Newtown Plantation House (Site)

These coordinates mark the estimated location where the house once stood. A member of the Gunston Hall staff didn't want to divulge to me the exact location since archaeological investigations are still ongoing.


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Here follows an excerpt from the official Gunston Hall blog:

The Colonial Plantations of George Mason
by Robert Morgan Moxham

"... The land records indicate the Bushrods sold their patent in three parts, the southernmost and center portions in 1687 and 1689, respectively. The northern part, about 900 acres by deduction, and which now includes Gunston Hall, was sold to Edward Smith, probably at about the same time, though I could find no deed. Mason II, according to his will, purchased the land from Smith. It seems to me, all evidence considered, that the Bushrod tract was the first Mason seat on Mason Neck, particularly in view of Thomas Ousley’s testimony that Mason II was in possession in 1694. Strahan’s (report suggests the first seating here probably took place somewhat prior to 1692. Moreover, I speculate that the first seat was at Newtown (also spelled as two words) plantation which we know to have been the later dwelling place of George Mason III before the latter leased it to his brother-in-law Jeremiah Bronaugh, in 1734. It is this lease wherein the name of the plantation first appears and which describes the place as "Newtown, on the lower side of the Pohick, whereon the said George Mason (III) lately dwelt."

The location is not known precisely but is shown on Brooke’s map of the Potomac River drawn in 1737, only three years after Bronaugh leased the plantation. The dwelling labelled "Mr. Brenauds" surely, represents Newtown and the only uncertainty in the site is occasioned by the small scale of Brooke’s map. I believe the location was at or near the present site of Overlook, about 1/4 mile east of Gunston Hall.

None of the maps made after 1737 show a house at this location until the post-Civil War era. Rowland evidently paid a visit prior to 1892. She reported that the name Newtown was unknown in the neighborhood and that the only remnant of the past was a tombstone from the old graveyard, left propped against a tree but the location is not given. Gen. John Mason, son of George Mason of Gunston Hall, left a fairly detailed recollection of the estate and neighborhood but his failure to mention Newtown suggests it did not survive the 18th century.

The foregoing discussion includes both speculation and fact. Documentary evidence is given that George Mason II first seated on the Pohick and circumstantially we place him on the upper part of Bushrod’s patent. We know without doubt that his son lived at Newtown and there is evidence to support the location. The inference is drawn that Mason II proceeded his son in residence at Newtown. ..."

"... Since Brooke’s 1737 map fails to show Dogues Neck, it seems unlikely that it existed during Mason’s (III) lifetime and that he moved directly from Newtown to Charles County. His untimely death in 1735 left the Bronaugh family in possession (by lease) of the plantation house at Newtown, where George Mason IV had presumably been born in 1725. Tradition has it that Ann Mason, the widow, returned from Maryland to her dower plantation at Chipawansick, where George IV is presumed to have spent the remainder of his boyhood. ..."

Brooke, 1737, op. cit. Overlook, now owned by Mr. Robert H. Thayer, was in earlier years called Benvenue. The estate was separated from the Gunston Hall tract in 1872, but the dwelling is of 19th century vintage and probably was built after the Civil War as it does not appear on military maps of the period. One may speculate that the site George Mason IV selected for Gunston Hall was dictated by the fact that Newtown plantation house still stood on (some would consider) the only other desirable building site in the neighborhood, which further supposes that Newtown existed at least to 1755. There is no remaining sign of Newtown though no serious search for it has been made.


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Here follows an excerpt from the official Gunston Hall blog:

A Lost Mason Burying Ground Has Been Found
By Dave Shonyo, Staff Archaeologist

Within easy view of the Gunston Hall mansion there stands a point of land high above the coastal plain. In George Mason’s time, when the slope was not covered with trees, the point would have offered a splendid view of the Potomac and the majority of the plantation’s agricultural lands. It was here that Mason established his family burying ground.

The first occupants of the burying ground were James and Richard Mason, the prematurely-born twin sons of George and Ann. The boys were born and died in December 1772. In March 1773 their mother, Ann, followed them to the burying ground.

