Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-09-14
GREENWAY COURT.

GREENWAYi COURT.
A letter from Berryville to. the Rich
mond Dispatch says
In order to settle the affairs of the
estate of the late ]. Mex. Kennerly,
there was sold in front of the court
house here few days ago "Greenway
Court formerly the country seat of
Lord Fairfax, bnt which now for near
| .ly 100 years has been owned and occu
fpied by the Kennerly family. This
sale is one of more than usual interest,
not only because of the intrinsic value
of the property, which is one Of the
finest farms in the county, but because
of the historic associations connected
with the place and its original owner,
Lord Fairfax, man whose personality
and unusual and romantic life stands
| out conspicuous in the annals of the
pioneers of Virginia. A short sketch
of Lord Fairfax IS home life at "Green-
way Court, as cleaned from the records
or handed down from our forefathers,
may not be uninteresting to the Dis
lpuch's readers. sGreenway Court
was part of the original territory grant
ed by Charles II. to the ancestors OF
Lord Fairfax, the territory granted
comprising sail the lands lying between
the head-waters of the Rappahannoek
and the Potomac to the Chesapeake bay,
being about one-fourth of the present
| limits of Virginia" Lord Fairfax, who
| had been accustomed to the best socie-
| ty, to which his rank entitled him,
in England, and who was highly
| educated but rather eccentric man,
came over to Virginia about the
year 1748 to examine the vast
domain he had inherited. Disappoint-
ment in 9 love affair, from which, it is
contended, he never recovered, is
said by some to have been the cause OF
his retirement from the attractions of q
life in England.
So we'll please was he with the cli-
mate, mode of life, ETC., here that he
resolved to. make his home and end his
days in Virgins, and accordingly built
aGreenway Coufto and cultivated a
farm surrounding it. Here he lived in
comparative seclusion, amusing himself
largely with hunting, but deyoting his
time chiefly to the care of his estate, to
acts of beneyolence among his tenants,
and to such public duties as devolved
upon him in the narrow sphere he had
chosen. Howe, in his history of Vir-
ginia, thus refers to aGreenway Court"
and Lord Fairfax's home there:
'sHis Lordship lived in single clap
board story-and-a-half house, which
stood just in front of the modern brick
dwelling of Mr.. Kennerly, and which
was destroyed in 1884. There are now
Q84O several of the original buildings
standing at the place. Among them is
small limestone structure, where quit
rents we're given and titles drawn of his
Lordship's domains. Some
of these buildings, even at this date
|-1S95-are still standing, and are in a
fair state of preservation.) -. i,
.'sA few years since, in excavating
near the house, the servants of Mr..
Kennerly discovered a large quantity
of joes and half-ioes, amounting to
about $3.50. They were what is term.
ed cob.coiu, of square form, and dated
about 1870. They were supposed to
have been secreted there by Lord Fair
fax. Under shelving rock, nine feet
from the surface, there was also found
human skeleton of gigantic stature,
supposed to be that of an Indian.
When Lord Dunmore went on his ex-
pedition in 1774 he came on as far as
this place with portion of his troops,
and waited here about a fortnight for
reinforcements. Washington,
when recruiting at Winchester, often
visited this place.
Lord Fairfax diedin 1882 at the ad-
vanced age of 90, soon after the surren-
der of CORVALLIS, an event he is said
to have much lamented. He was
buried at Winchester under the COM
munion table of the old Episcopal
church. His bones now lie under the
new Episcopal church, in the vestibule
of which building there is q monu-
mental slab to his memory. Relics of
Lord Fairfax are still in, possession of
persons in Clarke and Frederick coun-
ties, which are highly priced by the
owners. Ex-Governor F. w. M. Hol-
liday has now in his possession q pair
of his I,ordship's riding-boots, judging
from the size of which the stories told
/ IF his gigantic stature are not at all ex-
aggerated.