Garges Plow and Wagon Factory (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact location where the factory once stood. No visible remains exist.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Annandale Chamber of Commerce website:

Annandale's Original Commercial District
By: M. Callahan

Until 1685, the crossroads site of Little River Turnpike, Annandale Road, and Columbia Pike in Annandale was home to an Indian Trading Post. Later, Col. William Fitzhugh acquired the property along with 22,000 acres from the Jamestown Colonial Government. He sold some parcels to raise cash prior to 1776, and farmed the rest through agents, never personally residing there. Several parcels of land were granted to homesteaders after the American Revolution, by the Commonwealth of Virginia government. Under this arrangement, prospective owners were required to inhabit the land, and to seat and plant within three years. Annandale was carved out of the northern region of what became known as the Ravensworth Plantation.

Settlers from Scotland, inhabited Annandale in 1685. The name ANNANDALE was derived from the Annan River, and the community these Scotsmen had left behind in their beloved dales. In Annandale, they found a rolling terrain of heavily forested land, rich soil, plentiful water sources, and abundant wildlife including elk, white tail deer, beaver, and bear. With ample protein sources for food, fresh water and hardwood forests, settlers discovered a perfect location on which to establish a community.

Clearing relatively small parcels of land (5-10 acres) was an arduous, but rewarding task, since the soil here was fertile, and these fields would produce excellent crops. At that time and even into the early 20th century, these small farmers raised pigs as a consumable commodity as well as a cash commodity. Corn and wheat were planted to feed both livestock and family. Perceptive planters, such as these, diversified into trade rather than becoming dependent on the volatile tobacco and cotton markets that drove the earlier and much larger colonial properties.

Since raising cattle requires large grazing pastures, and additional fields in which to plant hay for winter feeding, only small herds were kept on the modest Annandale farms, which ranged in size from 10-160 acres. Instead, raising pigs became a wide spread practice from Springfield to Tysons. Pigs require no grazing land, propagate quickly, and can be kept in relatively small spaces. Consequently, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, the family cow or a few, and the necessary work horses were the average livestock found.

Many local farmers were also trained craftsmen who built furniture during the winters, when fields did not need tending. In addition to the white oak, a plentiful supply of black cherry, poplar, chestnut, locust, hickory, and walnut trees grew locally.(1) A steam driven sawmill was opened in the 1820’s by William Garges, a Pennsylvania native who settled in Annandale around 1806. He initially purchased 138 acres in what became the historic town center and added eight more acres on the south side of Little River in later years. There has been some debate as to the site of his first steam driven sawmill, but the most likely location was the southwest corner of Little River at Backlick. A sawmill was located on the southeast corner of Little River at Backlick during the colonial era, predating the Garges Mill. A second Garges mill was built at what is now John Marr and Little River. This mill worked primarily on commissions for the long anticipated Manassas Gap Railroad.

Although the filing and leveling required for the construction of the rail bed was completed and beautiful stone trestles were built over some of the creeks, the railroad was never completed. Between the outbreak of the Civil War and depletion of capital, the rails never left Alexandria and the project was abandoned. Had the railroad come through Annandale, it would have crossed Little River at or near John Marr Drive, headed north, then west behind the current Fire House and the former Annandale Elementary School, through the Annandale Community Park, and into Fairfax. Unfortunately, the closest rail service ever came to Annandale was the Burke Station.

Garges, an Ironmonger and Ferrier by training, also established a smithy and livery business at his homestead along Little River where Walgreen’s is now located. Here, metal (mostly iron, but not exclusively) farming tools such as plow blades, shovels, and picks were crafted. Pots and pans, nails, latches & hinges for doors and trunks, drawer pulls, and any number of household implements were also made. He and his sons also operated a Traveler’s Inn on the northeast corner of Little River at Backlick, and established a plow and wagon factory in the 1840’s on the south side. Commercial enterprises popped up throughout the crossroads, but the Garges family must be credited with establishing the first of many.

The great find in Annandale forests was the abundant white oak and black locust which was used to build homes, wagons, floors, rail and posts, and when seasoned, become excellent firewood, since it produces not just light but tremendous heat. Firewood was utilized again during WWII when heating fuel was expensive and carefully rationed. Most Annandale homeowners closed all but essential rooms in their homes, and heated by fireplace, using white oak whenever possible.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Northern Virginia History Notes website:

Garges Family of Anandale Farm:
How a family who built up a village lost it all by opposing secession
Written by Debbie Robison
December 1, 2012

DEVELOPMENT OF ANANDALE:
In 1820 William Garges, a former merchant from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, purchased 134 acres at the intersection of Backlick Road and the Little River Turnpike. He had a house built that same year for his family. At the time, he and his wife, Susan, had at least six children whose ages ranged from infant to 12 years old.

