Ravensworth (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

Ravensworth

Near here stood Ravensworth, a Fitzhugh and Lee family home. Built about 1796 by William Fitzhugh, the mansion stood on the largest single land grant in Fairfax County, the 21,966 acres acquired by Fitzhugh's great-grandfather in 1685. During the Civil War the house was not molested by either side. After the war Ravensworth came into the possession of Robert E. Lee's second son, Maj. Gen. W.H.F. ("Rooney") Lee. Ravensworth, a frame Palladian-style mansion, was one of the most imposing residences in Fairfax County until it burned in 1926.

Marker Erected 1992 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number T-42.)


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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 tract, purchased in 1685 by the first William Fitzhugh from the original grantee, John Matthews, contained almost 22,000 acres in what is now Fairfax County. The land was surveyed in 1690 and a direct grant was confirmed in 1694. The boundaries extended roughly from present-day Fairfax City to Falls Church, south to the vicinity of Pohick Church, then west and northwest to the beginning. A group of French Huguenots was installed as tenant farmers to raise tobacco, and later Ravensworth Road, a tobacco rolling road, was established with the tidewater port of Colchester on the Occoquan River as its destination.

In 1796, the first William's namesake and great-grandson purchased a townhouse at 607 Oronoco Street in Alexandria from which he supervised the construction of the Ravensworth mansion on the portion of the estate south of Braddock Road. On August 1, 1926, the mansion house was the victim of an arsonist. Many priceless portraits in the extensive family collection were saved, but 17 were lost. The Virginia Historical Society was given the remaining paintings, and some of the antique furniture saved was given to "Arlington House." The estate was sold in 1957 for development and remains in the family cemetery were removed to Fairfax Cemetery across from Truro Episcopal Church.


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Here follows an excerpt from local author and historian Mary B. Lipsey's "This Old House: Annandale, Springfield, Burke & Beyond" presentation:

Ravensworth was built about 1796. Where was it located? If you know where Kilroy's is, take Port Royal Road until it ends far back in the back. It was operated as a tobacco plantation. Now the immigrant bought the property and later generations were the first to actually live on the property. William Henry Fitzhugh inherited it in 1809. He dies in 1830, leaving his wife a widow, Anna Maria Fitzhugh, who happens to be a very good friend of Robert Lee's mother. When Robert Edward Lee's father left his mother and his children without a home, Anna Maria Fitzhugh said, here take out townhouse in Alexandria. So that is where Robert E. Lee has fond memories of, and coming to Ravensworth to visit his cousin and to meet another cousin, Mary Custis. Her father definitely did not like the idea that this poor kid deserved his daughter, but they fell in love and did get married.

It's actually William Henry Fitzhugh who supported Robert E. Lee's appointment at West Point. Again, you see the intertwining of these families. After his graduation from West Point, he pushes to get back to Virginia as he hears that his mother is dying. He does get there in time, so Robert E. Lee and Mary Custis Lee spend a hard honeymoon at the Ravensworth plantation when the Civil War begins.

With the outbreak of war, Mary Custis Lee did not want to leave her family home at Arlington Hall. That's where she was raised. That's where she grew up. That's where her father has all the mementos of George Washington. But the war is getting pretty close to Arlington. So, Mary Custis Lee comes out and she stays with Anna Maria Fitzhugh at the Ravensworth estate during the war. Robert E. Lee was already in Richmond by now saying, "get out of there, you're going to bring the Yanks on your aunt. Get out of there." So Mrs. Lee leaves and lives a vagabond life for a full year going from friend's homes to family homes all around the Janes River area until she finally reaches Richmond about a year later.

The Union Army and the Confederate Army both received messages to leave the Ravensworth house along because of the Washington family connections to it. But, you still have the Union Army coming in and cutting all the trees down. Today, you may still see a few old trees, but most are really young compared to other nearby neighborhoods, because, according to the records, they cut 106,000 cords of wood. What was the Union Army's purpose? The purpose is to put them on the train and send them to people to build wooden huts for the soldiers. They wanted the lumber, it wasn't like retribution against the property owner.

We know that Mosby spent a night in a haystack at the Ravensworth house, but the Confederates aren't going to touch the house either. Doesn't mean they can't destroy the property, but they're not going to touch the house because of the Lee family connection. Years later after the war, the Fitzhughs made a southern claim against the property and it was denied. The family hired a cousin, who was a lawyer, and the Southern Claims Commission came back and said, "If those Lee children will admit to being loyalists, we will let you have the claim for $350,000." Can you imagine the Lee children saying, "Oh yes, we were loyal to the Union?" Eventually the Lee family would operate Ravensworth as a gentleman's home. They come there in the summer and on weekends. They property was taken care of by managers.

