Virginia State Route 242
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Virginia State Route 242
State Route 242 (SR 242) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. Known as Gunston Road, the state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) near Lorton east to SR 600 at the entrance to Gunston Hall, the plantation of George Mason, on Mason Neck in southeastern Fairfax County. Route description SR 242 begins at an intersection with US 1 (Richmond Highway) near Lorton. The west leg of the intersection is SR 600 (Gunston Cove Road), which heads north through a suburban area of Lorton near Interstate 95. SR 242 heads southeast as a two-lane undivided road through a forested area with scattered residences on Mason Neck, a peninsula that fronts the Potomac River between Belmont Bay and the mouth of the Occoquan River to the west and Gunston Cove, a bay formed by the confluence of Pohick Creek and Accotink Creek, to the east. SR 242 passes Pohick Bay Golf Course and the access roads for Mason Neck State Park and Pohick Bay Regional Park. The state highway reaches its e ...
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Lorton, Virginia
Lorton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 18,610 as of the 2010 census. History Lorton is named for a village in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, in England. Joseph Plaskett of the Cumbrian village settled in southern Fairfax County, running a general store and opening the Lorton Valley Post Office on November 11, 1875. Before the identity of Lorton, the commercial center was Colchester, and the spiritual and historical center of the community around which the leading citizens of the time revolved was Pohick Church, where George Washington and George Mason were at times members of the vestry. From the early 20th century until November 2001, Lorton was the site of a District of Columbia correctional facility called the Lorton Reformatory which, among other things, detained approximately 168 women from the women's suffrage movement from the Washington, D.C. area from June to December 1917. For the 2010 census ...
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Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved August 15, 2011 with a drainage area of 14,700 square miles (38,000 km2), and is the fourth-largest river along the East Coast of the United States and the 21st-largest in the United States. Over 5 million people live within its watershed. The river forms part of the borders between Maryland and Washington, D.C. on the left descending bank and between West Virginia and Virginia on the right descending bank. Except for a small portion of its headwaters in West Virginia, the North Branch Potomac River is considered part of Maryland to the low-water mark on the opposite bank. The South Branch Potomac River lies completely within the state of West Virginia except for its headwaters, which lie in Virginia. Course The Potomac River runs ...
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Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge
Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in Virginia. It is part of the Potomac River National Wildlife Refuge Complex. It is on Mason Neck, a peninsula in the Potomac River that forms part of the shoreline of Belmont Bay. The refuge is adjacent to Mason Neck State Park. Established in 1969 and managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, it was the first federal refuge created specifically for the protection of the bald eagle. It is in size, with of shoreline. It is covered with oak and hickory forest and it includes the largest freshwater marsh in northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit .... Since its founding, the refuge has been renamed for Elizabeth S. Hartwell, a l ...
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Mason Neck State Park
Mason Neck State Park is located in Fairfax County, Virginia. The park is on a peninsula formed by Pohick Bay on the north, Belmont Bay on the south and the Potomac River to the east. The park has an area of and is home to bald eagles, great blue herons, ospreys, and many other types of wildlife. The park also contains white-tailed deer and many species of lichen. Mason Neck State Park is one of the best locations to view bald eagles in northern Virginia. Sightings are most common in the mornings and evenings. The park is day-use only, and maintains a visitors center that is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mason Neck State Park has cultural significance with two sites on the state and National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v . ...
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Accotink Creek
Accotink Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 15, 2011 tributary stream of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. At Springfield, Virginia, Accotink Creek is dammed to create Lake Accotink. The stream empties into the Potomac at Gunston Cove's Accotink Bay, to the west of Fort Belvoir. Variant names According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as: *Accotonck Creek *Main Branch Course Accotink Creek rises near the intersection of Rt. 66 and Rt. 123 in Fairfax County, Virginia. Accotink Creek then flows southeast to meet the Potomac River in Accotink Bay at Fort Belvoir Military Reservation. Watershed Accotink Creek drains of area, receives about 43.7 in/year of precipitation, has a topographic wetness index of 436.37 and is about 22.5% forested. See also *List of crossings of Accotink Creek *Accotink, Virginia *Li ...
