Belvoir Manor (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this trailside historical marker:

Belvoir
When William Fairfax came to Virginia, he brought many strong English traditions with him. The manor and grounds of Belvoir were laid out similarly to English estates. The brick, Georgian manor was the most sought after and fashionable architectural style in England and the colonies at that time, and its use here reflected the importance of the Fairfax family.

Belvoir was elegantly furnished with mahogany pieces such as a shaving desk, chests of drawers, a sideboard, and imported carpets. Fine mirrors and candlesticks decorated the house as well as a bust of Shakespeare and fine ceramic and glassware, all of which were imported and illustrated the family's high social status. The layout of Belvoir and its grounds was similar to other later estates in the vicinity, including Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall.

The house was described as having five rooms upstairs and four rooms downstairs, including a dining room and parlor on the Potomac River side. It was flanked by exterior chimneys and two central doorway entrances to serve the river and land approaches to the house. Beyond the inland doorway entrance was a courtyard garden.


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On the marker are photos of artifacts recovered from Belvoir and a depiction of the house. No known diagrams or drawings from the time of Belvoir's construction exist.

The marker is on Fort Belvoir, an active U.S. Army installation. Please check with the base visitor center for site access information.

Foundation Traces
Trail path crosses in from left to right in the foreground. Traces of the foundation for the main portion of the house are in the open grassy area.

Beyond the path in the foreground, the raised areas delineated by concrete pavers mark the outlines of the buildings and grounds of Belvoir.


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Here follows an excerpt from the 1970 Fairfax County Master Inventory of Historic Sites which contained entries from the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory:

Belvale:
Belvoir (sometimes pronounced "beaver"), was built, about 1741 by William Fairfax, cousin of and agent for Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax, Proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia. The Proprietary included the land between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Lord Fairfax came to Virginia from his native England in 1746 and lived at Belvoir for two years while his estate in the Shenandoah Valley, "Greenway Court," was being surveyed and the residence was being constructed. The guest book from Belvoir is now at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond. It contains comments by and signatures of many important eighteenth century Fairfax County residents and visitors.

A notice offering the 2,000-acre Belvoir estate for rent appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette for October 19, 1774, stating that it was built of bricks, two stories and an attic with four convenient rooms and a wide hall ono the lower floor, five rooms and a wide passage on the second floor, with spacious cellars and convenient offices, kitchens, quarters for servants, coacherie, stables and all other outbuildings needed on a great estate. A large garden, orchard, and fisheries were adjacent.

Belvoir mansion was destroyed by fire in 1783, and the remains were shelled by British battleships in 1814, following the sacking of Washington in the War of 1812. Now (1971) only foundation ruins remain, somewhat protected by plastic coverings and earth fill.

In 1910,, the War Department purchased 1,500 acres, including the site, for the Corps of Engineers, and named it Camp Humphreys. The name was changed to Fort Belvoir in 1935. The mansion house site was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in December 1969.

There are Fairfax family graves in the vicinity of the mansion site.