In 1926, the house caught fire. They believe it was due to arson. The family later rebuilt a farmhouse on the property. While there was no local fire department in 1926, the community was able to get a lot of family heirlooms out of the house because it was a slow fire. A man was accused of setting the blaze, but never found guilty. So the property remained in the Lee family hands until 1957. Our community of Ravensworth is built on the site today.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Annandale Chamber of Commerce website:

Ravensworth Plantation: 1796
By: M. Callahan

Of all the colonial land grants in Fairfax County, Ravensworth was, by far, the largest at 24,112 acres or 37.7 square miles. (The entire land grant ran through, what is now, part of Falls Church to Pohick Church and from the present Fairfax Court House almost to Alexandria.)

The Ravensworth manor house was located in what is now the Ravensworth Shopping Center, and was the largest of the three 18th century manors built by the Fitzhugh family. The plantation was named in honor of the Fitzhugh ancestral home, Ravensworth, in the North Riding area of Yorkshire, England.

“Baron FitzHugh, of Ravensworth, is an abeyant title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1321 for Sir Henry FitzHugh. The title passed through the male line until the death of the seventh baron, George FitzHugh, in 1513 when it became abeyant between his great-aunts Alice, Lady Fiennes and Elizabeth, Lady Parr, and to this day their descendants. The family seat was Ravensworth Castle.” Col. William Fitzhugh, the first of the family in the Virginia Colony, was most likely a minor member of this Yorkshire family.

The two other Fitzhugh manor homes were Ossian Hall off Braddock and Ravensworth Roads, built in 1783, and Oak Hill off Wakefield Chapel Road, built in 1790. Although significant homes and estates, neither could compete with the massive acreage Ravensworth had for planting, or forests for timber. Tobacco was the primary cash crop through 1830, when the relatively new farming technique of crop rotation was introduced by northern colonists who settled in Annandale. Tobacco continued to be grown in alternating fields with grains and vegetables, in order to preserve the viability of the soil.

By any standard, Ravensworth was an extremely handsome frame Palladian-style mansion with wide, pillared two story verandas offering cooler breezes and an extended living space on the garden side. Over the main entrance an impressive two story portico welcomed guests to this gracious home. The spacious rooms were 27 feet square, furnished with valuable family heirlooms from the Fitzhugh, Parke, Custis, Lee, and Bolling collections. Moreover, the walls were hung with one of the finest private collection of early American portraits ever assembled. And, its landscaping included the widest possible variety of plantings known in the colony; manicured with particular care.

Ravensworth became the well visited Northern Virginia country residence of William Fitzhugh, and later William Henry Fitzhugh, Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis, and William Henry Fitzhugh Lee.

William Fitzhugh was the great-grandson of English immigrant Colonel William H. Fitzhugh, a lawyer who arrived in the Virginia Colony in 1671. He was born in Bedford, England on 9 January 1651. Upon his death in 1701, he left an estate of 54,000 acres, including the Ravensworth land grant. It was later largely inherited by William, and overseen by his mother, Lucy Carter, daughter of Robert “King” Carter.

Of the Ravensworth land grant, he received the southern portion, which included Annandale, while his brother Henry, received the northern portion. Having lost an eye in an accident, the few remaining images of William, are most often seen in profile.

William Fitzhugh was a man of remarkable dedication who served in the colonial House of Burgess, in the Virginia House of Delegates, as a Virginia Delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1779, and as a Virginia State Senator. He was a close friend of George Washington. In fact, Fitzhugh was the last person Washington visited, outside his Mount Vernon estate, before his death. Ten years later in 1809, Fitzhugh died at the age of 69, leaving behind three children who survived to adulthood. He was initially buried at Ravensworth along side his wife, who had died four years earlier. Their remains and gravestones were eventually moved to Lorton's Pohick Church cemetery in 1926.

William Fitzhugh (also known as William Fitzhugh of Chatham), and his wife Ann Bolling Randolph Fitzhugh, a cousin of Thomas Jefferson, spent three years building a home, known as Chatham Manor, across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg. The manor house, completed in 1771, remains today as Park Headquarters for the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. With the economy floundering after the Revolution, Fitzhugh sold Chatham Manor and 1,288 acres for $20,000, and moved to his townhouse at 607 Oronoco Street in Alexandria. The townhouse is often referred to as the boyhood home of Robert E. Lee since in 1818, when Robert was eleven, the townhouse was leased to Anne Hill Carter Lee, Ann Fitzhugh’s cousin, and the recent widow of Light Horse Harry Lee.

In this Alexandria townhouse in 1804, Fitzhugh’s daughter, Mary Lee (Molly) Fitzhugh, at the age of sixteen, married George Washington Parke Custis, grandson and adopted grandson of Martha Custis and George Washington. After marriage, the couple resided at Arlington House, also known as the Custis-Lee Mansion. Custis built this impressive home on the high ground of 1,100 acres, overlooking the Potomac. The property had been purchased by his deceased father, leaving both the land and a large monetary inheritance to Custis. The construction of Arlington House required a handsome sum of capital and took over 13 years to complete, but habitable by the time of the Fitzhugh-Custis marriage. When he died in 1857, he was buried at Arlington alongside his wife who had died a few years earlier. His will provided that:

Arlington plantation (approx. 1100 acres) and its contents, including Custis's collection of George Washington's artifacts and memorabilia, would be bequeathed to his only surviving child Mary Anna Custis Lee (wife of Robert E. Lee) for her natural life, and upon her death, to his eldest grandson George Washington Custis Lee; White House plantation in New Kent County and Romancoke plantation in King William County (approx. 4000 acres each) would be bequeathed to his other two grandsons William Henry Fitzhugh Lee ("Rooney Lee") and Robert Edward Lee, Jr., respectively;

Legacies (cash gifts) of $10,000 each would be provided to his four granddaughters, based on the incomes from the plantations, and the sales of other smaller properties; (Some properties could not be sold until after the Civil War and it was doubtful that $10,000 each was ever fully paid.)