This was not the first time that death in his immediate family had stricken George Mason. In 1757, while Gunston Hall was still under construction, he lost his fifteen-month-old son William. Mason recorded the death in the margin of his family Bible, noting that William “…was buried at the Family Burying Place at Newtown.” Newtown was the plantation established by Mason ’s Grandfather, George Mason II. The site of the Newtown house is about 1,500 feet north of the Gunston Hall mansion, in what is presently a much overgrown, wooded area.

In the early 1890’s, Kate Mason Rowland visited Gunston Hall for the purpose of gathering material for several magazine articles and a two-volume biography of Mason. In the latter she wrote, “ ‘New Town’…has passed away utterly; the very name of it is unknown in the neighborhood today. And recent owners of the land have ruthlessly ploughed up the old graveyard, one of the old tombstones having been left leaning against a tree in one of the fields.” 

Dennis Johnson uses ground penetrating radar to help pinpoint the location of the Newtown burying ground. He was able to map 15 gravesites. (Photo by Patrick Ladden.)

It is not clear whether Rowland actually knew where the Newtown burying ground was located. However, at least since the time of her visit, it has been lost - first under a plowed field and then under a forest that replaced the field.

Newtown has a claim to fame in addition to being one of the earliest historic sites in Fairfax County: it is the probable birthplace of George Mason. For this reason there is interest in making the site suitable for interpretation to the public. To that end, we have begun clearing part of the Newtown area and examining it from an archaeological perspective.

While conducting a surface reconnaissance, Paul Inashima, an archaeological consultant to Gunston Hall, made an intriguing discovery. Amongst the brambles and other forest undergrowth, about 250 feet south of the Newtown house site, lay two shallow depressions in the earth. They were side by side and just about the size and shape one would expect of graves. Could these be part of the long lost burying ground?

Paul and Gary Knipling, a Gunston Hall neighbor and advocate, proceeded to clear about 6,000 square feet of area around the depressions of all but the largest trees. Dennis Johnson, former President of Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc., brought in some ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment that he helped develop. The results of the radar survey are shown in the accompanying diagram.

The fifteen graves indicated by the radar survey are all aligned in the same direction and are arranged in rows of varying lengths. There can be little doubt that this is the Newtown burying ground. But, who are all of these people?

The graves detected during the ground penetrating radar survey are shown as blue rectangles. The red arrows indicate the depressions that first suggested that this was the location of the Newtown burying ground. The green circles are large trees.

Only one burial is known to be documented, and that is the infant William. Mason referred to this as a family burying place, which strongly suggests that other Masons and Mason kin preceded William here. There is some, rather tenuous, evidence that Mason’s father was buried here after his drowning death in 1735. And, if that is the case, is seems reasonable to surmise that Mason’s mother would have been brought here after her death at Chopawamsic in 1762.

Jeremiah Bronaugh leased Newtown from 1731 until his death in 1749. His tombstone currently resides at Pohick Church, but Jeremiah does not. It is likely that this is the tombstone that Rowland saw leaning against the tree during her visit. This would make Bronaugh another candidate for a Newtown burying ground occupant. Bronaugh’s wife, Simpha Rosa Ann Field Mason Bronaugh was a maternal aunt of George Mason and was living at Gunston Hall at the time of her death in 1761. It is quite probable that she was buried with her husband at Newtown.

Finally, Thompson Mason, the brother of George, requested in his will that his sons remove the body of his first wife, Mary, from Gunston Hall and reinter her at his home at Raspberry Plain. Mary died in October 1771, before the present family burying ground was established at Gunston Hall. So, Mary King Barns Mason was probably buried at Newtown. Whether her body was relocated to Raspberry Plain as requested is not known.

That leaves at least nine graves with unknown occupants. The number may grow yet larger because it is planned to survey an additional area adjacent to that already completed. In any case, the last resting places of a group of people who pioneered the settlement and development of this area have now been recovered from oblivion.