Vaucluse was a villa in Fairfax County, Virginia. Located three miles (5 km) from Alexandria and 10 miles (16 km) from Washington, D.C., on a hill near the Virginia Theological Seminary. It was owned first by Dr. James Craik, [1] and later by the Fairfax family, the first being Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.
Dr. Craik, surgeon in the Virginia Regiment, and the Continental Army, was persuaded by Washington after the Revolutionary War, to move his practice to Alexandria, Virginia. Dr. Craik settled at Vaucluse, where he died on February 6, 1814. [2]
Thomas Fairfax was the son of Bryan Fairfax. He oversaw his land holdings of forty thousand acres, and established his family at Vaucluse, where he died, on April 21, 1846. His grandsons were born at Vaucluse: Charles S. Fairfax, was born on March 8, 1829, and John C. Fairfax was born on September 30, 1830. [3] Thomas Fairfax left a life interest in Vaucluse to his widow, who lived there until her death in 1858, with her two widowed daughters, Mrs. Hyde, and Mrs. Cary. [4]
Thomas Fairfax was a descendant of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who emigrated to America, and settled at the Belvoir plantation, and later Greenway Court, Virginia, where he actively managed his Northern Neck Proprietary, a land grant of more than a million acres (4,000 km²) in the northern neck of Virginia, which he inherited from his mother, Catherine Colepeper.
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Thomas Fairfax's granddaughter, Miss Constance Cary, was living at Vaucluse with her mother, Monimia Fairfax. [5]
Momimia had married Archibald Cary (1815–1854), and they had three children: Falkland Cary, who died aged 16, Constance Cary, and Clarence Cary. [3] The family moved to Richmond, Virginia, during the war, where Miss Cary wrote under the pen name Refugitta.
The mansion was destroyed during the American Civil War to make place for Fort Worth, in the defenses of the city of Washington. In December 1861, Captain J. Howard Kitching marched with four regiments to occupy the fort. [6] The Fairfax family silver was buried there until recovered after the war. [7]
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, was a Scottish peer. The only resident peer in late colonial-era America, Fairfax owned a vast territory of land in Virginia known as the Northern Neck Proprietary, which his ancestors had acquired in 1649 by a land grant from King Charles II of England. The proprietary originally spanned roughly 5 million acres, and Fairfax administered it from his wilderness estate in Greenway Court, Virginia. He owned several hundred slaves on some 30 farms and derived much of his income from their labor.
James Craik was Physician General of the United States Army, as well as George Washington's personal physician and close friend.
Ferdinando Fairfax was a Virginia landowner and member of the prominent Fairfax family.
Constance Cary Harrison, also referred to as Mrs. Burton Harrison, was an American playwright and novelist. She and two of her cousins were known as the "Cary Invincibles"; the three sewed the first examples of the Confederate Battle Flag.
John Carlyle Herbert was an American lawyer, planter, military officer in the War of 1812 and politician. He served as a legislator in both Virginia and Maryland, as well as a U.S. Congressman representing Maryland's 2nd congressional district (1814-1818).
George William Fairfax was a planter in colonial Virginia who represented then-vast Frederick County and later Fairfax County in the House of Burgesses before the American Revolutionary War, by which time he had returned to England. A mentor and good friend of George Washington, Fairfax made opportunities for the younger Washington through his powerful British family, and Washington assisted him afterward by arranging for the sale of his Virginia property after he returned to Britain.
Virginia Randolph Cary was an American writer. She was the author of Letters on Female Character, Addressed to a Young Lady, on the Death of Her Mother (1828), an influential advice book.
John Carlyle was a Scottish merchant who emigrated to British Colony of Virginia and became a leading landowner and social and political figure in Northern Virginia. He was a founding trustee and the first overseer of Alexandria, Virginia.
Rev. Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1736–1802) was an Anglican clergyman and Scottish peer. He was a lifelong friend of George Washington and became the first American-born Lord Fairfax; his predecessors were born in the UK. The Rev. The Lord Fairfax was the first cousin once removed of the seventh Lord. He lived in Virginia. He was the grandson of Reverend the Hon. Henry Fairfax, second son of the fourth Lord. However, it was not until 1800 that he was confirmed in the title by the House of Lords.
William Fairfax (1691–1757) was a political appointee of the British Crown in several colonies as well as a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia. Fairfax served as Collector of Customs in Barbados, Chief Justice and governor of the Bahamas; and Customs agent in Marblehead, Massachusetts, before being reassigned to the Colony of Virginia.
Belvoir was the plantation and estate of colonial Virginia's prominent William Fairfax family. Operated with the forced labor of enslaved people, it sat on the west bank of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, at the present site of Fort Belvoir. The main house — called Belvoir Manor or Belvoir Mansion — burned in 1783 and was destroyed during the War of 1812. The site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973 as "Belvoir Mansion Ruins and the Fairfax Grave."
Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1762–1846), was an American-born Scottish peer, who along with his father, on 11 December 1799, was among the last guests at Mount Vernon before Washington died.
Mount Eagle was a plantation home built by Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron in 1789–90, south of Hunting Creek and Alexandria in Fairfax County, Virginia. It was demolished in 1968; the Huntington Metro Station and several condominium complexes were built on the property.
Ash Grove is an 18th-century plantation house in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. In 1790, Bryan Fairfax built Ash Grove on Leesburg Pike, two miles west of present-day Tysons Corner, for his son Thomas Fairfax.
Towlston Grange is an 18th-century plantation in Great Falls in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The estate served as a residence for several prominent members of the Fairfax family. Towlston Grange is located at 1213 Towlston Road in Great Falls. There is a photograph of Bryan Fairfax's Towlston Grange in its unrestored state, taken by "The Rambler" of the Washington, D.C. Evening Star newspaper in 1918, that shows a 1+1⁄2-story clapboarded house built in the English tradition.[4]
Hollindale is an unincorporated community in Fort Hunt, Fairfax County, Virginia, United States close to the George Washington Memorial Parkway in ZIP code 22306. As of 2013, it had 945 residents. Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church and Hollin Meadows Elementary School are located within the community. Hollindale is set along the hilly woodlands across from the Potomac. It was built around several estates and on what used to be Sherwood Dairy Farm, and is adjacent to the Hollin Hills community. It is dominated by mid-century modern homes, colonials, and Tudors.
Cynthia Cary Van Pelt Russell was an American socialite, who was part of American 'High Society' in New York and Newport, Rhode Island, and is a first cousin once removed of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Fairfax is both a surname of English origin which means "fair hair", and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
Clarence Cary was an American lawyer who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.
Vaucluse (plantation).
Vaucluse (plantation).
bryan fairfax.