Certain property in "square No. 21, Washington City" (possibly located between present day Foggy Bottom and Potomac River) to be bequeathed to Robert E. Lee "and his heirs." (Slaves owned by Custis, numbered around 200, were to be freed once the legacies and debts from his estate were paid, but no later than five years after his death. This clause was fulfilled by Robert E. Lee, Executor, in Dec. 1862.) After the death of GWP Custis, Arlington House was left to the Lee family, but permanently confiscated after the Confederate surrender.

In 1831 the only surviving Custis daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, married her childhood playmate and sweetheart, Robert E. Lee, at Arlington House. The ceremony took place in the Family Parlor, adjacent to the dining room, the site of several other weddings. The couple honeymooned at Ravensworth., now the home of her brother’s widow, Anna Maria Fitzhugh. Mary Lee, a remarkably enlightened woman, with a first rate classical education, taught slave women to read and write, and gave Bible lessons to black children, an unconventional practice at the time.

Two years prior to his marriage, Robert E. Lee returned suddenly from West Point to visit at his mother’s deathbed. So strong was the bond between Anne Carter Lee and the Fitzhugh family that upon her last illness, she was moved from her Georgetown home to Ravensworth and nursed there. Upon her death, she was even temporarily buried at Ravensworth.

Next to inherit Ravensworth was William Henry Fitzhugh III (1792-1830). A graduate of Princeton & a respected member of the VA Constitutional Convention, his childless widow, Anna Maria Sarah Goldsborough Fitzhugh, ran the estate, upon his premature death from a sudden stroke in 1830. Nearly thirty years later, Anna offered refuge to her sister-in-law, Mary Lee (Mrs. Robert E. Lee), who fled Arlington House in May of 1861.

Ravensworth was the home of Mary Lee’s grandparents, now long departed, and a safe haven compared to Arlington House. Although Mary Lee was initially unaware, the three Fitzhugh estates were protected by orders from both Washington and Richmond for the duration of the war, since all had ties, through family or visitation, to George Washington. A safeguard had been written by Union General Winfield Scott for, “Mrs. A.M. Fitzhugh of Ravensworth, a widow lady of great excellence, connected with the family of the father of this country." Consequently, her family and property were placed under army protection. However, Mrs. Lee feared her presence might invite damage to the home; harm to her relatives; or, even her capture by the ever present Union soldiers throughout the Annandale area. Thus, Mary Lee, and her minor children, moved onto Richmond for the duration of the war.

Ravensworth suffered some ravages during the war, namely having 4,000 acres of her sylvan woods cut for use by the Union Army as tent poles, pit props & firewood. Reparations were never made.

Nine years after Appomattox, and after the death of her husband, Mary Lee visited Anna Maria, at Ravensworth one last time. Together they journeyed to Arlington House. Here they painfully walked into the empty damaged rooms, and viewed her mother’s glorious garden, now gone and replaced with the graves of Union soldiers. Mary Lee died within the year (1873) followed by Maria a year later.

Upon the death of his aunt Anna in 1874, former Confederate General William Henry Fitzhugh "Rooney" Lee, the second son of Robert E. Lee, inherited the Ravensworth manor house and 563 surrounding acres, where he resided until his death in 1891. The remaining acres were divided among the other four surviving Lee children.

During the Civil War, Rooney Lee served in the 9th VA Cavalry, rising eventually to the rank of major general, when in June of 1863 his leg was severely injured at the battle of Brandy Station. During many months of convalescence, he was captured, and imprisoned at Forts Monroe and Lafayette. By March of 1864, Rooney Lee was part of a prisoner exchange, and returned to command his old cavalry unit. He served with distinction at Second Manassas, Antietam, Brandy Station and Five Forks.

After the war, Lee returned to farming and served many terms as president of the VA State Agricultural Society. He was elected a VA State Senator from 1875-1879 and to the US House of Representatives from 1887-1891. In 1890, Rooney Lee accepted, on behalf of the Ladies Memorial Association, the Confederate Monument at the Fairfax Confederate Cemetery (now Fairfax City Cemetery). An enthusiastic crowd of two thousand were joined by former Confederate officers & enlisted veterans to dedicate the monument.

