Hayfield Secondary School

Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2009 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

At one time, Hayfield Secondary School was one of the largest schools around, and the gym was used for many activities besides basketball games and school graduations. In the 1970s the Baltimore-Washington Cats roller derby team had a match there, the Harlem Globetrotters put on a show, and after the Washington Redskins played in their first Super Bowl in 1972, the players were part of a presentation in the gym.

Donald Hakenson went to Edison during the split shift semester when Hayfield was being finished in the Fall of 1968. We did not have a four hour school day, but the schedules were staggered to allow shared areas like the cafeteria to serve all the extra students. Our freshman class was split at the end of the 1967-1968 school year, and about a third of the class became Hayfield students. These students were the first graduating class from Hayfield in June 1971. The split included our Fall 1967 Gunston Champion Edison Freshman Football Team, with a good portion of the team ending up at Hayfield. This created quite a rivalry, because in the Fall of 1968 we shared the same practice/game fields, and culminated in two very good varsity football teams during the Fall of 1970. Edison won the district title and lost to an Ed Henry coached Marshall High School team in the regional championship game, and Hayfield finished with a winning record. This rivalry will make a good future story for the newsletter.


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Here follows a history of the school as excerpted from the Fairfax County Public Schools website:

It is thought that George Washington acquired the land on which Hayfield was built around 1761, in order to increase the holdings of his Mount Vernon Estate. Colonel Washington came to use the land he purchased as his hayfield - hence the name of the school. When General George Washington returned from the Revolutionary War, he decided to ease his debt by selling 360 acres of the western section of his land to his cousin and plantation manager, Lund Washington, who was married to the former Elizabeth Foote, also one of the General's kinsman.

Lund and his wife built the lovely Hayfield Manor House which remained standing until a fire destroyed it in 1917. Also on the site was a formal boxwood garden that was said to be one of the finest in the state of Virginia. Lund died in 1796, and his wife later bequeathed the land to her nephew William Foote. His widow conveyed the land to Richard Windsor in 1860, who then sold the land to William Clarke in 1874.

Clarke added more acreage and is credited with building the famed double octagon, or sixteen-sided barn, apparently based on the plans of a barn built by General Washington. It was located across from the school in the vicinity of what is now Hayfield Park. The shape, it is reported, was such to ensure that the devil would have no corner in which to hide in his never-ending quest to drag souls into the fires of hell. Reportedly, the barn remained standing until 1967, when it also fell victim to a fire.

What's in a Name - Hayfield Secondary School

Hayfield Secondary School opened in 1969. The school takes its name from a farm once owned by President George Washington. The farm was given the name Hayfield by Washington, because, quite literally, he grew hay on its field to feed his livestock. In February 1785, George Washington sold Hayfield to his distant cousin, Lund Washington. Shortly after acquiring Hayfield, Lund Washington began construction of Hayfield Manor, a mansion house that was once located in the vicinity of present day Hayfield Park. After Lund Washington passed away in 1796, ownership of Hayfield passed to his wife Elizabeth, who, upon her death in 1812, willed it to her nephew William Hayward Foote. Hayfield passed through a succession of owners from the 1840s until the early 1960s, when the farm was developed into a residential neighborhood.
When Hayfield Secondary School opened, the surrounding area was still very rural. There were no shopping centers or strip malls nearby as there are today. The school’s football field was adjacent to a working farm. A former Hayfield teacher said, “The years have changed the physical structure of the building and the composition of the student body, but the dedication of the faculty; the support of the surrounding community, and the determination of the students to succeed in life have not. This is Hayfield’s lasting legacy.”

In 1906, Clarke's widow conveyed Hayfield to Joseph R. Atkinson, who in turn sold it to J.M. Duncan. In 1918, after a fire had destroyed the farm dwellings, it was conveyed to Hayfield Farm Co., Inc. It was during this time that some of the historic Hayfield boxwood was sold, and it is said that some of it thrived at the National Cathedral (placed there by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson). Some of it may also have been planted at the National Masonic Memorial.

In 1954, the property was sold to W.S. Banks and W.M. Orr, who developed a herd of Charolais cattle there. They sold to Wills and Van Metre in 1963, and their construction company began to develop housing plans. That, of course, brought about the need for a school, and on January 13th, 1969, Hayfield Secondary opened its doors. During excavation, workmen unearthed a pre-Civil War cemetery, with a total of thirty-one gravesites. The identity of the deceased remains a mystery even today. The coffins were all aligned with heads to the west and feet to the east - this to conform to the tradition that men are born like the sunrise, and die just as the sun fades to the west. The remains of the thirty-one were reburied in Fairfax Cemetery.

Classes were to begin at Hayfield Secondary on January 13, 1969. However the school was not finished on time; thus, the first high school classes had to held at Edison High and Mark Twain Intermediate. Both of those buildings had to double shift. Edison students, for example, went from 7:30 until 11:30 am; Hayfield students arrived at 11:30 and left at 3:30 pm. That four-hour school day was great noted many who can remember back that far. But by September 1969, Hayfield Secondary was off and running. Some construction still had to be completed, but classes were in place – all 7 ½ hours of them!

The surrounding area was still “in the middle of nowhere”. There was no Giant Shopping Center, no Kingstowne. The houses in Hayfield Farms sold at the amazingly large sum of $30,000. There was a working farm with a cow next to the football field on Hayfield Road. The new school was shiny and modern. The principal, Floyd Worley, insisted that the faculty be young and beautiful as well. The student body was overwhelming Anglo-Saxon. The years have changed the physical structure of the building and the composition of the student body, but the dedication of the faculty; the support of the surrounding community, and the determination of the students to succeed in life have not. This is Hayfield’s lasting legacy.

Thanks to Dr. Dennis Pfennig, who taught at Hayfield for thirty years, for writing this history.