History on Annandale's Central Roads

History on Annandale’s Central Roads

By Rich Whiting

So, you are driving your mother-in-law around the Annandale area to do her Christmas shopping and you haven’t much to say to her. Or, you are chauffeuring your boss to a holiday luncheon and you want to make a good impression. Better yet, you want a Christmas light-viewing circuit that is different and more educational. Paying close attention to the local street signs in central Annandale might just do the trick.

Let’s say you start out on that short road in the downtown Annandale connecting route 236 and Columbia Pike - - John Marr Drive. As you drive north by the Post Office and Kmart, you casually note that Captain John Quincy Marr was a 1746 graduate of VMI and the leader of the Warrenton Rifles. He was the first confederate office killed in the Civil War. That was on June 1, 1861. There is a monument to the Captain on the grounds of the old Fairfax Court House at the corner of Chain Bridge Road and Main Street in downtown Fairfax, about 9 miles West on Rte. 236.

When you turn west on Route 236, a/k/a Little River Turnpike, you observe that the once 20 ft. wide, road was built between 1801 and 1806 to connect Alexandria and Fair fax County. Originally, it was privately owned and operated, and only the third toll road in our young nation. Toll collection booths were at five mile intervals and it remained private until 1896. One of those toll booths was where it intersects with Ravensworth Road. That toll booth was where locals cast their vote in May 1861 on Virginia’s ordinance to secede from the Union. (The resolution was accepted, 29-4.)

Making a left off 236 onto Ravensworth Road, you recall that in 1685, Colonel William Fitzhugh of England purchased about 24,000 acres of land from the Virginia government at Jamestown that his family named “Ravensworth”. This was the largest tract of land in NOVA,and among its recorded boundaries was a place where several trails ‘join near the back lick’. {Hint, hint: derivation of the name of a parallel road!] It became the fourth largest tobacco plantation in VA and had over 200 slaves. Robert E. Lee and wife Mary Custis spent some of their honeymoon in the Plantation house in 1831, which retained its name until about that time.

There are two points of interest within the Ravensworth area that are not roads, but nevertheless deserve a quick mention. First, there is Accotink Park, a reference to the Native American village that once stood in the area. The village was prominent for its use of quartz in the making of tools, arrows and spear heads. Accotink translates to “at the end of the Hill.” Second, on Backlick Road is Demaine Funeral Home, just over the border in Springfield. This location is a branch of the original Demain Funeral Home in Alexandria, VA, which was established in 1789 as Ingle & McMunn. William Demaine was a cabinet maker in the firm’s employ and made the custom coffin for the 6’3” George Washington. The wood working tools used by William Domain in constructing the first president’s casket are sometimes displayed at the Demain Funeral Home on Backlick.

To get to Backlick Road from Ravensworth, take a left on Braddock Road, so named because it was believed to be the route of the English General Edward Braddock's force during the French and Indian War. However, given present day knowledge of logistics, it is unlikely that today's Braddock Road was the actual route taken. However, when you come to the intersection of Braddock and Backlick, where the PNC bank is located, you can comment that during colonial times it was the site of Price's Common where the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was signed by George Mason (the state university named for him is 10 miles west on Braddock Road).

Now that you have completed the circuit of central Annandale, you might offer your audience a final trivia question: where does the moniker Annandale come from? There is no definitive answer. Annandale, in fact, is a historic town located on the eastern bank of the River Annan in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The name alternatively is translated to “Quiet Valley” or “Queen of the Border.” Both aptly describe our locale. Annandale also is a Scottish clan, and some believe our town was named after the Marquis of Annandale (descendant of Robert Brusce), a patron of English royalty. Whichever way you decided to spin this discussion, there is no denying that there is history on ‘them thar’ Annandale roads!