Salona, Fairfax County, VirginiaAnderson, Ellen L.
History
Salona, Fairfax County, Virginia
Anderson, Ellen L.
Salona (McLean, Va.)
Originally, the land was part of a large grant of 2,630 acres taken
out by Thomas Lee in 1719 from the Northern Neck proprietor, and
later named "Langley," a name which persists in the area to the
present day.
The Reverend William Maffitt of Maryland purchased the 466-acre
parcel in 1812, and he may have been the builder of the brick house
at Salona to which President James Madison fled when the British
burned the capital in August, 1814.
After the death of Maffitt, the property went through the hands of
several northerners who were part of the influx of Yankees just prior
to the outbreak of the Civil War. The parcel was divided into several
pieces.
Jacob G. Smoot of Georgetown, D.C., purchased 208 acres, including
the house, in 1853. He and his descendants owned Salona for almost
100 years--through the Civil War when Camp Griffin troops were
temporary residents in tent villages on Salona and surrounding
property and in the extended period of rebuilding during the
agricultural era following. They witnessed and were part of the
subdivision of lands for suburban tract housing.
As a reflection of changes experienced in the Washington metropolitan
area following World War II, Clive DuVal, a veteran, came from
New York to accept employment with the federal government. He and his
wife Susan purchased Salona with the idea of restoring it and using
it for a family residence.
[Illustration]
The DuVals entered into a period of community participation which
repeatedly involved the house as a center for meetings, tours and
entertainment. Because it was a sound, comfortable, gracious old
house with historical associations and community significance, they
decided to grant a permanent historic and scenic easement to Fairfax
County in 1971, preserving the house, its brick outbuildings and
eight acres of land surrounding them in perpetuity. A temporary
easement for 44 additional acres of the Salona property was granted
at the same time, fitting in with the county's stated purpose to
shape the character, direction and timing of community development
through the preservation of open space land.
Because of its historical associations, the house was placed on the
Virginia State Landmarks Register and on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1973.
I
LANGLEY AND THE LEES
The brick house known as Salona stands solidly on a portion of the
original grant known as "Langley," a tract named by Thomas Lee for
ancestral Lee lands in Shropshire, England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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