and at night large groups of negroes gathered round the mound of burning trees and raised their voices in the spiritual singing that was characteristic of them. Sometimes the burning lasted for two or three days and laughter, song and wine were plentiful.

Fairfax County itself was gradually being occupied by men from two of the colonies: viz., Maryland and Jamestown. The Maryland colonists were English traders who, for one reason or another, had left their colony (1632) and taken up their residence among friendly tribes along the Virginia shore of the Potomac. The Maryland colonists preceded the Jamestown colonists by a few years.

The Jamestown colonists in their search for unused land had gradually started to move into Fairfax County around 1649. Word had spread that the area farther north (part of which is now known as Fairfax County) was the "land of opportunity" and wealthy land-holders began buying large units of five hundred to three thousand acres for speculation. Among these were the Masons, Draytons, Baxters, Brents, Vincents, Merriweathers, Fitzhughs, Hills, Dudleys and Howsings.

Most of these men were not ready to make their homes here, however, for this area was still infested with unfriendly Indians. Instead they hired indentured slaves who came from England, Scotland, Ireland, France, etc., who worked the land for a few years, earned their freedom and then became land owners in their own right. It stands to reason, therefore, that the society of the Fairfax County area at that time was necessarily crude. These indentures, though vigorous and having outstanding individuals among them, had the reputation of not being given to the amenities. Unfortunately, the men in well established areas south of the indentures did not have a realistic understanding either of the struggles and trials of these men who were pioneering the Indian infested areas farther north. This lack of understanding led to dissension and, in some instances, rebellion.

II. REBELLION

When the wealthy land-owners of the southern part of the colonized area started buying up land in lower Fairfax County for speculation, they did not buy out the title of the Doeg Indians, who occupied this area at that time. (The white man established no relations with the Doeg except to hold him off whenever possible). A series of murders were committed on the frontier by Doegs and in retaliation the colonists mistakenly killed Indians who were not Doegs. By 1675, through a series of hot-headed misunderstandings the Susquehannock Indians became involved and they struck whenever and wherever they could. Captain John Smith described the Susquehannocks as having booming voices, being seven feet tall and treading on the earth with much pride, contempt and disdain.

Although no records were kept at the time, we can assume that many homes were burned, women and children killed, etc. It is a known fact that thirty-six people were killed on the Rappahannock in one raid and that Indian retaliations of one nature or another caused the English settlements that had reached Hunting Creek to recede to Aquia, where they stayed for the next ten years.

Sir William Berkeley in order to help the frontiersmen, unwisely, and at great expense to the people, commanded a fort to be built at the mouth of each head river; e.g., one was built at Colchester on the Occoquan. These forts proved of no value, being made of mud and dirt. Other precarious forts were built in place of the mud ones. These proved useless too and the governor and gentry declined to do more.

Taking matters into their own hands, two hundred men (including men from the Fairfax County area) joined under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon. They incited the Occannechi to massacre the Susquehannock. Then, having disposed of the worst enemy, they turned on the Occannechi and murdered them. The few Indians who survived stabbed at the colonists occasionally but gradually drifted into Pennsylvania taking the Doegs with them. The frontiersmen and governing gentry, however, still remained at odds and another cleavage began to appear. This one was centered around the men's livelihood—tobacco.

From the first, tobacco had been their staple product. It was Virginia's principal export crop. It was used as money. Salaries of ministers and civil officers were paid with it. Bounty for wolves and Indian scalps were offered in it and necessary equipment was bought with it.

However, due to English navigation laws forbidding the colonists to export to other countries, by 1682 England became over-supplied with tobacco and the planters soon began to feel the effect of this surplus. Growers began to go deeper and deeper into debt.

Major Robert Beverly and William Fitzhugh, young planter-lawyer from this area, concluded along with other prominent men that the solution lay in some type of crop control but England refused. She did not want to lose the two shillings tax on each hogshead of tobacco. She advised the colonists to wait until Thomas, Lord Culpeper, the titular governor of the colony returned to Virginia.

Lord Culpeper had received the titular grant to all of this area and a great deal more besides. He was happy in England, however, and not at all anxious to come to Virginia. He was 47 years old at the time and described as "able, lazy, unscrupulous".

While waiting for his return, the people became desperate. Taking hoes and farm tools, they roamed the countryside pulling up and cutting tobacco plants wherever they went. Some destroyed their own crops. The county militia was called out and plant cutting was brought under control but by this time 30,000 to 50,000 pounds of tobacco had been destroyed.

A few months later the people again became impatient and the government in Jamestown reacted by declaring the destruction of tobacco "open and actual rebellion". It promised a reward of 2000 lbs. of tobacco for information and promised to pardon the "squealer".

