Mount Air House Ruins
GPS Coordinates: 38.7236827, -77.1757999
Closest Address: 8600 Accotink Road, Lorton, VA 22079

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 Mount Air property was a 1727 land grant from Lord Fairfax to Dennis McCarty and has been owned by only three families since that time. Much of the original grant is now incorporated within Fort Belvoir.
The wing of the existing structure, a two-story frame unit, appears to have been erected about 1830,according to Henry Judd of the Historic American Building Survey. Much of the original woodwork remains in the dining room and rear rooms even though they have been converted for modern living. The main portion of the house dates from 1859 and was built on the site of an earlier McCarty house. There was once a secret staircase in a cupboard in the library. Many additions and alterations have been made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The structure shows the evolution of a residence altered to meet the needs of its occupants for over a hundred years, with no attempt to restore it to a single period of time. The house contains many valuable antiques, including furniture once owned by the Custis family and also furniture which was a gift from the Empress Eugenie from France.
Dennis McCarty, the original owner of the property, was appointed a Justice of the Peace when Prince William County was formed in 1731 (including the area out of which Fairfax County was formed in 1742). His daughter Ann married William Ramsay, the first Mayor of Alexandria. His son Daniel was one of the original Town Trustees of Colchester.
Many of the large trees and shrubs date back to the earlier periods of the house. There are large lilac and boxwood allees in the garden.
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2008 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:
Mount Air Has A “Hard” Presence
Written By: Dr. Kenneth Stuart McAtee
Among the early visitors to Mount Air were a part of a prestigious list: George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Alexander Graham Bell, Francis Parkinson Keys and General William Walker.
Many events occurred at this old plantation in Fairfax County located between Telegraph and Accotink Roads in the area of Lorton. In 1724 Dennis McCarty went to challenge a duel with his sweetheart’s rejected suitor. Later he married this lass (Sarah) whose father was a cousin of George Washington.
Only a few months previous to the nuptials McCarthy’s father had died leaving the 522 acres to his son. For the next 133 years this property, through both good and bad times, had been passed down in the family. The old home was, as are most old structures, connected with spirits presences.
In the later part of the 1700’s one of the McCarty women had married a cruel man. Richard “Hard" Chichester. For many years the local people remember the cruelty of this man. His ill health and piercing pain was in all probability the causes of his beating his slaves to the point that they ran away to escape him.
When Hard Chichester died in 1796, it occurred in a down stairs bedroom at Mount Air. A Slave in the presence of his master told of the devil escaping him from under the deathbed in the form of a red rabbit.
Later, 124 years after his death in 1820, lightning struck Hard’s tombstone in the Newington family graveyard. The first three letters of the name Richard were broken from the tombstone. Although there was no evidence of footprints in the area – the fragment with the letters RIC carded upon it was never found. Thus the remaining word HARD (from RICHARD) was in evidence in the name of this hard taskmaster. Did the Devil (red rabbit) revisit in revenge?
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
Here follows an excerpt from Donald Hakenson's "This Forgotten Land" tour guide:
The Mount Air House and the surrounding property were owned by the McCarty and the Chichester families since 1727. The Mount Air House was largely rebuilt in 1859 after extensive damage by fire. The east wing of the house was believed by several architects to have been built about 1820. The house eventually burned down again on May 19, 1992.
According to family history General Robert E. Lee and Colonel John Singleton Mosby visited Mount Air. A former slave at Mount Air stated that General Lee ate bread and sipped buttermilk under the big ash trees in the front yard. Unfortunately, there is no documentation that has been found that verifies the visits of these two officers at Mount Air. However, there is documentation that the Fifth Michigan was posted at Mount Air early in the Civil War.
ARISTIDES (TIDE) C. LANDSTREET
In September 1860, Frances Chichester sold the Mount Air Plantation to Aristides (Tide) C. Landstreet, from Baltimore, Maryland. Less than a year after Tide and Mary Landstreet had moved with their seven children to Mount Air the Civil War began. This was a difficult time for the family becuase Tide Landstreet's children served on both sides during the war. Edward served with the Confederacy and William served with the Union. In addition, Mr. Landstreet, age forty, enlisted as a Private in Company F (the old Fairfax Company), Sixth Virginia Cavalry on April 20, 1861. He was captured on July 13, 1861 while on a scout near Falls Church. He was paroled from Old Capitol Prison in December 1861. He was later recaptured at Mount Air on January 15, 1862, and was paroled again at Old Capitol Prison on March 24, 1862. He was captured a third time in September 1862 and declared paroled on November 10, 1862. After his third capture and parole he was assigned as a clerk in the Second Auditor's Office, Confederate States Treasury Department. When he signed his parole in Baltimore, Maryland, he stated his unit as the Third Virginia Infantry, Local Defense. At the end of the war Landstreet was forty-four years old, grey eyes, brown hair and listed his occupation as farmer in Fairfax County, Virginia. On March 14, 1910, Tide Landstreet died and was buried at Pohick Church.