The property of Rooney Lee passed next to his two sons, and then solely to his surviving son, Dr. George Bolling Lee in 1922. Dr. Lee employed a farm manager to oversee the farm, and used the residence as a summer home. The house mysteriously burned on August 1, 1926, however the adjacent outbuildings were not damaged. Dr. Lee soon built a smaller farm house on the property where he spent summers until his death in 1948. (Fortunately, many of the portraits in the family’s extensive collection had been removed before the fire, and most were saved. Only seventeen were reported to be lost.)

The estate was once considered as a potential location for the Northern Virginia University, or George Mason University, as it would later be named, but rejected in favor of the Fairfax City location. In 1957, the property was sold by Dr. Lee’s widow and developed into the Ravensworth subdivision. The Lee farm house was demolished to make way for the Ravensworth shopping center. The family graves were moved to Pohick Episcopal Church, where these four monuments can be found by the east wall of the church. William Fitzhugh of Chatham (1741-1809), Ann Bolling Fitzhugh (1747-1805),William Henry Fitzhugh III (1792-1830) & his wife Anna Maria Sarah (1796-1874).


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Here follows an excerpt from, "RAVENSWORTH: A Short History Of Annandale, Virginia" as written by Audrey B. Capone in 1985:

Annandale is unique in that its history can be traced directly to the pre-Revolutionary period, when, in 1685, an Englishman by the name of Col. William H. Fitzhugh purchased over 24,000 acres of land and his descendants later named the tract "Ravensworth." From an untamed wilderness, Fitzhugh converted the land into one of the largest tobacco plantations in Northern Virginia.

For over six generations, members of the Fitzhugh family farmed at Ravensworth, slowly selling off portions of the land. It was not until 1830 that the plantation name was no longer used. In its place the community was named Annandale, after the Scottish village located at the mouth of the Annan River.

Fitzhugh's Ravensworth:
Beginning in 1650, the Virginia government at Jamestown granted large parcels of land to homesteaders and speculators in Northern Virginia. William Fitzhugh, son of an English middle class woolen draper, purchased what he believed to be 21,996 acres of land from John Matthews, an original Jamestown grantee. Matthews and Fitzhugh both believed the stated acreage to be accurate, and it was not until later that Fitzhugh discovered the discrepancy in his favor.

The first recorded mention of Ravensworth was as follows: "to a white oak where Ravensworth and West, Harrison and Pearson join near the back lick." The "back lick" in this property description is a reference to Backlick Run, which travels throughout the property; West, Harrison and Pearson were Colonial landowners whose land bordered the Ravensworth tract.

Ravensworth was the largest single parcel of land granted in Northern Virginia. It was shaped like an axe, with the handle located on the southern end and the blade pointing west. Its shape was no mere coincidence. The land had been surveyed to include easy access to the Accotink drainage basin via a road bed that would later become Backlick Road. Because inland property was only valuable if crops could be easily transported to a waterway, Ravensworth was shaped in a manner that was highly valuable to its owner. It indicates that Samuel Wye, the Stafford County surveyor who mapped the property, had an educated knowledge of waterways in the area, and that he realized that tobacco, the most common commodity in seventeenth-century Virginia, had to be packed in heavy hogshead casks and "rolled" to the waterways.

There is evidence that Fitzhugh advertised some of his property for sale or lease on at least two occasions. In one piece of correspondence, he mentions that he had "convenient and good Land enough to seat 140 to 200 fam'lys upon one Dividend wch [sic] contains 21,996 acres, which I will either sell them in fee at 17 [pounds] sterling for every hundred acres, or else lease it to them for three lives paying 20 shillings p. annum for every hundred acres... "

As early as 1686, Fitzhugh mentions his property as "my Plantation," thereby indicating cultivation of the land very soon after he purchased the tract. But one of the stated requirements for taking firm title to a Colonial land patent was that the landholder had to "seat and plant" on his land within a three-year period, and that the land had to be inhabited. Rarely did holders of large tracts personally tend to the land, and Fitzhugh was no exception. He was responsible for bringing some of the first African slaves to Ravensworth and hired overseers to manage the workers and to live on the property.

Among those who leased property from Fitzhugh were French Huguenots, who had fled their native land to avoid religious persecution. But these early pioneers found living conditions at Ravensworth very primitive. Housing consisted of little more than wooden huts, and the threat of attack by unfriendly Indians, combined with the presence of wild buffalo, bands of wolves and other wild animals, put their lives in jeopardy. Some tenants left the land to journey to more heavily populated areas, usually near the waterways.

Col. Fitzhugh never lived at Ravensworth. Shortly after arriving in America, he married and built a beautiful home he called "Eagles Nest" in King George County. He resided there until his death in 1701.

At the time of his death, Fitzhugh had amassed a fortune -- partly due to the success of his plantation, but also due to a lucrative legal practice and the acquisition of other property in Northern Virginia. He was an attorney educated in England and distinguished himself as a member of the Stafford County Court and as commander of the Stafford County militia. At the time of his death he owned some 54,000 acres of land.

Fitzhugh's Successors:
Upon the death of Col. William H. Fitzhugh, the Ravensworth plantation was left to his two eldest sons, William, Jr. and Henry. William, Jr. inherited the southern portion of the estate, and Henry inherited the northern portion -- which included all of the land that is now Annandale.

