Mount Eagle (Historic Marker)

Here follows an excerpt from this sign erected by the Montebello Condominiums on their property:

This is the site of the Mount Eagle Mansion, built in 1790 by Bryan Fairfax.

George Washington was a long-time friend of Fairfax. Washington visited here frequently and dined here the last time only a week before he died in 1799.

The Mount Eagle property changed hands many times in the years that followed. In 1918, a new owner greatly expanded the mansion, adding a full second story and two more wings.

In 1936, a group of local businessmen and preservationists purchased Mount Eagle and formed the Lord Fairfax Country Club, but that venture failed within a few years. The last resident owners purchased Mount Eagle in 1941, raised their family here, and continued some farming activities for the next two decades.

The property was sold to developers in 1966, and the mansion, by then deteriorating, was destroyed in 1968. Metro obtained 20 acres of the Mount Eagle property for the Huntington station, and, in 1979, International Developers, Inc. purchased the remaining 35 acres of Mount Eagle for the construction of Montebello.


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Here follows an excerpt from the "Jaybird's Jottings" blog by Jay Roberts:

Mount Eagle Location: Top of Mount Eagle Drive near Huntington Metro Built: 1790, Torn Down: 1968

City View stood at the highest point in this portion of Fairfax County, but bragging rights for best views might have gone to Mount Eagle. Its lofty perch was less than a mile from the southern edge of Alexandria and about a mile closer than City View. This proximity to Great Hunting Creek, the Potomac River, and the bustling seaport of Alexandria made it a witness to a lot of history.

Native Americans who fished and lived on the banks of Great Hunting Creek might have caught their first glimpse of the approaching colonial ships from the future site of Mount Eagle. Some of those pioneers from Europe who settled here were land speculators and tobacco planters who arrived in the latter part of the 17th-century. One such colonial was John Colville, who owned a large tract between Alexandria and the future site of Mount Eagle. His plantation was called Cleesh. The modern day equivalent for Cleesh is Huntington and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Colville is an overlooked early player who provides us with one of the greatest “what if’s” in these parts. In the 1730s, the Virginia House of Burgess wanted to establish a tobacco inspection station somewhere on or near Great Hunting Creek. Colville, along with John Minor and Philip Alexander, competed against a group featuring Hugh West, John Carlyle, Lawrence Washington and William Ramsay. The Colville group wanted the location to be the village of Cameron, modern day Eisenhower Avenue metro station and the surrounding area east of Telegraph Road. The West group won, and Alexandria was founded along the Potomac in 1749.

Of all the dwellings in this area, Mount Eagle has perhaps the best case for bragging rights in terms of the historical stature of its builder and first occupant. Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax (1736-1802), lived there from 1790 to his death in 1802.

Born in Westmoreland County, Bryan was the first child of Colonel William Fairfax (1691-1757) and his second wife Deborah Clark (1707-1747). The power couple built Belvoir Manor (burned in 1783 and destroyed by the British in 1814), overlooking the Potomac and a few miles from Mount Vernon. Bryan spent some of his early years there, seeing first hand a life of privilege and high-society balls. It was at Belvoir that Bryan met George Washington. Theirs would become a life-long, close friendship.

The cousin of Bryan’s father’s (Colonel William), Thomas, Sixth Lord of Fairfax, owned over 5,000,000 acres of Northern Neck land between the Potomac and the Rappahannock Rivers. Thomas appointed William his agent around 1733.

The power and influence of the Fairfax family in these parts cannot be understated. As Robert Madison points out in “Walking with Washington,” five of the original trustees of Alexandria were members of Lord Fairfax’s family by birth or marriage - Thomas Lord Fairfax, Col. William Fairfax, George William Fairfax, and William Fairfax’s two sons-in-law, Lawrence Washington (George’s half brother), and John Carlyle.

As a Fairfax, Bryan saw many doors open for him. His brother-in-law, John Carlyle, the famed merchant of Alexandria, appointed him as a deputy clerk for the county. Washington mentored him as a lieutenant in the militia regiment.

And yet, it seems Bryan had a restless soul. Susan Cochrane (Great Falls Historical Society) points out he was a “complex man who had a very different personality from George Washington. He was introspective, and spent his lifetime trying to, as we would say, "find himself."

In his book on Carlyle, James D. Munson writes that Bryan Fairfax resigned his commission in 1757. Rejected by a Miss Turberville of Westmoreland County, he fell into a funk and essentially ran away from home. Authorities arrested him in Annapolis for lacking the proper travel documents. Carlyle rescued him and brought him back to Belvoir.

In 1759, Fairfax settled down and married Elizabeth Cary, the sister of Sally Cary Fairfax, wife of George William Fairfax, his half-brother. First living at Belvoir, they had three children, William (died as an infant), Thomas (1762-1846) and Ferdinando (1766-1820). Thomas would become ninth Lord Fairfax and lived at 607 Cameron Street in Alexandria. Ferdinando lived at N. Royal for a while.

