Washington Road Records
As the records of Washington's land came in the form of dimensions through the deeds between Washington and his associates, and with bordering road names through road petitions, the land was able to be identified in a general area in front of the George Washington Mount Vernon Estate.
This record is an addressment to the public roads that run through the property lines of one Lloyd Washington. The road in consideration is one that is continually referred to in the deeds concerning Washington and his heirs. It is the old public road running from Gum Springs to the intersection with Mt. Vernon Lane that is located at the front entrance of Mt. Vernon. The road, previously closed, is being claimed as a public highway to protect the jeopardized public welfare. The commissioner that was appraising the land proposed and recommended that while the original road was restored, a new road be put in place that ran along the property lines of the Browns, the Wiiliams, the Washington Heirs, Lloyd Washington, Normans, Gibbs, May, and the Mt. Vernon Ladies Association. It was agreed that the road would not fall into any yard or used land of any property owner along the road.
Maps like many other forms of visual media are important in showing a story timeline. However, unlike other forms of visual media, maps can show a change in time much more accurately and visually for a story. This is evident in the telling of the story of Lloyd Washington’s land. The census records and chancery case told a story of Washington’s family. The deeds and tax records told the legal and financial story of Washington’s land. The maps will show the grows and inevitable split of Washington’s land.
The first 3 images are all reference pictures to the land discussed in the respective deeds. The first is of the original 20 acres of land (bottom left of the layout) attained by John A. Washington’s Heirs and the new acreage (center focus of layout) attained by Julian Howard. From this mapped layout, we are able to see the maximum amount of land that Washington owned in his life. The second is the land that was given to Smith Johnston in 1892. This is the first large portion of land that was lost from the total acreage of the Washington Estate. The third image is how the Washington Estate ended after Washington’s death. It shows how the estate was split between the Washington Heirs in their 1899 deed. From this division of estate, Harriet Hopkins occupied the largest lot as she was the heir-at-law and got the entire estate before splitting it with her family: Hannah Washingtion, Lloyd’s wife, occupied lot number 2, Sarah E. Johnston occupied lot number 3, and Martha occupied lot number 4.
Following these images of the Lloyd Washington Estate is a map of 1879 Mount Vernon. This map is key to addressing the past history of the land as well as the future. While the Lloyd Washington Estate is not identifiable by name on the map; through the record of roads documents, an approximate location is able to be identified as to where the estate likely resided. This where the red box is located. The green lines that follow along the roads around and through the box are also key to telling the past and future of the land. This is seen in the next image as we up into today’s map on the zoomed in red box. The green lines are still identifiable allowing for the roads to line up with the previously maped lines. The next image is exactly the same as the previous but it shows and estimated location of the Lloyd Washington Estate after it’s distribution among the heirs on top of a modern day image.
This is the green lined roads are the same for the last few images as we first go far into the past of Mount Vernon as it was when in the hands of the 1st President of the United States, George Washington. With each image the green lines allows for a change of time to appear as the lands occupance and distribution changed. The last couple of pictures are a zoomed out verson of the modern day map and show that currently, the land is the modern neighborhood that is typically found in the Northern Virginia Community.
Overall, there will always be more to research and discover about the past; but sometimes, just like the individual through this exhibit, the information and data is lost to time and make gaps in history that either completely unknown or falsely influenced by what historians think did happen or should have happened. There are plenty of documents that seem to disconnected and unimportant in the long run, but they are just a segment of history. Because that is what History is, a puzzle. Small unimportant documents may look like an unneed piece of a puzzle that can be forgotten about but if it is removed, it can impact the overall picture and cause a gap that affects how the final story or image is observed.
Julian Howard to Lloyd Washington Deed, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives Deed Book A-5, pgs 348-349, Fairfax, Virginia
Lloyd Washington to Smith Johnston Deed, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives Deed Book W-5, pgs 527-529, Fairfax, Virginia
Hannah Washington to Martha & Sarah E. Deed, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives Deed Book D-6, pgs 144-146, Fairfax, Virginia
Fairfax County Road Petitions 1844-1908, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives, Road Petitions-154, Fairfax, Virginia
Record of Roads, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives, Record of Roads, 1860, pgs. 175-176, Fairfax, Virginia
1879 Map of Mount Vernon, https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3850m.gct00186/?sp=46&r=-0.076,-0.053,1.137,0.805,0, Library of CongressFairfax, Virginia
Map of the George Washington Estate, Fairfax County Courthouse Archives Deed Book A-3, pg 360A, Fairfax, Virginia
Modern-Day Map of Mount Vernon, https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mt+Vernon,+VA/@38.7072039,-77.1036358,15.42z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x89b7ac25f140bf7f:0x76bda38852639af1!8m2!3d38.7293138!4d-77.1073859!16zL20vMDEwbTV3?entry=ttu, Google Maps, Fairfax, Virginia
Map of General George Washington’s Farm of Mount Vernon, https://loc.gov/resource/g3882m.ct000367?r=-0.095,-0.023,1.163,0.823,0, Library of Congress, Fairfax, Virginia
By Ava Marchetti