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Gunston Cove
Gunston Cove is an inlet of the Potomac River, at the confluence of Accotink Creek and Pohick Creek in Northern Virginia. The Cove forms the northern boundary of Mason Neck, once home to the revolutionary hero George Mason and now site of several regional parks and the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge. George Mason University's notable multi-decadal study of water quality and aquatic habitat in Gunston Cove and the adjacent Potomac River has illustrated how a tidal freshwater ecosystem can gradually recover from human-induced eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ... following management of upstream nutrient pollution.

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Occoquan River
The Occoquan River is a tributary of the Potomac River in Northern Virginia, where it serves as part of the boundary between Fairfax and Prince William counties. The river is a scenic area, and several local high schools and colleges use the river for the sport of rowing. Watershed The river is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 and its watershed covers about . It is formed by the confluence of Broad Run and Cedar Run in Prince William County; Bull Run, which forms Prince William County's boundary with Loudoun and the northerly part of Fairfax counties, enters it east-southeast of Manassas, as the Occoquan turns to the southeast. It reaches the Potomac at Belmont Bay. The Occoquan River is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The name ''Occoquan'' is derived from a Doeg Algonquian word translated as "at the end of the water". History Geographers, foremost Harm de Blij, defined ...
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Belmont Bay
Belmont Bay is a body of water at the mouth of the Occoquan River between Fairfax and Prince William counties, Virginia. The bay covers about . The bay adjoins the Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge and Mason Neck State Park on the Fairfax County side and the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Prince William County. The bay was named for the home, "Belmont," which was built circa 1730 overlooking the bay by Catesby Cocke, who was the clerk of the Prince William County court. Belmont Bay is notable for sightings of bald eagles that nest and feed in the refuges and for the numerous Great Blue Herons. Belmont Bay is also a popular destination for pleasure boats. Summer weekends usually attract 40 to as many as 100 boats to this location. The waterfront community of Belmont Bay Belmont Bay is a body of water at the mouth of the Occoquan River between Fairfax and Prince William counties, Virginia. The bay covers about . The bay adjoins the Elizabeth Hartwell ...
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Interstate 95 In Virginia
Interstate 95 (I-95) runs within the Commonwealth of Virginia between its borders with North Carolina and Maryland. I-95 meets the northern terminus of I-85 in Petersburg, and is concurrent with I-64 for in Richmond. Although I-95 was originally planned as a highway through Washington, D.C. (following the route of what is now I-395), it was rerouted along the eastern portion of the Capital Beltway. From Petersburg to Richmond, I-95 utilized most of the Richmond–Petersburg Turnpike, a former toll road (the south end of the toll road was on I-85). It enters the Capital Beltway at the Springfield Interchange, also known as the Mixing Bowl. I-95 continues over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge into Washington, D.C. (for 0.11 miles on the bridge), and then into Maryland on the Capital Beltway. The route between Fredericksburg and Springfield is consistently one of the most congested routes of highway in the United States, particularly during holidays and rush hours. The causes for ...
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Mason Neck, Virginia
Mason Neck is a peninsula jutting into the Potomac River to the south of Washington, D.C., in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is surrounded by Belmont Bay to the west, the Potomac River to the south and east, Gunston Cove to the northeast, and Pohick Creek, Pohick Bay to the north-northeast. The census-designated place (CDP) of Mason Neck forms the southernmost section of Fairfax County, Virginia, Fairfax County, in northern Virginia, and comprises an area of , two-thirds of which is preserved as parkland by regional, state, and national authorities. The population of the Mason Neck CDP was 2,005 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History The Mason Neck peninsula was inhabited by the Doeg people, Doeg prior to the arrival of European settlers. The recorded history of Mason Neck began around 1755 with the construction of Gunston Hall, the Plantation complexes in the Southern United States#Plantation house, plantation house of George Mason, author of the Virginia Declara ...
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George Mason
George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including substantial portions of the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, and his ''Objections to this Constitution of Government'' (1787) opposing ratification, have exercised a significant influence on American political thought and events. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Mason principally authored, served as a basis for the United States Bill of Rights, of which he has been deemed a father. Mason was born in 1725, most likely in what is now Fairfax County, Virginia. His father died when he was young, and his mother managed the family estates until he came of age. He married in 1750, built Gunston Hall and lived the life of a country squire, supervising his lands, family and slaves. He briefly served ...
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