The southern half of Ravensworth Plantation ultimately came to rest with the children of Mary Randolph Custis Lee -- wife of the Confederate general -- who was the niece of William Fitzhugh, III. As late as 1915, Col. Bob Lee lived in the mansion called "Ravensworth," but much of the acreage in the southern half of the plantation had been sold to others.,

The northern half of the plantation came to rest with Anna Maria Battaile Fitzhugh and her five sons. When the sons became of age, the land was again divided.

The Ravensworth Mansions:
Oak Hill, Ossian Hall and Ravensworth

Three great homes were built at Ravensworth during the eighteenth century, one of which still stands as a monument to the past.

In 1779, Major Henry Fitzhugh built "Oak Hill" for his land agent, Lund Washington. At the time of construction, the home consisted of only four huge rooms, two on each floor. It was not until 1936 that the home was refurbished and expanded to resemble another of the Ravensworth mansions, "Ossian Hall." Oak Hill, the oldest of the three great homes, stands majestically on a plot of land of approximately four acres. It is privately owned and is located off Wakefield Chapel Road, hidden by trees on every side.

It is believed that Nicholas Fitzhugh, son of Major Henry Fitzhugh, built the second Ravensworth mansion, Ossian Hall, as early as 1783. There is a tradition that Ossian Hall was built in 1730, but no Fitzhughs lived on the property at that time -- the site where it was built was leased to Daniel and William Talbot until long after that date. Further, Ossian Hall was built with a large family in mind, and Nicholas had over twelve children. He was the first Fitzhugh to live on the property.

Ossian Hall faced Braddock Road where Royston Street and Rosslyn Road now intersect. The beautiful home, which resembled Mount Vernon, was visited by many notable persons during Colonial days, including George Mason, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette.

On September 3, 1959, Ossian Hall was burned to the ground by the Annandale Fire Department to make way for the Bristow subdivision.

"Ravensworth," the third Ravensworth mansion, was built in 1796 by William Fitzhugh of Chatham. After the death of Anna Maria Fitzhugh, the family of Robert E. Lee used the mansion as a summer home. When Mrs. Lee fled Arlington House during the Civil War, she stayed at Ravensworth briefly, but fearing that Union troops might harm the lovely old home, she journeyed further south. She need not have worried, because the three Ravensworth mansions were officially protected from harm by orders from the leaders of both sides.

Ravensworth was located slightly southeast of the intersection of Braddock Road and the Capital Beltway. The mansion was mysteriously burned in 1925.

Green Spring Farm:
In addition to the Ravensworth mansions, another beautiful home was built by John Moss during the eighteenth century. Moss, a gentleman freeholder and a leader of the Methodist Church, built "Green Spring Farm" in 1760. Characteristic of the time, Moss worked the land and built the home prior to purchasing the land in 1770.

Moss was the first in the area to turn away from tobacco in favor of dairy, grain and vegetable farming. He distinguished himself as a justice of the Fairfax County Court and served the Crown as Commissioner of the King's Revenue in Fairfax. He was a captain during the American Revolution and took an active part in organizing the new government.

Green Spring Farm is located east of the business district off Little River Turnpike.

The Beginning of Commerce:
The very first businessman to locate in Annandale was William Garges, a Mennonite from Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Garges, of German descent, purchased land that included the triangle where Columbia Pike, Little River Turnpike and Backlick Road now join in the center of town. On this land, he placed a blacksmith shop and a livery stable. He also ran the first steam driven saw mill in Fairfax County, located on the bank of the Indian Run at Little River Turnpike. The 1850 census listed two persons from the Garges family engaged in farming and three in manufacturing.

Garges became Annandale's first postmaster in 1837. Post office documents state that "Annandale Post Office was opened for business on 27 December 1837, with William Garges as Postmaster," Documents do not state where the post office was located, but Garges served in this post until his death in 1855.

The Early Community:
In 1806, the Little River Turnpike was completed through Annandale, thereby connecting Annandale with Alexandria and Fairfax. Very shortly after, it was extended to Aldie. Little River Turnpike was the third toll road constructed in the nation. Toll houses were placed at intervals along the long turnpike, one of which was situated where Little River Turnpike intersects with Ravensworth Road. On Thursday, May 23, 1861, this small, log toll booth was used as a voting place for local residents to vote in the matter of Virginia's proposal to secede from the Union. Thirty-three votes were cast; twenty-nine votes for secession.

In 1808, another roadway was built which joined the Little River Turnpike in Annandale. It was named Columbia Pike. Local residents now had at least seven roads on which to travel.

By 1830, the plantation lords were gone. The land had been sectioned and sold to farmers, many of whom had come from the north with a fervor to succeed in farming, and unlike their southern neighbors, without the use of slaves

Skilled and industrious, the northerners brought with them new ways of cultivating and fertilizing crops. They also introduced a new farming technique called crop rotation, which restored the soil and resulted in healthier crops.

