Ravensworth Replacement House

On August 1, 1926, the Ravensworth Mansion mysteriously burned down, though the adjacent outbuildings survived. Subsequently, Dr. George Bolling Lee built this smaller farm house on the property. In 1956, the property and buildings were considered as a possible location for the Northern Virginia University - the future George Mason University, which eventually was built near Fairfax City. The property was later sold and developed into the Ravensworth subdivision. The Lee farm house was demolished to make way for the Ravensworth shopping center and industrial area.

The original Ravensworth Mansion was built c. 1797 and became home to William Henry Fitzhugh and his wife Anna Maria. Henry had inherited the Ravensworth property in 1809, while still a minor, upon his father William Fitzhugh's death. Anna Maria's niece, Mary Lee and her husband, Robert E. Lee honeymooned at Ravensworth. During the Civil War, Mary Lee and her children briefly stayed at Ravensworth, but fearing for the safety of her relatives, they moved south to eventually settle in Richmond.

The Fitzhughs, who were childless, had willed the 8,000-acre Ravensworth property to their niece. Mary Lee's death in 1873 preceded Anna Maria's in 1874. Therefore, the estate was divided among the five surviving Lee children. William Henry Fitzhugh Lee inherited the mansion and 500 surrounding acres. By 1922, W. H. F. Lee's property had passed to his son Dr. George Bolling Lee, who used the residence as a summer home and hired overseers to operate the farm.

Washington Star Photograph Collection, Washingtoniana Division, District of Columbia Public Library

Star Collection, reprinted by permission of the DC Public Library; © Washington Post.

VIDEO (NARRATED): FLYOVER OLD BURKE VILLAGE, 1975

Old Burke Village resident Lonnie Schorer took her camera aloft in the fall of 1975 to shoot the series of pictures that are the basis for this video. The animation flies through a panorama that existed for only a short time longer, before development closed in. Old Burke Village is located just north of the railroad tracks in Burke.

Transcript of narration:
Lonnie and David Schorer moved to Old Burke Village in 1974. Next door to Ann and Ken Applegate. Ken was a pilot. One day in 1975, Ken flew while Lonnie shot pictures of their neighborhood and homes. The village dates from 1898 - a dozen or so Victorian houses - across the tracks from where the Burke railroad station once stood. In 1975, cars still rumbled across the tracks and waited for passing trains. With its open fields and large yards, the village felt like quiet country living. Today, commercial malls and subdivisions crowd the landscape. Burke Lake Road was rerouted to a railroad overpass. Old Burke Village still keeps its charm, but now as an island, not quite so removed from the accelerating pace of suburban life.

Video developed from photographs provided by Lonnie Schorer and a U.S. Geological Survey image by A Look Back At Braddock volunteer John Browne

Copyrighted material, Schorer photos not to be reproduced without permission of owner, Lonnie Schorer

Animation (narrated): Growth and Development in Braddock District, 1940 to 2004

Growth and shifts in population and suburban development in Fairfax County are driving forces in the creation and continuing evolution of Braddock District.

The narrated animation traces the district's creation and several border changes, and the spread of development within Braddock District from 1940 to 2004.

The analysis was developed from the county's tax assessment database. Because the database contains only existing properties, extinct properties such as Ossian Hall, which was demolished in 1959 to clear the way for building new homes, do not appear in the years when they still existed.

Transcript of narration: Braddock District, Fairfax County, Virginia, is in the Washington, DC Metro Area - one of nine Fairfax County supervisory districts. A Look Back At Braddock tells the history of the area within the district's changing borders. Established in 1968, Braddock's boundaries have altered four times, as the county rebalanced population among all districts, after each 10-year federal census. A major chapter in Braddock's history was the rapid change from farms and small villages to a densely populated suburban community. Starting in the 1940s, during World War II, developers built subdivisions on the district's eastern edge, near Annandale, to house families of the expanding federal workforce. About 1960, the pace of development accelerated dramatically, when the new Capital Beltway opened access to areas farther west. By 1985, Braddock District was nearly filled with homes, schools, parks and commercial centers. And by 2004, the few remaining isolated parcels had also been developed. The map shows residential development in orange; commercial-industrial is blue; education and other public facilities are black.

Source: Animated map developed by A Look Back At Braddock volunteer and GIS specialist John Codd from source data provided Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration

Slide Show: Development in Kings Park

A series of aerial images from 1937 to 2002 shows how development changed the area of Kings Park near the intersections of Braddock, Rolling and Burke Lake roads.

Courtesy John Browne; developed from aerial photographs provided by Fairfax County GIS & Mapping Department and 2002 satellite image by United States Geological Survey.

Map: Braddock District Area

The historical material in this website refers to events and places located in or near the geographic area now or previously included in the Braddock District. Created in 1968 as Annandale District and renamed in 1991, Braddock District has seen its boundaries redrawn and area changed four times. Such changes occur as Fairfax County makes redistricting adjustments following each Federal census to balance population among its nine magisterial districts.

Text and map from Braddock's True Gold: 20th Century Life in the Heart of Fairfax County by Marion Meany and Mary Lipsey, a product of the A Look Back at Braddock oral history project. Map prepared by George Mason University Department of Geography GIS Center of Excellence.

Copyright 2006 County of Fairfax. All rights reserved.

Memories: Rita Rogers

Rita Rogers moved with her husband and young sons into the Lake Braddock subdivision in 1971. She remembers the early years of the community.

Falls Church District

The Falls Church District preceded the present-day Braddock District. This promotion publication describes the area in 1960. Annandale District was renamed Braddock District in 1992.

Courtesy Robert Hunt

Oral History: Bill Wrench

Bill Wrench came to the Braddock District in 1957 as the Director of the Economic and Industrial Development Committee (later, the Economic Development Authority). Lack of development in the county surprised him then, but his job was to integrate industrial development with residential growth. In 1960, he left the government and opened his own business, an oil distributorship and then a gas station. His family became part of the new Ravensworth Farm subdivision. Bill Wrench looks at roads, gas station management, and what brings people to live in the area.

Oral History: Valerie Vahouny

Val Vahouny and her family moved to a new home in the original Kings Park development in 1963. Like many families in the 1950s, she and her husband first lived in an apartment until their growing family required more space. She talks about family and community life, daily activities, and celebrations, Valerie Vahouny remembers Braddock Road as a two-lane street with no traffic lights and a half-hour commute into the District of Columbia where her husband worked. She talks about physical growth and neighborhood changes over time.

Oral History: Margaret Shutler

Margaret Shutler came to Fairfax County in 1964, the mother of six children and wife of a member of the U.S. Marine Corps ordered to the Pentagon. She talks about bringing up children and changes in household management.