Mount Vernon’s Hometown Newspaper • A Connection Newspaper April 16, 2020 Page, 9 Photos by Mike Salmon/The Connection by Mike Salmon/The Photos Photo Contributed Photo Historic Huntley Farm. Map by Robert Knox Sneden, a The Belvale House off Union map maker during the war. Telegraph Road. Time Warp Along Telegraph Goes From Revolutionary Sites to Civil War Part three of the Telegraph Road series goes to the edge of City of Alexandria. By Mike Salmon ly owned the house and went up was completed in 2012. The sur- Telegraph Road, near present day The Connection in the attic, saw the ghost out the rounding park is famous for a Jefferson Manor Park, was Fort window, and when they went to boardwalk that goes out over the Lyon, one of the Union forts that s Telegraph Road creeps turn on the lights, all the lights wetlands that bird watchers use on was put in place to defend Wash- along towards the City in the house blew. All this was re- a regular basis. ington, D.C. This fort was built in of Alexandria, the com- corded in a 1964 issue of the Hol- 1861 after the Union defeat at Bull Amunity of Lake d’Evere- lin Hills Bulletin, a local newsletter Run, near the present-day location ux is highlighted by the Belvale for the community off Richmond Civil War of Mount Eagle school in an area House. Belvale is a historic struc- Highway. known as Ballenger’s Hill. Since it ture that dates back to 1764, and According to a 1970 Histor- Rages On was on the highest point around, is rumored to have a ghost lurking ic American Buildings Survey As Telegraph Road leads toward the fort overlooked Telegraph on the grounds. (HABS), there is a report of a slave the City of Alexandria, it passes Road, the Columbia Turnpike, the The mansion was built between burial ground on the property but Rose Hill, where Mosby’s Raiders Orange and Alexandria Railroad, 1763 and 1766 for George John- the exact location could not be de- There are a few strands of went to the Rose Hill mansion and the Little River Turnpike. ston, a friend of Patrick Henry and termined. Old Telegraph Road that on Sept. 28, 1863, and captured On June 9, 1863, there was a George Washington. Johnston was The Belvale house remains a res- weave in and out of the cur- Col. Dulaney, a Union officer as huge explosion in the battery of the a member of the Virginia Assembly idence that faces Telegraph Road rent Telegraph Road. he was sleeping. This occurred in fort which killed 25 soldiers and 1758-1766, and a legal advisor to and there is a historic plaque near the Rose Hill mansion which was could be heard from miles around. George Washington, who was a the front door. Historic Huntley is on the Na- on the hill overlooking Greendale In the wake of the explosion, Fort frequent visitor to the home. tional Register of Historic Places, Golf Course and Telegraph Road. Lyon, and Alexandria were visit- Johnson died in 1766, possibly the Virginia Landmarks Register One of the raiders was French Du- ed by many military and civilian in the gun room of the house. The Historic Huntley and the Fairfax County Inventory laney, the son of Col. Dulaney who dignitaries, including Secretary of Johnston family sold the house in Bordering the rear of this neigh- of Historic Sites. Over the years, fought for opposite sides. This sto- War Edwin Stanton and President 1925 to A.B. Weldeford, and then borhood is Huntley Meadows park, Historic Huntley was used as a ry is on a Civil War Trails marker Abraham Lincoln, according to a came stories of a ghost appearing which can be accessed from Tele- summer retreat, a grain farm, en- on Rose Hill Drive. “Voices from the Past.” By Lewis in the cedar grove that used to be graph Road at the fork with South campment for Civil War troops Close to the northern end of Bissel, dated June 17, 1863. on the property. On the second Kings Highway. Historic Huntley is of the 3rd Michigan Infantry, and night of each month, the ghost was a house that is located on the park, eventually was converted to a 04/17/20 Requested in home in Requested said to appear in the grove, where and it is described on county doc- dairy farm, county records indi- material there was a duel. The young man uments as a Federal period villa cate. Ownership changed sever- Time-sensitive who lost the duel was never really built for Thomson Francis Mason al times, and in later years, after Postmaster: identified, but it was written that in 1825 as a summer retreat. Ma- being abandoned, the house was Attention Permit #482 Permit George Washington might have son was the mayor of Alexandria vandalized. The Park Authority VA Alexandria, helped bury the man and plant the from 1827-30 and a grandson of obtained the house and its sur- PAID U.S. Postage U.S. cedar tree near the grave. George Mason IV, author of the Vir- rounding 2.5 acres in 1989, and STD PRSRT In 1964, the D.J. Richard fami- ginia Declaration of Rights. a renovation of the manor house McEnearney Associates has always had one motto in mind... not to be the biggest, but the best. This year marks our 40th year in Alexandria, and we are celebrating our investment in helping to build our town into the thriving community it is today. 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Pitt Street | Alexandria, VA 22314 | McEnearney.com 2 v Mount Vernon Gazette v April 16-22, 2020 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com News Public Health Crisis or Public Hunger Crisis? United Community expands ef- forts during COVID-19 pandemic. s public health officials United Community has repurposed work to contain the much of their employees to meet COVID-19 outbreak, the community’s rapidly growing AUnited Community is needs. grappling to combat a crisis of a “It’s sad to see just how many different kind -- hunger. Across people are struggling,” Communi- Fairfax County, organizations ty School Coordinator Marcia St. have been working with haste to John-Cunning said. “We’ve seen provide resources for those most cancer patients, expecting moth- vulnerable. Fairfax County Public ers, and elderly couples risk their Schools distributed 10,000 grab- lives to come get help -- they have n-go meals to students in need on nowhere else to turn.” March 19, alone. Like many United Communi- Since then, 17 million Ameri- ty employees, Marcia’s work has cans have lost their jobs. shifted dramatically in the past Lining up to enter the food pantry. (Note: This photo was taken prior to the COVID-19 pan- “In the month of March, the two weeks. Before COVID-19, she demic.) number of new families coming worked onsite supporting families to our food pantry doubled,” Step- at the Community School at Mt.