Inside Senior

Living 2019 Spring

Historic Garden Week in McLean April 30 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. Visitors to the McLean portion of the Historic Garden Week will explore five picturesque gardens and four private homes spanning four centuries. Tickets online at www.vagardenweek.org Questions? Google Garden Club of Fairfax or email [email protected].

online at www.connectionnewspapers.com Photos by Donna Moulton/Fairfax Garden Club Garden Moulton/Fairfax Donna by Photos Local Media Connection LLC Senior Living

John Browne talks about his book, “The Story of Ravensworth,” to the Burke Classifieds, Page 14Opinion, Page 6 v Entertainment, 12 Classifieds, Twitter: @BurkeConnection on Follow Historical Society at the Pohick Regional Library on Sunday, March 31, 2019. The Story of Ravensworth News, Page 13 More Public Input Sought Beautifying, Preserving On Parkway Studies Marshall Cemetery News, Page 3 News, Page 4 Photo by Steve Hibbard/The Connection by Steve Photo April 4-10, 2019 online at www.connectionnewspapers.com News

Photo by Steve Hibbard/The Connection John Browne talks about his book, The Story of Ravensworth, to the Burke Historical Society at the Pohick Regional Library on Sunday, March 31, 2019. The Story of Ravensworth

Historian John Browne speaks to Map courtesy of John Browne Burke Historical Society. Ravensworth boundary with a three-mile radius circle around Burke Station.

By Steve Hibbard he decided he wanted something The Connection more permanent. He expected the Welcome Zaher Aymach, D.D.S. book to be a quick and easy job Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics ast Sunday, March 31, but it took him about a year to rec- the Burke Historical So- reate new maps and fit them onto Lciety hosted historian letter-sized pages. John Browne at the Pohick Regional Library where he THE RAVENSWORTH STORY spoke to about 50 guests about his goes like this: Before 1685, a land new book, The Story of grant of 5 million acres was cre- Ravensworth — from the period ated by King Charles II of England of 1685 to the Civil War. in the Northern Neck between the “It fascinated me that my home Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac was inside a vast Colonial Planta- and Rappahannock Rivers. Lord tion and I wondered how 24,000 Fairfax inherited it all, and in acres dissolved down to one quar- 1685, bought ter of an acre … so I decided I 24,112 acres referred to as wanted to know more about it. Ravensworth. How did it dissolve all the way It was the largest Colonial land down to that? It seemed to be a grant that would stretch across fascinating question and I started 37.7 square miles — from present- digging into it,” said Browne, who day Fairfax to Annandale to Burke grew up on a dairy farm in New to Newington and Springfield. It York, served in the U.S. Navy, and is one-tenth of the land mass of worked for 30 years with the De- Fairfax County and half the size of COMMUNITIES OF WORSHIP partment of the Navy. Washington, D.C. It includes the He was inspired by the work of present-day ZIP Code 22015 with Beth Mitchell, who mapped every Burke in a part of it. land grant that had been done in By the 1850s, a circle of three 11th Annual Easter Fairfax County – all 390 square miles was considered Burke, EGGSTRAVAGANZA b miles. “I started looking and pull- which would extend to the Sat. April 20, 1 to 3pm ing the thread and one bit after Beltway to Little River Turnpike Family Fun! All Activities are FREE! another, I got pulled down the and south to the Fairfax County Fairfax County Government Center To AdvertiseYour drain, as my wife would say,” he Parkway. Silas Burke was manager 12000 Government Center Pkwy, Fairfax said. and overseer of Ravensworth. (Grassy Area behind building) Community Browne, who is now retired, The property’s saga evolved over Sponsored visit JUBILEECHRISTIANCENTER started researching Ravensworth many generations, through Colo- by jccag.org of Worship in 2008, and set up a private nial settlement, early government, website, which went public in Call 703-778-9431 2013. After about 24,000 visitors, See Local History, Page 14 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Burke Connection ❖ April 4-10, 2019 ❖ 13 News

Map courtesy of John Browne Locations of Ravensworth mansions and other Fitzhugh Family houses. Local History Revisited in Burke From Page 13

tobacco plantations, slavery, Civil war, economic expansion, the rise and decline of family farms, and suburban development. William Fitzhugh died in 1701 and he divided the land between his sons — William Junior and Henry (Captain). So, to organize the maps, Browne developed a decimal system to identify parcels of land, with each division adding a new decimal number; i.e., 1.2.2 then 1.2.3, etc. So, Parcel 1.1 was divided into seven pieces for five of the youngest Fitzhugh sons. Photo by Steve Hibbard/The Connection Through the years, there were John Browne greets guests from the Burke Historical three noted manor houses on the Society after his lecture. property: Oak Hill, and Ravensworth Mansion. As the that lease holders had to pay with ings in four pieces. north half divided into more and pounds of tobacco and the prom- Today, the Ravensworth man- more smaller pieces, the south ise to plant good fruit trees on the sion no longer exists as it burned stayed largely intact and carried land. The North half of down in 1926, and Ossian Hall the Ravensworth name into the Ravensworth had 30 leaseholders met the same fate in 1959 when 20th century, said Browne. and tenants by 1760. firefighters used the building for In the South, a 10,000-acre es- practice in putting out fires. tate was given to Anna Maria TO ILLUSTRATE: John Hollis, Debi Deloose, board member of Fitzhugh in 1830. She died in who married Esther Canterbury, the Burke Historical Society, 1874 and she had sold smaller owned land bordering added: “We seem to forget when parcels of about 1,000 acres; Mary Ravensworth on the west side. In we live in an area that’s urbanized Custis and Robert E. Lee’s children 1758, they leased 205 acres in that it’s got a long history. And it’s inherited 8,000 acres. In 1799, the parcel 1.1. So, that year their an- exciting to learn about the history. owners of Ravensworth owned nual payment was 1,108 net And so today, by having John 196 slaves; and the people who pounds of tobacco, and in addition Browne here to talk about leased the land owned slaves. to farming tobacco, they operated Ravensworth, which isn’t just that Browne stated: “A lot of land was a hotel. street over in Annandale, we leased and leaseholders and ten- Another tidbit: Mary Caroline learned about who owned the ants did a lot of the work. They Goldsborough, who was adopted land, who lived on the land, what contracted with the owner; the by Anna Maria and William Henry was here before we were here. For family was granted temporary Fitzhugh, lived at Ravensworth many of us, it’s really a fun explo- titles. Leases were specified in and had 1,300 acres of land be- ration and an interesting piece of deeds in the County court. Most queathed to her. In 1849, she history.” leases were granted before the granted the Orange and Alexan- Browne also worked with 1800s. There were also tenants dria Railroad permission to build Sharon Bulova on the “A Look Back who stayed on the land for many the new railroad through her at Braddock Project” as the map- years and did not have right to Ravensworth property. In 1850, ping committee chair. Copies of his vote.” Mary was living in Easton, Md., book can be found on the website: Part of the lease provisions were and sold her Ravensworth hold- www.braddockheritage.org.

14 ❖ Burke Connection ❖ April 4-10, 2019 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com