Gradually this new breed of farmer gave a fresh vitality to the sleepy community. Plain, but well built farmhouses dotted the countryside. Church meetings began to be held in homes. Picnics and socials followed the Sunday services. More businesses opened near the Garges enterprises, and at least two taverns opened on the outskirts of the community.

On October 1, 1846, William Garges conveyed a small piece of land for the construction of the first church, and the Annandale Methodist Chapel was built. During the Civil War, Union troops camped on the church grounds. As they left town, they burned the small church to the ground. Following the war, another church building was built slightly north of the original site. The church now stands across from where Columbia Pike and Gallows Road meet.

On June 10, 1973, at the dedication service of the Annandale Chapel Historical Marker, Rev. Raymond Fitzhugh Wrenn spoke of the history of Annandale:

"Because this area, so intimately connected with the settlement of this continent, the establishment of the Republic, and its tragic testing in Civil War, has now become an integral part of its metropolitan, growing population, in intensity of affairs, and in the extravagances of wealth, most people have little time to notice or appreciate the past except as it is most vividly portrayed before their speeding gaze."

Audrey B. Capone is a past president of the Annandale Chamber of Commerce and is vice president of Capone Music Company in Annandale, in addition to being a freelance writer. She is currently writing a book entitled, Fitzhugh's Ravenworth: The Early History of Annandale Virginia. The work will culminate her eleven years of research on the history of Annandale.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Clio Foundation website as written by Genna Duplisea:

This historical marker was dedicated in 1992 and shares the history of Ravensworth the largest estate in Fairfax County in the 18th century which was owned by the Fitzhugh and Lee families and built at this spot around 1796. The estate was built and sustained by enslaved women and men and featured a Palladian-style mansion and a notable stable in the classic Jeffersonian style. The Historic American Buildings Survey documented the property in the 1930s even though the house had burned down by that time. The survey suggested that the stable may have been designed by doctor-turned-architect William Thornton (designer of the U. S. Capitol). George Bolling Lee, a descendant of the original owners of the estate, and his wife were the last owners of the home; Helen Lee sold it for development in 1957.

Ravensworth was once an estate held by the Lee family. William Fitzhugh (1741-1809) built the Palladian-style house around 1796, on what was the largest land grant in the county at nearly 22,000 acres. He had inherited a southern portion of the tract, while his brother Henry Jr. built his home Ossian Hall in the northern part. Fitzhugh's great-grandfather, also named Williams Fitzhugh, had acquired this land in 1685.

The mansion was two stories, with five bays, fronted with a one-story columned portico. Two side wings flanked the central part of the house. At the rear of the structure was a large piazza, possibly inspired by the piazza at Mount Vernon.

After William's death in 1809, his son, another William (1792-1830) inherited part of the property, including the Ravensworth house. He married Anna Maria Sarah Goldsborough (1896-1794). They had no children, but adopted a Goldsborough niece. William sold some of the land in 1820, bequeathed another parcel to his adopted daughter, and his will left the rest of the Ravenstowrth estate to his widow, then to his niece Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee.

The daughter of the Ravensworth-builder William and his wife Anna Bolling Randolph Fitzhugh (1747-1805), Mary Lee, married George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington. They lived at Arlington House, and their daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee married Robert E. Lee. The mother of Robert E. Lee, Anne Hill Carter Lee, went to the estate in her final illness and was buried there after her death.

Enslaved persons operated the plantation. The last William Fitzhugh (son of the house's builder) supported the eventual end of slavery and colonization of Liberia by freed slaves, but he owned 208 people at the time of his death across several estates. In his will he manumitted his enslaved workers, though there were still a few enslaved persons still at the estate with his widow Anna Maria during the Civil War.

In 1861, when Robert E. Lee left Arlington House to take up command of Confederate troops, his wife Mary Anna fled to Ravensworth and her aunt, Anna Maria Fitzhugh, widow of the last William Fitzhugh. Mrs. Lee only stayed at Ravensworth for about a month during the war, but Fitzhugh remained there with several enslaved persons. Both Union and Confederate units made use of the estate during the war, cutting wood or camping at the site. Anna Maria Fitzhugh died in 1874; Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee's sons George Washington Custis Lee and Major General W. H. F. "Rooney" Lee inherited and lived at Ravensworth. Three years later, the U. S. government rejected a reimbursement claim for hay seized during the war.

After Rooney Lee's death in 1891, Ravensworth house passed to his sons Robert E. Lee III and Dr. George Bolling Lee. The latter eventually obtained sole ownership of the house. Ravensworth house burned in 1926 under mysterious circumstances, possibly arson, which also destroyed many portraits of the Lee and Custis families. The estate is nevertheless present in the Historic American Buildings Survey in a 1937 entry. It is possible that the survey used older photographs of the building. The survey also noted the unique brick stable built in the classic Jeffersonian style, which was constructed ca. 1805.

George Bolling Lee's widow Helen sold the estate to developers in 1957. The stable was razed in 1960. Historical markers near the former site of the estate tell the story of Ravensworth. Within the town of Springfield, the Census-designated area where the estate once stood bears its name.


