For some folks living or working in the DMV, Newington must seem like just another census designated place, a vague somewhere between Lorton and Springfield south of the Beltway, a slowdown spot on I-95 heard on the morning traffic reports.
Residents in the Newington neighborhood certainly have a sense of community. And although the train station and country store are long gone, the past hangs on with the sights and sounds of passenger and freight trains that run by. Opinions surely vary on the one-lane underpass on Newington Road, as either a long-time annoyance or perhaps for some a rare relic of the past to admire and appreciate.
Quite honestly, Newington never piqued my curiosity until recently. On our way to drop her car off at a car dealership in Springfield, the better half and I drove through the bedroom community. Moving along Newington Road, we spotted a county historical marker at the front of Levelle W. Dupell Park. Whoever worked on the marker can be pleased to know it inspired us to look deeper into Newington’s past.
Using this info as well as our usual sources of newspapers, articles, books, aerial views, and maps, we put together this look at the history of Newington and parts nearby.
We'll roll this out in seven parts. From our IOU department, we tip our cap to Don Hakenson and his ground-breaking book, “This Forgotten Land,” as well as his other sources on the web. A real gem of a discovery is Nathaniel Lee’s 2016 book, “The Iron Road of Franconia.” Both their books can be purchased at the Franconia Museum, a jewel spot itself.
We also thank Dick Hamley of the Pohick Church for his insights into the history of the Truro Parish. Getting a grip on that part of the story was the most challenging. Any mistakes are certainly mine.
Part One: The Small World South of Alexandria
We start where we often do with Fairfax County by looking at Beth Mitchell’s interpretive map (1760). The future site of Newington can be seen by finding (center left) the Truro Parish Glebe.
Founded in 1742, the county was mostly plantation or farm land, and included modern day Alexandria and Arlington. A historical marker at the corner of Chain Bridge Road and Old Courthouse Road marks the approximate site of the first Court House of Fairfax County. Typically, the best location for a county seat is in the geographic middle. But in this case, the bustling seaport of Alexandria was the the center of the universe in the county. The County Courthouse moved there in 1752.
While the colonial world in Fairfax County did owe much to Alexandria, there were other places of activity and community. About a half-dozen miles to the southeast of Alexandria stood a small little world of its own. The future site of Newington stood within this satellite. Therefore, we can use Newington as a window into some of these forgotten or lesser told stories.
If a person wanted to catch up on the local news and gossip in the early days of Fairfax County, their best chance would be at one of its three churches. In Alexandria, a chapel of ease (location unknown) served as the predecessor to Christ Church. Serving those in the northern part of the county stood The Falls Church. South and east of Alexandria near the Occoquan River and the future site of Colchester stood Pohick Church (built 1730).
As told by its website, Pohick Church, the first permanent church in the colony north of the Occoquan River, is "rightly called the Mother Church of Northern Virginia." Its first location was about a mile south of where Pohick Church stands today. (completed in 1774).
During these times, the economic lifeblood of the county was tobacco. Before the 1730s, the tall ships from England had landed at the various plantation wharves dotting the shoreline of the Potomac River. Tired of this inefficiency, the Crown influenced the colonial government to enact a Tobacco Inspection Act of 1730. A game changer, it required the selection of tobacco ports, inspectors, and warehouses.
To make the case for just how important this part of Fairfax County was in the early days, one can take a look at the following.
At least on paper, there were four tobacco inspection warehouses in the county in 1760. The busiest, by far, was at Alexandria. Of the other three at Pohick Creek, Occoquan River and Little Falls of Potomac River, two were located in this lower part of the county. The site of the one at Pohick Creek now lies within the Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, on land owned by Ft. Belvoir. The one at the Occoquan River stood at modern day town of Occoquan.
There were about a half dozen ferries in the county and one of them was located at Colchester. Long before the first bridge was built over the Occoquan River, this was the only place to cross over it and arguably the most important gateway to the county.
As told by a state historical marker, Colchester, founded in 1753, was the second town established in Fairfax County. It served as that gateway to this part of the county. Mitchell includes an insert for Colchester in her map, showing its triangle shape with a number of lots.
Like Dumfries to the south, silting helped seal Colchester's fate as a "What Might Have Been Seaport." During its short span of glory days, however, it, too, was a place for people watching. In his footnoted research article, Raymond Nye ("Economy of Goods") found indications of the success of the Fairfax Arms tavern. Built circa 1753, this structure is a prized historic asset. Archaeologists are currently investing the town's site.