PRIVATE EDWARD LANDSTREET
Edward Landstreet, the oldest son, ran off to join the Confederate Cavalry at the age of 16. Edward's mother was so concerned for her son's safety that she wrote General Stuart personally asking him to send her son home. General Stuart replied that he was unable to persuade the boy to leave but added that he would look after him as if he were his own son.
Edward enlisted at Fairfax Court House in Company A, First Virginia Cavalry on September 22, 1861. Edward Landstreet served as a special courier for Colonel Carter, Brigadier General Wickham, and Major General Fitzhugh Lee during his service in the cavalry. His muster rolls also indicated that he was captured once but escaped. He was present at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 but escaped and served with Colonel Mosby. He was paroled in Winchester, Virginia on April 21, 1865. After the war he married and moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1894. On January 25, 1899, Edward died and was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee. The regimental flag of the First Virginia Cavalry that belonged to Edward Landstreet was sold at auction in 2009.
UNION TROOPS AT MOUNT AIR.
Annie Landstreet, daughter of Tide and Mary Landstreet provided a detailed account when Union troops occupied the Mount Air Plantation:
"The house was surrounded by soldiers who stayed in the outbuilding, and the officers had their headquarters in the downstairs room which had been our nursery. In this room they had a large sideboard which they kept well stocked with choice wines and liquor... they had with them a flag which they said should not be unfurled until they marched in Richmond. It was kept in the corner behind the door leading from the library into their office.
My sister Mary heard them say that the flag should not be unfurled, and one day she ran her hand up under the case and clipped it as far as she could reach with her scissors. When the flag was unfurled and found clipped to pieces; the soldiers were very angry, and my sister heard that they had threatened to punish severely the person who had done it if they could find them. It frightened her nearly to death.
We were not allowed to have lights. The windows were covered with quilts and blankets to prevent our signaling to the Confederate troops at Pohick, and my mother was warned that if a single ray of light was seen the house would be burned. They put straw all around the house, ready to set fire to it.
One night my mother did give a signal to let the Confederates know that Federal troops were at our place. She went up to the west bedroom on the third floor with my sister, pretending to get something out of the wardrobe -- the same wardrobe that is there today. She walked past the window three times with the light to give the signal. She was never discovered, but she must have been suspected.
The soldiers were sleeping on the porch, rolled up in their blankets all in a row one night, and a Confederate spy named Burke stepped over them and rapped on the door for mother to let him in. He had come for news. She told him never to do such a thing again because it put her in too much danger."
With four sentries patrolling the yard, Mrs. Landstreet never understood how Burke could have eluded them, while stepping over a row of sleeping soldiers, and escaped undetected. Many years later Mr. Shelton Milstead, who lived near Mount Air, explained what happened. Burke was challenged by a guard standing under the great ash tree by the driveway. Reluctant to kill the guard, Burke fired a shot into the tree. Milstead pointed out the bullet, still lodged in the tree. He identified the troops as the Fifth Michigan.
Burke the spy was probably John Burke, known as 'the spy with the glass eye." John Burke was with a Texas unit and operated in the Telegraph Road area in Fairfax and Prince William Counties early in the war.
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>•<•>
Here follows an excerpt from Nathaniel Lee's book, "The Iron Road of Franconia" that talks about the railroad:
The other major spur that connected to the Washington Southern Railway was the Fort Belvoir Military Railroad, so named after the estate established on the property in 1740. The elegant brick mansion called “Belvoir” belonged to William Fairfax. He was the area tax collector of his day and a cousin to Lord Thomas Fairfax, from whom Fairfax County takes its name. The Belvoir mansion stood watch over the Potomac River for 43 years before a fire gutted it in 1783. During the War of 1812, American forces dug in on the slopes below the house during the four-day Naval Battle of the White House in 1914. What was left of the Belvoir mansion was destroyed by British cannon fire during the battle. The home foundations and adjacent family cemetery are on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1917, the United States declared war against Germany and entered the fighting in the First World War. The U.S. Army purchased property on the Belvoir peninsula south of the town of Accotink in order to train and prepare engineers for combat in Europe. Unfortunately, getting to the property was another matter entirely. In the closing months of 1917, Virginians were laboring through the harshest winter seen in decades.