Finally, in December, Thomas, Lord Culpeper, departed from London and the arms of his mistress. He was briefed by the Privy Council before he left and as soon as he arrived in Virginia declared the offense to be treason. He had several planters executed as examples and granted amnesty to almost every plant cutter who would take the oath of loyalty to the king. There were approximately twenty men from this general area who took the oath.

In the meantime economic conditions improved for the colonists. The English began dumping their surplus tobacco upon the continent of Europe and the diminished colonial supply found a quick market.

As far as the Indian situation and forts were concerned, Lord Culpeper suggested that a small band of volunteer light horsemen be hired to range the woods of the heads of the rivers to protect the frontiersmen against surprise attack by the Indians. His suggestion was accepted by the Assembly and the "Rangers" were organized.

They were comprised of one lieutenant, eleven soldiers, and two Indians. They were supplied with horses and other necessities to range and scout the areas they served.

Lord Culpeper then proceeded to return to England where he was relieved as governor and his commission was turned over to Lord Howard of Effingham. It is rather ironic that neither Lord Culpeper nor Lord Fairfax, who inherited his estate and for whom the County and Town were named, cared particularly for Virginia. Lord Culpeper came under duress and returned as soon as possible to England. Lord Fairfax came, according to tradition, only after he had been disappointed in love in England and because his holdings demanded his attention. The people struggled on, however, and gradually the wealthy land owners began to move northward to occupy the tracts of land upon which their grandfathers had speculated.

III. THE GENTRY AND THE CONVICTS

George Mason II had moved to Pohick in 1690 but his home was considered such an outpost that runaway slaves were returned there by Indians. In 1746 the fourth George Mason moved to his property on Dogue Neck and built Gunston Hall in 1758. By 1734 Captain Augustine Washington moved his family to his plantation on Little Hunting Creek. His home was destroyed by fire and he moved back to the north bank of the Rappahannock in 1739. In the spring of 1741 William Fairfax built Belvoir. After his daughter married Lawrence Washington in 1743, the original part of Mt. Vernon was finished.

Along with the gentry's influx into the county, however, there was also the influx of convicts. Heretofore this land had, as stated, been occupied mostly by indentured slaves. When these indentures achieved their freedom and became land-holders in their own right, they found they too needed help for harvesting the fields. England, recognizing this need and being anxious to rid herself of an undesirable element, began to export convicts to America. Benjamin Franklin called this "the most cruel insult that perhaps was ever offered by one people to another".

Robert Carter, in his first term as proprietary agent, made numerous grants to the Irish and Hugenots and they took a substantial number of these convicts who were gin fiends, beggars, murderers and arsonists. These cheaper servants after serving seven years became parasitic wanderers, creating hotbeds of undisciplined passion wherever they went.

They received credit for burning many warehouses, private homes, public buildings, churches and finally the Capitol itself in Williamsburg. Arson became epidemic in the Northern Neck.

All legislative efforts to abort this infiltration by convicts were stopped by the "greedy planter" who loved the cheapness of this labor and the practice of importation survived the Revolution.

Consequently, this area was comprised of gentry, indentures, convicts and slaves. Yet the homes of the former two were similar in many ways. Their houses were made of wood; their roofs were made of oak shingles. The walls were made of clapboard sealed on the inside with mortar made of oyster shell lime which gave the room a look of antiquated whiteness. Some houses were constructed of bricks made by the colonists themselves. Most houses consisted of only two rooms and several closets on the ground floor with two prophets chambers above. They built separate houses for the kitchen, for Christian servants, for Negro slaves, and several for curing tobacco. Each household gave the appearance of a small village. There were no stables. Cattle and horses were allowed to run in the woods.

Merchandise was supplied by traveling salesmen from England who took their loaded ships from creek to creek.

Due to the fact that most people lived on widely separated plantations there were very few schools. Sometimes a house was erected on one of the old fields which had outlived its usefulness and there the children of the plantation owner along with those of relatives and neighbors would attend school under the supervision of a tutor hired by the main family. These were called "Old Field Schools". They were made of logs held together by wooden pins. The roof was shingled with hand-hewn wood shingles and a large field stone fireplace was used to heat the room. There were few books available and the tiresome methods of teaching were heavily interspersed with strict discipline. School began at eight o'clock in the morning and a recess was taken at eleven. It opened again at one o'clock and closed at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Public school systems did not make their appearance until 1857. As a rule, the parish halls of the various churches were used to house the students.

The children of the poor learned from their parents the art of working in the fields. The wealthier families sent their eldest son to England to be educated and other sons were educated at the College of William and Mary which had been established in 1693.

