Ravensworth Mansion

Circa 1920 photographs show the exterior front and front entrance hall of Ravensworth mansion. William Fitzhugh, great grandson and namesake of the original buyer of the 22,000 acre Ravensworth tract, built the mansion circa 1796. It burned in 1926 in a suspicious fire. The mansion's former site is in the industrial area on Port Royal Road, a short distance southeast of Ravensworth Shopping Center.

Photos courtesy Herb Beard, who obtained them from the U.S. National Park Service circa 1968. Original sources: exterior front view, Leet Bros., Washington, D.C; front entrance hall, not determined.

Slideshow: Rebel Hill

Rebel Hill, a small but steep hill on Braddock Road near Wakefield Chapel Road, challenged drivers, especially in bad weather, until tamed by highway engineers in the early 1970s. A good replica of the original road exists in the bike and footpath on the north side of Braddock Road, which the slideshow traces in a series of 10 captioned pictures.

NOTE: Although the second slide caption dates the highway construction in the 1960s, later research places it between March 1970 and March 1972.

Courtesy John Browne

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.

Jerusalem Baptist Church

The Jerusalem Baptist congregation of Fairfax Station formed on May 17, 1840. Charter members worshiped every third Sunday at the Upper Church (Payne's Church), an original colonial Anglican church, which was located south of the courthouse on Ox Road. During the Civil War, Confederates used the church building as a hospital. Later Union troops dismantled the church and used the bricks to build chimneys for their winter quarters. This white frame church opened on Ox Road in January 1867, and its membership of blacks and whites remained steady through the years. Baptisms were held in local streams or ponds.

Courtesy Lee Hubbard

Historic Marker: Price's Ordinary

The historic marker reads: "PRICE'S ORDINARY...At the intersection of Backlick and Braddock Roads stood Price's Ordinary, established by David Price about 1773 and remaining in operation until 1802. Price's offered refreshment and shelter for travelers and a common meeting place for local residents. Here, on 2 October 1787, 29 freeholders unanimously approved the newly proposed Federal Constitution and resolved, in part, that: 'We, the Freeholders of the County of Fairfax, conceiving that the Peace, Security and Prosperity of the State of Virginia and the United States of America in general, do depend on the speedy Adoption of the system of Government recommended by the late General Convention of the United States...' Fairfax County History Commission, 1999"

Photo by Gilbert Donahue

Copyrighted material, not to be reproduced without permission of owner, Gilbert Donahue

Memorial Marker: Howery Field

On June 1, 1967, six young soldiers from Fort Belvoir died in an accident while working on a community service project to help build the Howery Field athletic complex. They were electrocuted when the flagpole they were erecting contacted a high voltage power line. The marker reads: "These fields are dedicated in the memory of the servicemen who died onsite in June, 1967, while volunteering to help make these athletic fields possible for the community. Lest we forget...
PVT. Paul D. Briggs
PVT. Anthony B. Evans
PFC. Marvin D. Harrison
PVT. Charles R. Oliver
SPC. 4 Kenneth G. Steiner
PVT. Charles M. Whaley"
Howery Field Park, a Fairfax County Park Authority facility, was named in honor of the donor of the land, Edward F. Howrey, who had once owned Oak Hill.

Courtesy John Browne

Historic Survey Report: Wakefield Chapel

Survey description of Wakefield Chapel, dated February 17, 1971, for the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory.

Historic Survey Report: Ravensworth

Survey description of Ravensworth mansion, dated February 24, 1972, for the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory.

Historic Survey Report: Ossian Hall

Survey description of Ossian Hall, dated February 25, 1972, for the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory.

Historic Survey Report: Oak Hill

Survey description of Oak Hill, dated February 13, 1970, for the Historic American Buildings Survey Inventory.