Never intended to stand up to the snow or heavy hauling, the muddy farm roads in the vicinity were practically impassable. It took six strong horses to pull an empty wagon down the King’s Highway, and shipping was not an option either, as the Potomac River had frozen over. To assist in the mobilization efforts of troops and supplies, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the United States Railroad Administration to take over the operation of most of the country’s railroads, including the Washington Southern Railway. The construction of a dedicated military railroad was one of the first priorities.
A five-mile-long railroad spur was to be constructed between the main line of the Washington Southern Railway at Accotink Station and the site of Camp Humphreys (present-day Fort Belvoir), which was then under construction. On the morning of January 29, 1918, the Second Battalion of the 304th Engineers departed their headquarters at Camp Meade, Maryland, and arrived by train at Accotink Station three hours later, greeted by a blizzard. In true Army fashion, the men piled out of the train cars for their first ever backpack hike. Five miles of rugged forested country lay before them, and after trudging for hours through six inches of snow, they came to Camp Humphreys just as it began to darken. The barracks, when they reached them, were dirty and cold with just a folding canvas bunk to greet them.
The next day the raging blizzard continued as the men walked five miles with only a sandwich for their lunch to where their campsite was to be. There they worked in the snow all day, ate their cold lunch out in the open and brushed the snowflakes from their sandwiches as they ate. For a week thereafter, the men worked every day constructing their new camp. Mrs. George S. Kernan of the Mount Air plantation house played the kind host to the battalion on her land, and they named their encampment “Camp Merry Widow” in honor of her, while others, less grateful, give it the more obvious nickname of “Camp Mud.”
The Second Battalion began construction of the railroad from Accotink Station, while another group of engineers started to work from Camp Humphreys. Leaving the main railroad line, the proposed railroad right-of-way entered heavily wooded ground, crossed several valleys, plowed through a slight rise and passed their campsite. It then skirted the village of Accotink and crossed several more valleys and streams until it arrived at Camp Humphreys.
The work required various jobs such as cutting timber, flattening hills, filling valleys and building four trestle bridges. The largest of these bridges was some six hundred feet long. The bridge would have a six-degree turn, a two percent grade, and required especially accurate workmanship. The men measured, cut and placed the timbers for the bridge. They cut down timbers for the bridge from the surrounding forest and hauled them from where they grew. Toward the end of the work, when extra speed was called for, they installed a series of electric lights around the bridge. Work continued both day and night.
The battalion managed to complete this project and build passable roads through the area in less than seventy-five days. The battalion left Accotink and returned to their headquarters at Camp Meade, Maryland on April 14, 1918. These same men would be building bridges under German fire in France just a few months later. Victory over Germany would come in November of that year.
When the Fort Belvoir Military Railroad was finished, the power to pull the numerous boxcars, flatcars, coaches and Pullmans came from large steam engines supposedly used in building the Panama Canal. Two engines stayed busy during the First World War. When peace came, one became a stand-by engine. These locomotives ran from 1918 until about 1941 when diesels replaced them. Different engineering schools, including the Light Railway School, took advantage of the railroad as an instructional tool. There were units often learning the hands-on skills needed in building, maintaining and operating a railroad.
The Washington Southern Railway would remain under federal control for a total of 26 months. On February 29, 1920, by proclamation from the President of the United States, operational control of the railway returned to the RF&P Railroad, who officially absorbed the Washington Southern Railway into their own system and the Washington Southern name relegated to the history books.
Over the years, Camp Andrew A. Humphreys continued to grow in size. Many of the area Quaker families lost their land to the fort’s continued expansion and moved away. The name changed in 1935 to Fort Belvoir after President Franklin Roosevelt visited nearby Gunston Hall and learned of the historical associations with the Army property. The military railroad operated until 1997, a span of 79 years. The Base Realignment and Closure agreement, as well as the widening of Richmond Highway, meant the tracks and bridges were finally destroyed to bring the military and the surrounding community into the twenty-first century.