The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1908-03-26
LITTER FROM VIRGINIA.
IA Personal Home Letter.

out and spend two weeks at Mrs. ROW
ans farm, after which we shall go 10
Washington, d. c., for two weeks, then
to Philadelphia for a week, and then
start for home and probably will stop
over week or ten days in New York
and Boston. We are now at Mrs. Row.
ans farm at Fairfax Courthouse, Fair
fax county, Va, $50 miles from Norfolk,
up among the pine woods. The hunting
and fishing is said to be as good here
abouts as at any place in Virginia. Pos
sums, coons, quail, wild turkeys, rabbits
and squirrels are the most plentiful. 1t
has been very pleasant here. Every day
has been just like summer. Mrs. Il. Is
clearing up large tract of land. She
has sawmill on the farm and crew OF
men, mostly negroes, is saving lumoer,
hauling logs and cord wood, burning
brush, blowing, planting and setting
fruit trees and grape vines, all at the
same time.
The trees are mostly oak, chestnut
dllQ pine. L WdlhCuouOOi' oiiS J SSNNA'-J
that had been cut down that was feet
through at the butt, and many OF them
are more than 100 feet high, They have
$50 cords of slabs sawed into stove
wood in one pile. The colored people
working here are happy lot, always
whistling and singing. Dick is all the
time singing:
| amt got no razor,
| aIn't got no gun,
amt got no woman
And don't want non.
Fairfax county, as the natives say:
''Sure is right smart rich IN antiquity
and legends" Fairfax is the county seat
and around it cluster many historical
associations. In the clerks office we
saw the last will and testament of the
first President of the United States;
also papers signed by Henry Clay and
Patrick Henry, and in the time-Worn
and dust-stained volumes can be found
MANY interesting records OF Washing
toms time.
ou lIG DbduUllul SACCA
stands the old courthouse, built in 1900,
and near it is the old well over which
hangs the old oaken bucket with the
tradition chat he who drinks here will
live to return and drink again" A
short distance away stands a gray gran
lite monument COMMUNICATING the fact
that in a nearby opening was killed the
first soldier of the civil war. On the
hills and the valleys hereabouts can be
found many evidences of the great con-
tiict of the early sixties.
Situated midway between the ex-
tremes of heat and cold, Fairfax is
happy medium alike to those scorched
by southern suns or chilled by northern
winds. The financial condition of the
county is excellent. There is no bonded
Indebtedness, the tax rate is ITO on the
assessed valuation, which is usually one
third of the real valuation.
Fairfax county was founded in 1912,
and was named in honor of Lord Fair
fax. There is much in the records of
the court of Fairfax county to interest
the antiquarian. In the old times the
court fixed the rates to be charged for
about everything. The rates the inn
keepers were to charge was fixed by the
court and had to be posted at least
feet high on the door of every inn in
the county The following is from the
schedule of rates ordered by the court
March 20, 1855:
For hot diet with small beer or
cider Is.
For cold diet, cd.
For a gill of rum made into punch
with loaf sugar, 3D.
For ditto with brown sugar. Sd.
Stabling and fodder for horses "a
hours. Cd.
For a nights lodging with clean
sheets, Cd; otherwise, nothing.
Among the early settlers of Fairfax
county were men who by their sturdy
good sense and strength of character
not only left a lasting influence for good
on the county in which they built their
primitive houses, but men who bore a
conspicuous and important part in the
making of the State and Nation. George
Washington, the true patriot, the brave
soldier, the wise statesman and model
citizen, settled in Fairfax county in his
early manhood. General Fitzhugh Lee
was born in Fairfax county, the son of
Commodore Lee and grandson of Light
Horse Harry Lee of Revolutionary
fame. Long before the PROV of the
frail bark that bore Capt. John Smith
and his companions up the broad Po-
tomac had ever touched the Fairfax
shore an Indian trail $50 miles long, ex-
tending from the tide waters of the
Chesapeake to the valleys beyond the
mountains was visible. Starting in the
vicinity of Williamsburg, it crossed
Occoquam at Colchester into Fairfax.
The main highway from Colchester to
Alexandria is known as the Braddock
road These roads are known as rolling
roads. This designation arose from the
practice of transporting the tobacco
to the various shipping points in the
boosheadS in which it was hacked