When William passed away, Bryan inherited Towlston Grange, a plantation home still standing in Great Falls. He lived there from 1768 to 1789. In 1790, Fairfax sold Towlston Grange to George Washington and moved to a 329-acre spread on that plateau overlooking Alexandria. He built a country home there and called it Mount Eagle. Fairfax was appointed as Rector of Fairfax Parish around this time, ministering at Christ Church in Alexandria and Falls Church.

As a Tory, Fairfax remained loyal to the Crown. As Nan Netherton and her co-writers (“Fairfax County, Virginia, A History”) point out, Fairfax disagreed with George Washington and George Mason regarding their revolutionary nature of the “Fairfax Resolves.” But Fairfax held “neither an American or British position, but an attempt to be as conciliatory as possible.”

Despite their ideological differences, Washington and Fairfax remained best of friends. The two would write more than 200 letters of correspondence over the course of 41 years. In one of the last, Washington closed by saying:

Mrs Washington unites in best wishes for your restored health—and in respects to your Lady and family with Your Lordships most Obedt and affectionate Hble Servant.

A week later, Washington dined at Mount Eagle with Fairfax. This was the President’s last meal away from Mount Vernon. Four days later, Fairfax dined at Mount Vernon. Three days later, on December 1799, Washington slipped away in his upstairs bed.

Bryan Fairfax died at Mount Eagle three years later. An obelisk to honor his memory was erected at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria. Some sources say it is unknown where he was buried. In their book, The Fairfax Family in Fairfax County, Kilmer and Sweig write that Fairfax was laid to rest at Ivy Hill. A representative from Ivy Hill told me they have no record of his burial.

With his father gone, Thomas Fairfax inherited and leased Mount Eagle, which included a smoke house, stable and carriage house and gardens. George Mason VI, another grandson of the Virginia patriot, lived there for a while around 1825. In 1845, Courtland Johnson, a farmer from New York, bought the property and settled down for several decades.

An article in the Washington Post (July 30, 1916) noted Mount Eagle was, with the exception of Mount Vernon, “perhaps the most historic and best known estate in northern Virginia.” The original structure was still in an excellent state of preservation. Improvements had been made to “provide more modern home conveniences, always preserving the quaint original architecture.”

In 1936, local businessmen and preservationists put forth an effort to save Mount Eagle. They formed the Lord Fairfax Country Club, which featured tennis courts and jousting tournaments. Their source of income was slot machines, which the state of Virginia banned around 1940. One of their trustees, Dr. Carson Lee Fifer, purchased Mount Eagle in 1941. For the next 20 years, the large family lived and frolicked on the property. The place was abuzz in 1949 when Thomas McKelvie, 13th Lord Fairfax, paid a visit from Scotland. He helped dedicate Mount Comfort Cemetery, which lies less than a mile to the south on S. Kings Highway.

In 1966, the Fifers sold Mount Eagle to developers, Winston Virginia Corporation. As Sprouse points out, a verbal agreement was made to ensure the preservation of the historic home. Sadly, those plans fell through. In November 1968, the Fairfax County fire department arrived. They set fire to Mount Eagle and down in flames it went.

Montebello, a four mid-rise condo complex, went up on the site in the early 80s. The street leading up to the gated property was named Mount Eagle Drive. The footprint of Mount Eagle was paved over as part of the parking for residents. The county established Mount Eagle Park to the west, but a fence surrounds the Montebello property and large trees obstruct the views.


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Here follows an excerpt from Don Hakenson's "This Forgotten Land" tour guide:

Mount Eagle was probably built in the late eighteenth century and was the home of Bryan, Eighth Lord Fairfax, and son of Colonel William and Deborah Clarke Fairfax of Belvoir. During the Revolutionary War the Fairfax family remained loyal to the crown. Bryan Fairfax used all his influence to dissuade his friend and neighbor George Washington from taking any part against the mother country, but in spite of their difference of opinion, they always remained close friends. It is rather ironic that one of General Washington's closest friends was a Tory.

Court Johnson Describes "Mount Eagle" During the War:

Court Johnson, who had come to Virginia from New York State in 1850, owned Mount Eagle during the Civil War. His experience stated in his deposition before the Southern Claims Commission, was typical of those living within the Union lines. Part of General Slocum's Brigade was camped on his farm while Fort Lyon was being constructed:

"When the Union army came on I gave them straw for bedding. I gave them all I had. I did not like to see them lay on the bare ground. I knew what it was to lay on the bare ground in 1812 and 1813. I have given food to the soldiers many a time and I have given milk to the sick soldiers ... Sometime in the summer of 1861 when the United States army came to my place they began taking my fence. I saw several soldiers at a time getting the rails. I think the men belonged to the Sixteenth New York and the Fifth Maine ... they were encamped on my place around my house ... Lieutenant Fetter was the C.D. when the wood was cut ..."

