Fairfax County ~ Our Home 

MUSIC: "Soldier, Soldier, Will You Marry Me?" was a very popular tune during the American Revolution.

In 1608, Captain John Smith explored the Potomac River shores of what is now Fairfax County, Virginia. He encountered the towns and villages of native inhabitants, the Dogues, whose ancestors had arrived here sometime before 9,000 BC. Fairfax County was organized in 1742 from land on the north side of the Occoquan River of Old Prince William County and was named in honor of Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron, proprietor of the 5,282,000 acres of the northern neck of Virginia.

The Fairfax County Resolves, written at Mount Vernon on July 17, 1774, by George Mason and George Washington, are considered among the founding documents of our nation. They contained the first clear explanation of the fundamental constitutional rights of the American colonies as subjects of the British Crown. The Resolves were adopted the next day by a Fairfax County Convention chaired by George Washington at the courthouse, which met to protest the harsh British retaliations against Massachusetts following the Boston Tea Party. The Resolves called for a "firm Union" of the colonies, because an injury against one colony is "aimed at all." Washington and Mason challenged the unconstitutional actions of the British government when they wrote we "can not be considered as a conquered Country" because we are "Descendants not of the Conquered, but of the Conquerors." They pleaded to stop the importation of slaves declaring "our most earnest Wishes to see an entire Stop for ever put to such a wicked cruel and unnatural Trade." They boldly called for a halt to the importation of British goods and demanded a "general Congress, for the preservation of our Lives Liberties and Fortunes." The Fairfax County Resolves were basically a bill of complaint against King George, which set in motion the legal grounds for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

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Statue of George Mason, 1996 State Project of the VADAR

George Mason of Fairfax County was a leader of Virginia patriots on the eve of the Revolution and is considered one of the most important of the Founding Fathers. In May 1776 he authored the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a seminal document of American history which was the first authoritative formulation of the doctrine of inalienable rights. It was copied by many of the other colonies and was the basis for the American Declaration of Independence, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States.

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Plaque of George Mason, 1996 State Project of the VADAR

Pohick Church erected 1767-1774

Designed by James Wren, this brick church of Truro Parish replaced an earlier wooden structure that stood two miles south near Pohick Creek. The creek's ancient name came from the native Dogue word for hickory. George Washington, George William Fairfax, and George Mason were parish vestrymen and members of the building committee of Pohick Church. Members of the Lee family of Virginia were among the parishioners. Pohick Church was abandoned in the early 1800s due to the disestablishment of the English Church after the Revolutionary War. It was restored for worship in the 1830s as an Episcopal Church.

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Historic Fairfax Courthouse circa 1799 A National Landmark

The third Fairfax County courthouse, also designed by James Wren, was constructed of brick in 1799 on two acres of land deeded by Richard Ratcliffe. The location was at the intersection of Ox Road and the nation's first private toll road, Little River Turnpike. The will of George Washington was probated and recorded there on 20 January 1800 and both his will and that of Martha Washington are displayed there. In 1805 a town was incorporated at Fairfax Courthouse, known by the name of Providence. Later it became the Town of Fairfax and in 1961 became the City of Fairfax. During the Civil War the Confederates lost control of the courthouse several times and it was occupied by Union troops. Many records were lost during the tumult.

Fairfax County was an agricultural community during its first two centuries of existence. Today it is an urban county with a population in excess of 970,000. There are 400 square miles within its boundaries including thousands of acres of parklands. Numerous historic sites have been preserved including the colonial plantations of George Washington at Mount Vernon and George Mason at Gunston Hall. The Potomac River property of the 1741 Belvoir mansion of Lord Fairfax's cousin and agent, William Fairfax, is now the United States Army's Fort Belvoir. Our county is home also to Wolf Trap Farm Park; the only national park for the performing arts in the United States.

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National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

Fairfax County Chapter NSDAR ~Fairfax County, Our Home was handcrafted with Notepad by Edna Barney, 2002~2008. The graphics designs are copyrighted and registered at Mary's Little Lamb. The image of the manuscript is from the Library of Congress. Other images displayed are from the web site of Fairfax County Chapter NSDAR.

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