The Garges farm was called Anandale, which gave the village its name. Beginning around the time of the Civil War, the name was more commonly spelled Annandale.

The land was originally part of the large Ravensworth tract. Following is a portion of a survey prepared ca. 1792 that depicts roads that existed at the time. It is interesting to note that Little River Turnpike had not been constructed yet and Backlick Road continued in a straight course to what is now known as Annandale Road.

The Garges home was located near the intersection of Backlick Road and Little River Turnpike (Now the intersection of Columbia Pike and Little River Turnpike). The family blacksmith shop was located near the house. Garges farmed his land and cultivated a wide variety of fruit trees. In 1837 he established the Anandale post office and was appointed postmaster. Four years later he placed an advertisement in the Alexandria Gazette in an effort to sell Anandale Farm at a private sale, though he did not succeed.

Fortunately, he advertised that his land was named Anandale Farm, thus documenting the name of the farm:
"NOTICE. I WILL sell at private sale, my ANANDALE FARM, in Fairfax County, Va., 7 1/2 miles from Alexandria, containing 133 acres, on the Little River Turnpike. WM GARGES"

John Henry Garges, his son, purchased a small triangular-shaped lot at the intersection of Backlick Road and Little River Turnpike from his father in 1843. This land included the house where his father resided and the blacksmith shop. John Henry Garges established a plough and wagon factory at Anandale. The factory was destroyed by fire in 1845, along with valuable timber, tools, and several new wagons. He evidently rebuilt his business. The 1850 industry non-population census indicates that Garges was in the blacksmith and wheelwright business making wagons, horseshoes, and “farm work.”

John Henry Garges expanded his business enterprises in Annandale in 1854. In September he purchased 8 1/2 acres on the south side of the turnpike. His 1904 obituary states that he conducted a hotel, store, and livery stable at Anandale. The location of the 8 1/2 acres is indicated on the aerial photos below by a red border.

He also purchased a one-acre lot with James Benton on the Little River Turnpike where the Manassas Gap Rail Road was going to cross the turnpike. Garges and Benton were contractors for several sections of the Independent Line of the Manassas Gap Rail Road and built a saw mill on this lot for use with the railroad construction. Financial constraints resulted in the Manassas Gap Rail Road Company abandoning the unfinished Independent Line. The location of the one-acre lot is indicated on the aerial photos below be a magenta border.

William Garges provided land for the Anandale Methodist Episcopal Church. The Anandale Chapel was dedicated in December 1846. There is a gravemarker in the cemetery for William Garges’ wife, Susan, who died in 1828, years before the church was constructed. William Garges died in 1855. In the fall of 1863 during the Civil War, possession of the church was taken by General Blenker and Colonel Lowell who used the church as quarters for a while before dismantling it and using the materials and contents to construct winter quarters. The church was reconstructed after the war.

IMPACT OF CIVIL WAR:
John Henry Garges was detrimentally impacted by his strong pro-union sentiments at the time of the Civil War. He was a devoted republican who was arrested in 1859 for circulating, through the post office at Anandale, Hinton Helper’s book The Impending Crisis of the South, which advanced the abolitionist theory that slavery hurt the economic prospects of the majority of southern whites. Distributing the book was viewed as an act of sedition. James W. Jackson, an outspoken southern aggressor who killed Colonel Ellsworth at Marshall House in Alexandria at the start of the war, notified the newspaper of Garges arrest. Jackson, along with Joseph Edward Monroe, also arrested Garges neighbor, Thomas Crux, when Crux was trying to get away. Crux made it as far as the Long Bridge.

Most of Garges neighbors favored secession. Garges was called a Black Republican due to his views, which he expressed to some of his neighbors in an effort to convince them to vote for the Union.

Garges, along with a few of his near neighbors, voted against secession at the Anandale precinct. The Anandale precinct elections were held on Garges’ porch. Although Garges was one of the election commissioners, citizens still found it difficult to vote against secession. A fellow commissioner, George Burke, reportedly influenced the elections through the use of intimidation.

Garges moved to Washington D.C. five days after voting for the ordinance of secession, though for a time his family remained. A neighbor, Ambrose Cock, Jr., had, to a certain extent, supervision of some of Garges’ property, and his father, Ambrose Cock, Sr., looked after Garges family. John Henry Garges and his wife Martha had nine children. The youngest was less than a year old when his father was forced to flee to Washington, D. C. Garges filed a petition with Congress for financial relief for losses he sustained from Confederates who destroyed his property because of his pro-union stance. After the war, his land at Annandale was sold off to pay creditors who filed suit against him. Some of his creditors had voted for secession, yet Garges remained liable for debts the war made impossible to pay.