Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-07

1F-N ELVOLR, in the colonial age, was one
Of the great estates of America. In
pre-revolutionary annals reference
!h-s' 10 ii appears as often as to Mount
Vernon Hampton, Westover, Mount
Airy and other noble halls Of the Potomac,
patuxent, Rappahannock and the James.
BeIvoir was the home of the first Fairfax
TO settle in Virginia-the honorable William
Fairfax. Ii IS Of rare interest to all Ameri-
cans because of the relation between it and
Mount Vernon, of peculiar interest to
WashIngton!ans because Of this and it's
proximity to the capital and of engaging
Interest to all men because it was the seat
OF government Of Farfaxland-the domain
Of that family, whose pretensions based on
royal patent first brought the title king
into derlsion in the American colonies, first
caused the colonial settlers to scorn the
authority of a British monarch and first
precipitated a bitter. serious and general
conflict between arlStocTacy and democracy
in the new world.
BeivOir and Mount Vernon are so inter-
locked by propinquity, association and kin
ship that il would be impossible to tell the
history Of one without repeated mention OF
the other. 1t is possible, and by some
AUTHORITIES considered probable, that had
there been no BelvOir George Washington
would not have become the father Of his
country. Washington Irving says of Will
nam I dlIldN IudJ ne was w washington :
''paternal advisor Deborah Fairfax,
New England woman of sterling character,
IS credited with most wholesome influence
on Washington, the youth and Thomas
Lord Fairfax is described by Irving as in
some degree the founder Of Washington
fortunes" Had there been no BelvOir,
George Washington might not have come TO
live at Mount Vernon might not have been
appointed a public surveyor, might not
have gone on mission from Dinwiddie a
Williamsburg TO the French commander on
the great lakes, might not have been
employed in frontier work in the interest
Of the Ohio company, might not have com
maEded the Virginia troops In the war
against the French, and might not have
been elected to the house of burgesses.
OF course, this speculation would be with
put profit unless il direct attention to the
fact that BelvJir suffers such neglect that
ID has no place in the affection Of people
dwelling in the city named for George
Washington. Not one man in hundred,
living his life in sight of the Washington
monument could point the way 10 Belvoir
He does not know where il Is. Perhaps
he never heard of it If this ignorance is
rot disgraceful, it is lamentable
X x
Belvoir Is about two and half miles
south Of Mount Vernon. If one would
visit It, there are two ways-road and
river. BY wagon road 1t is six miles from
Mount Vernon one follows the public road
that skirts Mount Vernon. passing south
west and thence southeast from the north
to the south gate of Washington's home
and thence southwest by Woodlawn Manor.
Following the road for about three and a
half miles one turns into a narrow, little
Travelled road that twists through dense
piueIaud and woodland TO the bluffs that
overlook the Potomac. This road winds for
two and 4 half miles through deep shadow
there is but one clearing along the way.
The manor of Belvoir was burned 100
years ago. Forest trees grow where the
house stood but one may walk upon the
ruins and trace the foundation walls of
the old pile. White oaks, black WdlnutS
and beecAes rise from mounds Of broken
brick. Brambles twine around the place
Thick woodland mold covers the heaVs
OF debris but here and there brick NOR
tar plaster and grass lay exposed Many
thousand bricks have been dug from
the ruins and hauled away in the course
OF q century Near the ruins IS old
well It's sides have caved until its dame
ter IS about fifteen feet. and its depth is
about the same. At other places in the
wood are mounds Of broken brick marking
the site of smoke house. cOachhouse, stable
and other outbuldlugs.
Two hundred yards north Of the main
ruin where the forest growth is heaviest
and the shadows glOomiest, the woods are
ptted with hollOws These are sunken
graves. There is nothing 10 tell Of the
beings whose bodies lie buried there. In
one OF these graves lies the bones of VIII
liam Fairfax and in another those Of De-
borah. his wife, but which graves hold these
relies is a question DR.. hewitt of Accotnk.
a hamlet four miles distant, told The Star
reporter that long before the civil war he
often saw stone in those woods inscribed
William and Deborah Fairfax and with
the birth and death dates chiseled on it.
DR.. hewitt was four years in the confeder-
ale service and never saw the stone after
returning 70 his home. 1t is said that Mrs
Talbot Nile OF a farmer who Ills the only
clearing in the Beivor woes, Knows the
spot where the stone stood On the shore {
BeIvoir the reporter met man who said
III. n d.