A History of the Town of FairfaxRust, Jeanne Johnson
History
A History of the Town of Fairfax
Rust, Jeanne Johnson
Fairfax (Va.) -- History
The old cedar posts on the porch of the frame part of this house
were the original posts that held the gallery in the old court
house. When some remodeling of the court house was done, Judge
Thomas bought the posts. They were later removed to a white frame
house which served as a tenement house for the Barbour estate. This
house is still standing today and the porch roof is sustained by
tapering posts, which are more delicate and slender than ones
usually found on outside porches.
Also built during this era was the D'Astre place, which is the
present home of Mr. A. B. McClure. This home was owned by a
Frenchman who had the reputation for making wonderful wines. The
vineyard of Niagaras, Delawares, Concords bear out the tribute. The
runway from the cellar to the highway where the barrels were loaded
is evidenced today by a road leading to a log house near the grape
arbors. The tenement house, now owned by Mrs. Douglas Murray, boasts
a concealed attic room, hidden behind a closet. Here Confederate
soldiers picked off the Union troops as they marched past. The house
was raided many times by Union troops but still managed to keep its
secret.
Beyond the D'Astre place was the home of Charles Broadwater, which
has recently been torn down for widening of The Little River
Turnpike. When torn down, the well house revealed numerous musket
balls from the war. The house itself was a study in architectural
beaming. Each wall header was constructed of large hand-hewn oak
timbers. Each timber had hand-hewn slots which received studs
secured by wooden pegs.
The large colonial brick house at the corner of Sager Avenue and
University Drive was possibly built during this era too. The land
had been part of the Ratcliffe division, designated as Lot 26, and
had passed from the Moss family to the Jackson family. Later, a Mr.
Harry Fitzhugh, who taught school here, bought it and eventually
sold it to Mr. F. W. Richardson.
The Draper house at the corner of Main and Route 237 was built in
1827 by Dr. S. Draper who occupied it until 1842, at which time a
Mr. William Chapman bought it. The wide upstairs portico and two
immense chimneys at each end of the brick house were characteristic
of the houses built at that time.
The large white frame house belonging now to Mrs. Fairfax Shield
McCandlish, Sr., and being located across from the Fairfax Post
Office was built before 1839 and was owned and occupied by the
Conrad family. They called it "Rose Bower". A son, Thomas Nelson
Conrad, served as a Captain in the Confederate Army and at one time
as a Rebel Scout. In 1859 it was bought by a Mr. Thomas Murray who
later rented it to a lawyer by the name of Thomas Moore. Mr. Moore
had married one of the young ladies who attended Coomb's Cottage--a
Miss Hannah Morris from Oswego County, New York. Mr. Moore was to
have the distinction of carrying the court records to Warrenton,
when the war clouds gathered around Fairfax.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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