Inspired by a new book by Sue Kovach Shuman, I had a fun walk this morning through parts of Mantua, a neighborhood located between the Beltway and Fairfax. Accotink Creek, Crook Branch and Long Branch are saving graces which run through the green oasis. Like a lot of places in suburbia where the only thing left from the past are the water fingers, folks may not realize there is enough of a demolished past here to cover in a book.
Much is owed to Richard Chichester (1736-1796), who obtained the patent in 1776. His mother was Ellen Ball Chichester, a cousin to George Washington. His second wife was Sarah McCarty. They lived previously at Newington, which stood from 1760 to 1875 as the second Truro Parish Glebe House. Sarah’s father was Daniel McCarty of Mount Air. Their story is emblematic of a shifting economy away from tobacco to wheat. The Chichesters built their mill on Long Run near where it flowed into the Accotink. A good guess is they wanted to be closer to Alexandria but Beth Mitchell’s map of 1760 shows a number of mills already established west of Alexandria.
Images of America books are of a varying quality. Shuman gets an A plus for her full on research, knowledge and insight. She covers the large petroleum leak (1990) from the storage facility on Pickett Road. The company settled a lawsuit brought forth by the 110 homeowners. Shuman points out this was the first time a company did so with homeowners rather than the EPA. She also tells us Leroy Eakin’s donation of 15 acres in 1950 created the first park in the county system. We bet he would be proud to see Mantua today, a community protecting the natural beauty, and balancing its needs in a good way.
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