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Here follows an excerpt from the George Mason University library website:

George Mason University: A History
Ravensworth vs. Sunset Hills

Over the course of the search many sites were mulled over--as many as two-dozen. But, from the many properties studied, only two were seriously considered for the new home of the Northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia. These were the Ravensworth Farm and Sunset Hills tracts. These two sites were on opposite ends of Fairfax County and were separated by about ten miles. In the end, each of the two groups, the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia, and the Advisory Council, settled on its own site, arguing that it best fit the guidelines established by the University.

At the intersection of Braddock Road (Virginia Rt.620) and the future Capital Beltway, the former Ravensworth Farm would be served by decent roads, and its location would put it just south of the geographic and population centers of the Northern Virginia region in 1956. The land was once owned by Col. William Fitzhugh the grandfather of Mary Custis Lee, and now was owned by Edward M. Carr, James McIlvaine, and John C. Mowbray. The fact that the site had local history implications was seen as an asset by its backers. In the spring of 1956 the owners of Ravensworth initially offered fifty acres as a donation with an option to buy up to an additional 240 acres. They also offered conveyance of existing buildings and other cash incentives as well. Combined, these factors made Ravensworth quite attractive to the Advisory Council. The only perceptible drawback to the Ravensworth site was the fact that the federal government had proposed the construction of an international airport four miles southeast at Burke in the early 1950s. There was concern that if the future flight path went from east to west, the Ravensworth site would be directly in the path of jet planes during takeoff and final approach for landing. It was suggested by some that the noise could be detrimental to the everyday operations of the campus.

Sunset Hills, on the other hand, was located in Herndon in the northwestern part of the county. Located on the north side of Route 606 near what is now Reston, it belonged to the sons of the late A. Smith Bowman, founder of the A. Smith Bowman Distillery, and maker of Virginia Gentleman bourbons. The site was more than twenty miles away from Alexandria, Arlington, and Falls Church, sparsely populated, served by a network of smaller roads fed by Route 7 to the North, and lacked a convenient water and sewerage source. The Bowman brothers initially offered 50 acres of land along with $25,000 cash with which to erect the first buildings back in December 1954 to President Darden. In March 1956 the offer was expanded to 250 acres, with an option to purchase 250 additional acres.


On June 7, 1956 the Advisory Council met to consider the Ravensworth tract. In a vote among its members, Ravensworth was accepted unanimously. Though the Bowman offer was studied by the Council, it wasn’t given much consideration, primarily because of its location. To the Council, Sunset Hills was too far west from where the majority of the potential students lived. For all intents and purposes it seemed as if the search for a permanent home for the new college was over. The location was right; the size fit; the cost was reasonable; and, located between the more populous Alexandria, Arlington, and Falls Church on the east and less populous Herndon, Chantilly, and Centreville on the west, it could be argued that it was nearly in the exact center of the Northern Virginia population. All that was needed was consideration and approval by the Board of Visitors.

At its September 15, 1956 meeting, the Board assembled to consider the sites currently available to the University. In this meeting, a special Board subcommittee submitted its preliminary recommendation of the Sunset Hills tract for the construction of the new campus. Cited among reasons for its selection were the ample acreage, the projection that the Herndon area was going to be near the center of the area’s population in the future as land development increased in the western end of the county, and numerous recommendations from interested persons in western Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. The proximity of the proposed airport and potential noise was the Board’s sole objection to Ravensworth. It was, at that time, considered common knowledge among many in Northern Virginia that if an airport was going to be built at Burke, the flight path would travel north to south so as not to interfere with traffic using the existing Washington National Airport located north of Alexandria to the east. C. Harrison Mann, Jr. adds in a footnote to his unpublished manuscript that the Burke site was never seriously considered for the international airport. Ironically, in 1958 the federal government abandoned the Burke location for a larger tract in Chantilly, situating it very near the Sunset Hills site. This facility, now known as Washington Dulles International Airport, opened in 1962.

As expected, the Advisory Council and the local jurisdictions did not care about this decision. Mann’s letter of October 18 to the Board of Visitors fully registered their dissent. This location was impractical and utterly unacceptable. By the end of 1956, the question of who had the right to choose the location for the new college was in question. Advisory Council chairman, Clarence Steele, and others suggested that if the Council, who represented the jurisdictions that were going to pay for the land, could not choose where the branch would be built, then perhaps the Council should disband.

At about this same time the Board of Control for the Establishment of a Branch College in Northern Virginia stepped into the picture. The Board of Control was created by the General Assembly soon after the 1956 passage of Resolution 5, enabling the University to create a branch in northern Virginia. The Board of Control would take up the site selection duties of the Advisory Council, if necessary, and at the end of 1956, it became so. Fortunately, many of the people involved in the Advisory Council were also members of the Board of Control. The Board of Control would use a different approach than that of the Advisory Council to find land. Instead of seeking land offerings through word of mouth or through personal connections, it publically requested proposals of land offerings. In early 1957 the Board of Control received information on new sites as well as upgraded offers on previously-studied sites. Although many new and upgraded parcels were offered and examined, Ravensworth and Sunset Hills remained the frontrunners. The Sunset Hills owner’s new offer included a donation of 250 acres, an additional 250 for sale for $1000 per acre, and $25,000 cash. As expected, the Board of Visitors continued its strong endorsement of Sunset Hills.