Travelers coming up from the Northern Neck and points south of Fairfax County used the Potomac Path to get the ferry at Colchester. Colchester Road also holds a hidden history. It took place near the modern day Noman M. Cole Jr. Pollution Control Plant. You won't find any markers there and not much has been written about it.
Had this small place continued on, it might have been called Boggessville. Mitchell's map shows a racing ground in this vicinity, as well as a tavern owned by Robert Boggess. Hakenson's book features a photo of the structure, known as LaGrange. Boggess built the structure in the 1740s. After it was torn down after the Civil War, a replacement structure stood there until it burned in 1972.
An article by the Fairfax Genealogical Society tells us the Marders Family Cemetery is located there (9501 Old Colchester Road), holding at least ten remains. One is Rebecca Kirby Marders, wife of James S. Marders. Her mother was Susanna Elizabeth Boggess who came from a line of the Robert Boggess family.
Robert Boggess, like George Washington and George Mason, was a vestryman of Truro Parish. Boggess also ran the racing track.
The mail pick up point for the stage was located at LaGrange. On Saturday, May 6th, 1758, George Mason wrote a letter to George Washington from the "Race Ground at Boggess's." We might say this letter from Mason to his friend was the colonial version of an email.
The subject of the letter was French Mason, a relative of Mason who owned land below Boggess. As the footnote at Founders Online points out, George Mason was making the case for the candidacy of French Mason for an officer’s commission in the 1st Virginia Regiment.
Travelers using the Potomac Path had two choices from LaGrange. We might consider this fork similar to today's "Local" and "Thru" routes on the Beltway south of Alexandria.
Although it ran a mile or two to the west of the Potomac River and not next to it, the local route was called the "River Road" (modern day Route One). It served the planters in the area. Washington used this road countless times to get to Alexandria and points northward.
The thru road, so to speak, was the "back road." This is the modern day Telegraph Road that passes by Newington. Anyone living in the future site of Newington would have had a bird's eye view of travelers using this road. The mail-carrying stage used this route. Artemel tells us the mail left Alexandria before dawn and arrived at Fredericksburg by night. The fifty miles took about sixteen hours.
The river road rejoined the back road at modern day Telegraph and N. King's Highway. There was no bridge over Great Hunting Creek until 1810, built more or less where Route One crosses today.
The other three main roads in this part of the county were rolling roads that led to the tobacco warehouse station near what became the village of Accotink (modern day land owned by Fort Belvoir). It's hard to know if modern day roads follow along these three main roads, but map comparisons indicate some sameness with Pohick Road, Rolling Road and Backlick Road.
Several ordinaries (taverns) were located near the future site of Newington. They offered weary travelers food, drink, rest and catching up on the news and road conditions.
The ordinary at Colchester was without a doubt the finest. In his "Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States," John Davis wrote:
"a tavern, where every luxury that money can purchase it to be obtained at first summons. The apartments are numerous and spacious."
Of a stroll from Occoquan to Colchester, he wrote:
No walk could be more delightful...
Another tavern stood near modern day Telegraph Road and Van Dorn Street. Perhaps the appeal with that one was resting up before the hilly ascent and last three miles to Alexandria. Perhaps its offerings were more affordable than the one in Colchester and more comfortable for swigging beer in terms of class and social distinction.
Mitchell's map also shows us four mills in this part of the county. There were quite a few in the county. To get an idea of what they were like, one can visit George Washington's. Do note it is a replica of the one that burned down.
The other mills were owned by Boggess, Benjamin Grayson and James Steptoe. Founders Online tells us about the two Benjamin Graysons. The father passed away in 1757 and was a friend of George Washington. His son Benjamin (d. 1768) "ran a mercantile business in Colchester." They also tell us he was granted a license to operate a tavern in Alexandria in 1764.
Founders also tells us a bit about James Steptoe (d. 1757), who owned land west of Accotink Creek. Through his land ran one of the rolling roads used by the Fitzhugh's. Today's Rolling Road seems to use the same route.
Anne, the daughter of Colonel James Steptoe, married Washington's brother Samuel Washington (probably 1766). They lived in Harewood, then in Frederick County, now in Charleston, West Virginia, and had four children.
Among the planters living in this area were Washington, whose Mount Vernon plantation was on its way to becoming the largest in this part of the county. But in 1760, Washington's 2,298 acres was small when compared to Henry and William Fitzhugh (combined 24,000), Robert Carter's heirs (9,200) and George Mason (8,200). Washington, however, through his marriage with Martha, owned 88 enslaved humans, by far the most in the county at that time.