Court Johnson was described by one of his neighbors as a quiet man, "He does not have much to say to anyone." Johnson's son Henry stated:

"A large infantry camp was on my father's farm, adjoining mine. After the army returned from First Bull Run they camped on my father's place. This was before the batteries came ... on September 1, 1862 when the army came back from the Peninsula campaign they came to my place and the whole farm was covered."

On February 12, 1904, the Fairfax Herald reported that a large barn on the Mount Eagle farm in Mount Vernon District was destroyed by fire on Friday night. Two horses, a carriage, and a lot of hay and grain were also burned. The article went on to state that the barn was used as a hospital by the U.S. troops.


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Here follows an excerpt on Mount Eagle from the Fairfax County African American History Inventory:

Records indicate that there were enslaved persons held at Mount Eagle. Bryan Fairfax, who died in 1802, left Mount Eagle and some of his enslaved people to his son Ferdinando. He listed the enslaved people by name in his bequest: “the slaves following, John, Frederick, Adam, Fanny, Nancy Toulston, Betty, they are Chiefly old, but I trust he will take care of them in their old age.” Ferdinando added a codicil to his own will in 1806 that gives instructions for the gradual emancipation of his enslaved people.


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Here follows an excerpt on Mount Eagle from Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia:

Mount Eagle was a plantation home built by Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron in 1789–90, south of Hunting Creek and Alexandria in present-day Fairfax County, Virginia. It was demolished in 1968; the Huntington Metro Station and several condominium complexes were built on the property.

History:
The first colonial landowner of the area that Mount Eagle would be built upon was a tavern owner, John Mathews, who received a land patent for 1,567 acres (6.34 km2) southwest of Hunting Creek in 1669. He eventually sold part of it to the merchant and land speculator, John Colville, of Newcastle upon Tyne, who put together a parcel of over 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) which he called Cleesh. When he died in 1755, he left 1000 acres of Cleesh to his brother, Thomas, for life and thereafter to his cousin's husband, Charles Bennet, 4th Earl of Tankerville. Thomas died in 1764 and named George Washington as one of his executors. Settlement of the estate took over 30 years and lasted through the American Revolution and both of Washington's terms as President of the United States. In the meantime, Bennet had died and the plantation had passed to his son, The Hon. John Astley Bennet.

In 1789 Fairfax, by now a priest in the Episcopal Church, purchased 229.5 acres (0.929 km2) from Bennet and built Mount Eagle, where he lived from 1790 until his death in 1802. Fairfax, a great friend of Washington, hosted Washington’s last meal away from Mount Vernon, on December 7, 1799. After the death of his wife, Jane Donaldson Fairfax, on 1 July 1805, the balance of their property was distributed amongst their heirs. His eldest son, Thomas, was executor of the estate, and began leasing out Mount Eagle with the first advertisement appearing in the Alexandria Gazette in 1806, placed by his cousin John Herbert. Herbert had either bought the property or was acting as Thomas's agent. His half-sister, Anne, and her husband filed suit in 1807 for an accounting of the estate that dragged through the courts until 1829 when it was decided against them. Herbert placed another advertisement in 1811 and his brother, William Herbert, sold the estate to Walter Jenifer six years later. Jenifer had financial problems the following year and attempted to sell Mount Eagle, but could not do so as the deed had not been recorded and the property reverted to William Herbert. He sold it to George Mason VI in 1825, but he only lived there for a few years before moving to Gunston Hall, and was only able to intermittently lease it, possibly because of its small 40-acre (0.16 km2) size.

After Mason's death in 1834, his widow attempted to sell it for many years, but found no buyers until Court Johnson bought the property in 1845. During the American Civil War, the Union Army began construction of earthworks on the ridge southwest of Hunting Creek after the defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. The largest and westernmost of these was Fort Lyon, but only a small portion was on the Johnsons' property, unlike the smaller Fort Farnsworth. Fort Lyon was completed in early 1862 while Fort Farnsworth was completed later in the year to cover the southeast approaches to the ridge. The family did not remain in Mount Eagle during the entire war as there are records of it being used to quarter officers at various times.

On 9 June 1863, a magazine containing 8 short tons (7.3 t) of gunpowder and several thousand artillery shells exploded in Fort Lyon, killing 25 soldiers, and shattering windows in nearby buildings. The site of the explosion was inspected by a virtual parade of senior officers and officials the following day. The first was Brigadier General William Barry, chief of artillery of the Defenses of Washington and he was followed by Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman, commander of the Defenses of Washington. Later that day Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, arrived; he was accompanied by the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton and Brigadier General John Slough, military governor of Alexandria.

Mount Eagle was demolished in 1968, and the land is now used for the Montebello Condominiums and the Huntington Metro Station.