However, the newly established Board of Control, which represented the local governments participating in the creation of the Northern Virginia branch, did not wish to have anything to do with a site so far away from the center of the population. Board chairman C. Harrison Mann, Jr. argued vehemently against the BOV’s recommendation of Sunset Hills and implored them to reconsider. While some members of the Council seriously considered accepting the Board’s recommendation, representatives from Alexandria, the jurisdiction furthest away, stated that they would not support the Sunset Hills location and would “withdraw from any participation in the establishment of the college.” The city's motivation was clear: the Sunset Hills tract was too far from the City of Alexandria to make a commuter college practical. If its taxpayers’ money was going to help build this college, Alexandria wanted them to have reasonable access to it. None of the other groups on the Board of Control wished to see Alexandria leave. They hoped to keep a common front and work together. Also, if Alexandria pulled out, the financial burden would increase for each of the remaining members once a site was finally chosen.

When it was all but certain that the Ravensworth would never be approved by the Board of Visitors, the Board of Control began looking at other pieces of land and fell upon the Chiles tract three miles north of Ravensworth. The Chiles tract was seen by many as the next best location to Ravensworth because it was located in the exact center of the population of all four jurisdictions. This site also was located right next to the future Fairfax Hospital, and the “Board [of Control] saw in this close proximity an ideal situation for a School of Nursing.” Although this tract was not for sale at the time, it was suggested that the Fairfax County government could have used eminent domain to acquire the land. This made the debate of the Chiles tract a moot point because President Darden made it clear that the University was not interested in acquiring land by condemning it. The Chiles tract was thought to be valued at about $623,000, a sum that was a bit outside of the budget for the group represented by the Board of Control.

In January of 1958, President Darden wrote to Mann, asking him to consider the Sunset Hills tract and try to convince others on the Board of Control to see it as an opportunity to establish a college in Northern Virginia. “Certainly it would seem to be wiser to have it there rather than abandon it.” In the Washington Evening Star on April 3rd Darden was quoted as saying, “I would regret to see the University leave Northern Virginia, but I am satisfied we cannot carry on unless we have general support in the area. If these very deep differences cannot be resolved I would, with real sadness, recommend that we withdraw.” In his manuscript, Mann infers that Darden was losing patience with the process and threatened to delay or abandon the project altogether unless the Board of Control go along with the Board of Visitors and approve the Sunset Hills site. Both the Board of Visitors, and the University, appeared dead-set on the Sunset Hills site, and did not seem to be considering any others by this time. This was evident in the shift in attitude towards the proposed airport now slated for Chantilly. As Mann notes in his history, “Even the proximity of the airport at Dulles was advanced as an argument for Sunset Hills, though Judge Bryan (Judge Albert V. Bryan, a member of the Board of Visitors) had used the airport argument so effectively against Ravensworth when it was believed that it might be located at Burke.”

With the final vote of the Board of Visitors on the permanent site for the college set for February 1, Northern Virginians initiated some last-minute scrambling in a final attempt to secure a more convenient location for the branch. On Sunday, January 19, 1958, Fairfax Mayor John C. Wood called an emergency Town Council meeting to discuss the possibility of the Town of Fairfax becoming a player in this process. Wood represented the owners of the Ravensworth property, and he had first-hand knowledge of the difficulties surrounding the site selection for the branch. Most probably by that time, Wood was certain that Ravensworth would never be selected. He was aware of a tract of land owned by a Fairfax lawyer and former Commonwealth’s Attorney located just south of the Town of Fairfax and suggested to the Council that the Town purchase the land in an effort to lure the University to Fairfax. The Town Council unanimously agreed to secure an option on the land and offer it to the University as a donation. Hopefully, the University would accept, bringing the branch college to Fairfax. He submitted the proposal to C. Harrison Mann on January 21 for the Board of Control’s consideration. The Board of Control at that time was still hoping that the Board of Visitors would somehow reconsider its bias against Ravensworth.

The owners of Ravensworth issued one more offer, which increased the amount of donated land in order to make the offer more competitive with the Sunset Hills site. The Board of Control voted on this offer, and all but one member voted in favor of the Ravensworth site. The Board of Control sent their recommendations to the Board of Visitors in Charlottesville a few days before their vote.

Mann himself traveled to Charlottesville for the February 1 meeting to make sure that he was on hand to answer any questions the Board of Visitors might have during their deliberations. The Board did not call upon Mann during the meeting, and Mann received a phone call at his Charlottesville hotel notifying him that the Board of Visitors had voted 9 to 2 in favor of the Sunset Hills site. This effectively ended the competition between Ravensworth and Sunset Hills.