George Mason, like Washington, served as a vestryman for the Truro Parish Church. His ownings included land to the east of the future site of Newington and modern day Huntley Meadows. One of his grandsons, Thomson Francis Mason, built Huntley.
Without a doubt, the biggest wig in the county was Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax. He left the Mother County in 1738 to claim his land grant of 5M acres across what is now northern Virginia and the Northern Neck. A lifelong bachelor and avid woodsman, Thomas was the patriarch of the famed Fairfax family that lived at Belvoir. The Georgian brick beauty was located about three miles south of the future site of Newington and virtually next door to Mount Vernon. The county is named after Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax.
Note: There are no known sketches of Belvoir. This one is from a marker and is interpretive.
Like much of the county at this time, the land that would become Newington and this lower southeast part was used mostly for tobacco plantations, both large and small. It also held those two main roads mentioned before. Anyone standing on what is today the intersection of Telegraph Road and Accotink Road in Newington, would have seen the occasional traveler on horseback, or perhaps spotted a coach or the post (mail) rider.
Travelers, few that they were, came from as far away as the capital in Williamsburg. Despite stops at the ordinaries, they were likely weary by the time they got to Alexandria. Perhaps those going southward were more cheerful, having rested and eaten a decent meal in the growing seaport. Travel was seasonal to avoid bad weather.
In the middle of the eighteenth century, the population of the county was a rough number determined by tithables to the church, a tax everyone had to pay, and something that shows us just how closely linked God and government were in those days. In 1749, the year Alexandria was founded, something like 6,000 people lived in the county. Sadly, about a third were enslaved humans.
Before the Revolutionary War came, the top of society in the county were members of the Fairfax family. Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, was the patriarch, but he never married. His cousin, Colonel William Fairfax, built Belvoir. It was his family that filled the home. A marker at its site shows his family line and those who married into their world. Imagine walking into Belvoir and seeing those listed below.
- Daughter Sarah married John Carlyle, the famed merchant in Alexandria whose Georgian manor dwarfed all the other homes build on one-half acre spots in the seaport.
- Daughter Anne married Lawrence Washington, George's half brother. The widow Anne married George Lee.
- Daughter Hannah married Warner Washington.
- Son George William married Sarah Cary. The letters she and Washington exchanged reflect strong feelings but George William and Washington remained close friends.
- Son Bryan became Eighth Lord Fairfax and built Mount Eagle, whose site is neat the Huntington Metro. His son Thomas, Ninth Lord Fairfax, built Vaucluse (destroyed during the Civil War) outside Alexandria. Thomas married the granddaughter of John Carlyle.
The stories this stately brick mansion that overlooked the Potomac River could tell. Washington launched his career with the help of the Fairfax family. When Alexandria was founded in 1749, there were eleven trustees, including Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, Colonel William Fairfax, George William Fairfax, John Carlyle and Lawrence Washington.
Thomas, Ninth Lord Fairfax had three wives. His third was Margaret Carlyle, granddaughter of John Carlyle. In his book, "Fairfax of Virginia," Hugh Fairfax points out all the later generations of the Fairfax family descend from John and Sarah Carlyle.
The mother country still held sway in its Virginia colony, but the tide was beginning to turn in the 1760s. Washington, Mason, and Carlyle were beginning to gain a patriotic sense of identity and an annoyance with the lawmakers in London.
Counterbalancing the patriots’ ire were their economic tethers to the merchants in London and Liverpool, who crafted the household goods, clothing and cargo that arrived on the tall ships in Alexandria. In turn, the mother country purchased Virginia's "noxious weed."
In January 1759, George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis. The couple settled down into their planter life, a time that would prover to be between the wars. Although not classically educated like some of the other Virginia squires, Washington had made a name for himself as a surveyor for Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax at Belvoir. Martha had been the wealthiest widow on the Northern Neck. Their marriage mirrored some others of its time, bringing together a man of some distinction and a lady of inherited wealth. Ever so sadly, much of the wealth was in the form of enslaved humans.
Mitchell’s map shows us that the future site of Newington was surrounded by land owned by a handful of planters. One of them was William Fitzhugh. If you live in Springfield or neighborhoods northward up to I-66, your home is probably on land once owned by either William Fitzhugh or his brother Henry.
Fitzhugh built Ravensworth, an impressive home located more or less in the middle of his vast plantation. A historical marker located near Braddock Road and the Beltway, tells some its story, including its burning down in the 1920s.
The story does not end with these major players. In fact, one cannot fully understand these early years without understanding the story of Charles Green and the Truro Parish Glebe lands and Glebe House.
We pick up their stories in the next part.
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