Recreation was found in the form of wrestling, playing with quarter staff, cock fighting, and pursuing wild horses. Beverly gives us a lively description of the latter: "There is yet another kind of sport which the young people take great delight in and that is the Hunting of wild Horses which they pursue sometimes with Dogs and sometimes without. You must know that they have many Horses foaled in the Woods of the Uplands that never were in hand and are as shy as any Savage creature. These having no mark upon them belong to him that first takes them. However, the Captor commonly purchases these Horses very dear by spoiling better in the pursuit; in which case he has little to make him amends beside the pleasure of the Chace. And very often this is all he has for it, for the Wild Horses are so swift that tis difficult to catch them; and when they are taken tis odds but their Grease is melted, or else being old, they are so sullen that they can't be tamed." (Due to the capture of tame horses roaming the woods, the sport of capturing wild horses was eventually outlawed.)

IV. THE PUSH INWARD

At this time the northern and central parts of the County were sparsely settled due to the large tracts of land held by a few. King Carter, of course, had assigned most of the land to himself during his second tenure as proprietary agent. However, there were large tracts owned by William Fitzhugh, William Moore, Cadwallader Jones and Lewis Saunders, Jr., which consumed most of the land in and near the Town of Fairfax. Since men could only "seat" themselves on this land, most of the indentures went over into the valley where they could work land that belonged to them. Thus the development of this territory was delayed for years.

However, when King Carter found what seemed to be substantial deposits of copper in the northern part of the county, he and his sons opened up a pre-existing Indian trail which came from Occoquan, past the future site of Payne's church, near the future site of Fairfax Court House, where it veered west and continued towards Chantilly. Ox Road made accessible the area now known as the Town of Fairfax; became a deciding factor in the future placement of the Court House that was to serve this area; and created the original western part of The Little River Turnpike.

As people followed this road inward to seat land, a new parish was set up which was named "Truro" by King Carter. He expected the parish to be a mining district and named it after a borough of Cornwall, England, which was a shipping port for tin and copper ore.

Truro tried to provide meeting places for all and called upon a man by the name of Samuel Littlejohn, who seated land south of the future site of the Town of Fairfax, for help in supplying a place to worship for this particular area. Mr. Littlejohn complied by renting his tobacco barn for regular services.

He received 1000 lbs. of tobacco a year for its rent. The barn was fitted with six benches which ran the length of the house and two benches which stood at each end of the building. A Communion table and a reading desk with a small window on each side of the desk concluded the specified alterations. This was in 1765. The exact location of this barn has not been identified but it seems likely that it was in the vicinity of Edward Payne's home on middle ridge near the Ox road, where Payne's church was built in 1766. (The Virginia Army National Guard Nike Site is now located on part of Payne's land.)

At a meeting on February 3rd and 4th, 1766, the vestry resolved that a new church be built on the middle ridge near Ox Road ... on the land "supposed to belong" to Mr. Thomazen Ellzey, young planter-lawyer, "who being present consents to the same". (Mr. Ellzey owned a large tract of land including the Magner tract of which "Brecon Ridge" is now a part. According to local tradition, he gave the "glebe" land which consisted of 40 acres for the minister who was allowed to collect as salary whatever he could grow on the "glebe".) Vestrymen present these two days were "Mr. Edward Payne, Colo. George Washington, Capt. Daniel McCarty, Colo. George William Fairfax, Mr. Alexander Henderson, Mr. William Gardner, Thomas Withers Coffer, William Linton and Thomas Ford."

Edward Payne was to undertake to build the church for 579 lbs. of Virginia currency agreeable to a plan and articles drawn up by a Mr. John Ayres who was to be paid 40 shillings for his plan and estimates. These plans were to be modeled after the Falls Church.

Hearsay relates that "Edward Payne, vestryman and builder of the church, and Col. George Washington had an argument concerning the location of the church. A fist fight insued and Mr. Payne, who was a tall man but not as tall as Col. Washington, knocked Col. Washington down—it being the first and only time Washington was ever knocked down". The church was located according to Mr. Payne's judgment and records show it was accepted on September 9, 1768, as agreeably built according to plan, with the exception of the brick pediments over the door which were to be corrected by Mr. Payne.

The church was used for services until the time of the Revolution after which it was used only occasionally. Early in the last century the Baptists took possession of it as abandoned property, with the Court's permission, and upon the division of that denomination in 1840 the Jerusalem Baptist Church (new school) was organized in the building and continued to use it until 1862.

