Hope Park Plantation House

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

The structure is thought to have been named by Dr. David Stuart, who bought the 1250 acre property from Edward Payne in 1785. The story-and-a-half frame and clapboard house is beautifully set on a small rise in the open country. According to E. Blaine Cliver, restoration architect, the central portion of the structure is possibly c. 1750, judging from the style of moldings, window and door architraves, wainscot panels, and heavy muntin of the front windows. Most of the doors and windows have been added or altered over the past two centuries. The enclosed rear porch and wing, and probably the front porch, are twentieth century additions. Photographs show the existence of another earlier wing, and Mr. Cliver posits the existence of an earlier front porch. A notable interior feature is a tall, wooden corner cupboard in the living room which probably dates from the first half of the nineteenth century, and is not contemporary with the original portion of the house, in Mr. Cliver's opinion.

Edward Payne was a Truro Parish Vestryman, and builder of Payne's Church, on Ox Road. In 1768, Washington's diary records a Vestry meeting at Payne's Church and lodging thereafter at Capt. Edward Payne's. After selling the property to Dr. Stuart, Payne and his family moved to Kentucky.

Dr. David Stuart was, at different times, a member of the Fairfax County Court, the Virginia House of Delegates, a trustee of the Towns of Centreville and Providence (now Fairfax City), and one of the first three commissioners of the Federal City. He married Eleanor Calvert Custis, widow of Martha (Custis) Washington's son, and moved to Hope Park from her home, Abingdon. George and Martha Washington visited the family at Hope Park on several occasions, and it was from here, in 1791, that Dr. Stuart sent to President Washington a report on agricultural conditions in Northern Virginia.

Hope Park is included in the property proposed as the site for the Fairfax County general aviation airport.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The airport noted in this 1971 report was actually built in Dulles. This house is now a private residence. If you would like to learn more about the home and mill complex, hop over to the e-store to see the out-of-print rare book called "Hope Park and the Hope Park Mill" we have available.