Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-25
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY,

IA LtlcSe HuEIyLlB Gays LII. bdNlQ
sStuart and Asbury Dickens should not
Ebe forgotten. Who are they? r. Wal
ton Moore of Fairfax, Va, one of the
best-informed men men alive on the
history of The Old Dominion" who
has recently retired from Congress,
answers the question.
One of the many historic places a
few miles from Washington is Ossian
Han, near Annandale, in Fairfax
County The present owner is former
Senator Bristow of Kansas, who occu-
pies the house, built about 1880 by
William Fitzhugh, who was one of the
wealthiest and most noted men of the
Colonial period and for time men,
Der of the Continental Congress. Fitz-
hugh early acquired a tract of land
containing about 25, 900 acres, which Is
threaded by the old Braddock road. On
3 portion of 1t he built the Ravens
worth House and on another portion
the OSsian Hall house.
The latter portion in 1904 passed
under the ownership of Dr. David
Stuart, who lived there until his death,
IN 1914, and there he was buried. Prior
to his purchase of Ossian Hall he had
married the widow of John Parke Gus
tbs, the son of Mrs Washington, who
died shortly after the Battle of York
town. Or. Stuart was one of the three
commissioners appointed by President
Washington to lay of the District of
Columbia and superintendent the erec-
ton Of the Government buildings.
In 1843 Asbury Dickens Of North
Carolina became the owner Of OSsian
Hall, which he made his residence. He
had the distinction Of serving longer
than any other man as secretary Of
elected to that office in December, 1881,
and held 1t continuously until July,
1861, dying that year at the age Of 80.
y
The official Bicentennial Commission,
with its big publicity staff engaged on
making available to all the people of
the country the utmost information
and sidelights on the life of George
Washington and related interests, has
overlooked one important, timely story
the history of the first place to which
the name Washington" was given,
which was surveyed, plated and estab-
lished by George Washington himself
on July "a, 1749. There Is no doubt
that Washington qualified as surveyor
in the Culpeper County Court July 20,
l749, being then in his eighteenth year.
In the foothills Of the Blue Ridge
Mountains of Virginia, in the beautiful
Piedmont section, which Gen. Pope so
appropriately designated the Swit2er-
land Of Virginia" lies this peaceful and
picturesque town. In Washington's day
it was in Culpeper County though it is
now the county seat OF Rappahannock
County. It is located on one of the
routes which President Hoover travels
in going to his Rapidan Camp.
To better appreciate the antiquity of
its birth, we are advised by Franklin
Clyde Baggarly, former attorney for the
town who has just written its history,
to recall that Washington, Va, the first
Washington of all those which now
exist in 10 States Of the Union, was in
fact a town in those early days of our
Colonial history when George II was on
the throne Of England, the Bourbon
King Louis XIV was ruling France,
Francis I, son of Leopold, Duke OF
Lorraine, was Emperor of Germany
and Benedict XIV was the Pope Of
Rome.
The original plan Of the town"
mapped by Washington, which was
found in 1847 among the records Of the
Fairfax surveys and grants, Is in an
excellent state of preservation. This
rural hamlet that George Washington
surveyed and plotted in 1749 by author
ity of q special act of the General As
of Washington" on December IA, 17o6.
It seems singular coincidence that just
so years after the original survey and
plat of the town were made, and on
December IA, 1899, the third anniversary
of the establishment of the town, the
great Washington died at his home,
Mount Vernon.
The town council, in order to preserve
the original town plan OF l749, enacted
an ordinance on September 20, 1917,
reaffirming the names of the streets
otherwise agreeable to the original
plan This ordinance was readopted
and affirmed by the town council, May
IT, 1880, with suitable names selected
for streets in extended boundaries.
The records disclose that the land
surveyed by Washington and designated
as THE Town of Washington" was a
part of one of the earliest land grants
in the Piedmont section of Virginia.
1t was originally a large grant of con-
siderable acreage and was known as
the Manor of Avondale," taking its
name from the Upper Avon River in
England, and is said to have been &C
quired by or for Francis, Lord Howard
Baron Effingham), one time Lieutenant
Governor of Virginia. Subsequent p0tentS
in the latter part of the seventeenth
century disclose that the manor house
located thereon was avon Hall"
Attention Is called by Mr.. Baggarly,
historian of 1.-THE Town of Washing
ton," that the town has quite some his
tory. It has been subject to three
sovereigns-the King Of England, the
Confederate States of America and the
United States. It has fought under
three flags and has been loyal to three
governments. An effort is now being
made TO induce Congress to appropriate
SUFFICIENT money for the purpose of
erecting during the Bicentennial Cele-
bration next year, in this old town and
in honor Of Washington, q fitting tab
let commemorating his original survey
and plating August 4, 1749, THE First
Washington of All"