At that time Federal troops camped in the vicinity tore the church down brick by brick and used the material to build chimneys and hearths for their winter quarters. A small frame Baptist church now covers part of the original foundation of Payne's church. A model of the original Payne's Church can be found in the design and construction of the present chapel at Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax.

During the development of the parish and its move northward and inward, the Court in 1752 ordered Lewis Ellzey, Hugh West Jr., James Hamilton, James Halley and others to view and mark a road to be cleared for the most convenient way from Alexandria to Rocky Run Chappell.

This road is now locally known as the old Braddock Road, named after General Braddock who presumably traversed it on his way to Ft. Duquesne. Although historians disagree on the authenticity of this route being taken by Braddock, around the road has grown a legend of "buried treasure".

The story goes that the road was impassable and the weather extremely inclement when Braddock and his men used it. They had to cut down trees and other growth to clear their way. Added to this was the fact that they were carrying a chest of gold coins, with which to pay the men. They had two cannons, which were proving extremely burdensome, and were constantly becoming bogged down in the mud.

Finally, having lost so much time due to the condition of the road and the heaviness of his cannons and gold, Braddock decided to lighten his load. Taking the gold coins, he stuffed the nozzles of both cannons with the coins and then buried the cannons near a spring on the road near Centreville. The story continues that the spring has since dried up and although many people, including the British, have searched for years for the "buried treasure", it has never been found.

Near the intersection of Ox Road and Braddock Road was a tract of land (the future site of George Mason College, the northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia) which was owned by the Farr family. The large home on this tract of land was burned by Union forces during the Civil War in retaliation for a very brave act by the young fourteen year old Farr boy.

This young boy, knowing that Union troops were located at Fairfax Station waiting to attack the Court House, built a road block of logs across the Ox Road over which these troops had to pass. Hiding himself in the underbrush nearby, he fired so heroically upon the enemy troops, as they approached, that they assumed there was a large group of Confederates waiting for them and withdrew to Fairfax Station. When they learned of the hoax, they returned and burned the Farr home to the ground.

V. THE TOWN

Historically, the most important house in the town of Fairfax is the Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House at 10386 Main Street. This little brick house was built in 1805 when the town was founded and the original half meets the specifications of the 1805 Virginia State Legislature. It is sixteen feet square, has a brick chimney, and is "fit for habitation." The Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House is considered to be in "pristine" form and unchanged from its original condition except for an 1830 addition which is believed to have been built by the same brick mason.[1]

The little brick house was the first structure completed when Richard Ratcliffe established his town named Providence (now Fairfax). Henry Logan bought the house and later sold it to Gordon and Robert Allison. They added a large parlor and bedroom to the house and built a stable in the backyard to take care of the horses of their paying guests and possibly those of the Alexandria-Winchester Stage Coach Line.

Richard Ratcliffe's tavern at the northwest corner of the intersection of Chain Bridge Road and The Little River Turnpike was one of the larger houses in Fairfax. Caleb Earp operated a store in the basement of this tavern and the crossroads was known as "Earp's Corner" when George Mason recommended in 1789 that the court house be located at this juncture.

The tavern was extended westward by a Capt. Rizin Willcoxon and subsequently bought by the Allisons. An 1837 inventory shows there was a store, a cellar, a granary, a bar, kitchen, parlour, dining room, tailor's shop, sky parlour, and at least twelve bedrooms in the tavern.

Capt. Willcoxon, who was a relative and friend of Richard Ratcliffe, built the addition to the tavern out of bricks kilned by slaves. The foundation of the Willcoxon home on Route 237 was also built of bricks from the same kiln. This home was named "Blenheim." The name of Union soldiers who occupied the house during the Civil War can be found etched on the walls of its attic.

Although "Blenheim" is still standing today, the Ratcliffe tavern was torn down in the 1920's and the bricks and mantels were purchased by Col. Francis Pickens Miller who incorporated them into the large brick building which is now known as Flint Hill Private School.

Progress began to embrace Fairfax in the 1900's but before the 1800's there was only a tavern, a store, a tannery, and several private homes located at "Earp's Corner."

Still standing today are the Truro Episcopal Church rectory, which was built as a home by Thomas Love and later sold to Dr. William Gunnell, the Ford Building and the Oliver Building, both of which were built by members of the Gunnell family.

These homes were representative of the times. Georgian architecture had begun to spread up and down the coast. Plaster and paneling had begun to replace lime walls. Beautifully carved mantels and staircases had made their appearance. Mahogany furniture upholstered in satin or brocade had replaced crudely constructed pieces. Portrait painters roamed the country. Tutors moved in to educate the children of the wealthy. Life was much safer and almost as conventional as country life in England.