Germantown is a historic

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

rural community in

Fauquier County, Virginia Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 16 ...

, United States. It is the resting place of John Jacob Richter (also spelled Rector). He was buried there in 1729. It is located in and around current-day

C. M. Crockett Park C. or c. may refer to: * Century, sometimes abbreviated as ''c.'' or ''C.'', a period of 100 years * Cent (currency), abbreviated ''c.'' or ''¢'', a monetary unit that equals of the basic unit of many currencies * Caius or Gaius, abbreviated as ...

, which contains the popular local fishing destination of Germantown Lake. Chief Justice

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

was born in Germantown. Archeological sites relating to the settlement are listed on the

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 ...

History

Many inhabitants from Germantown came from Germany, e.g.

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...

, east of Bonn. In 1718 twelve German emigrant families left the employ of Governor

Alexander Spotswood Alexander Spotswood (12 December 1676 – 7 June 1740) was a British Army officer, explorer and lieutenant governor of Colonial Virginia; he is regarded as one of the most significant historical figures in British North American colonial h ...

and the mining settlement of

Germanna Germanna was a German settlement in the Colony of Virginia, settled in two waves, first in 1714 and then in 1717. Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood encouraged the immigration by advertising in Germany for miners to move to Virgini ...

for a parcel of land in modern southern

Fauquier County Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 160 ...

. The parcel was divided equally between the settlers: Melchior Brombach, Joseph Coons, Harman Fishback, John Fishback, Peter Hitt, Jacob Holtzclaw, John Hoffman, John Kemper, John Joseph Martin, Jacob Rector, John Spilman, and Tillman Weaver. All the homes were built on the southern side of Licking Run which flowed through each farm. Each landowner also donated 10 areas to form a

glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

where the first church, parsonage, and school in Fauquier County were constructed. German Rolling Road was constructed by the settlers to enable them to reach the market of Falmouth. A

saw mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...

and a

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

also operated in this town as well. The mill pond lies under Germantown Lake, named in honor of the settlement. This is

where Where may refer to: * Where?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * where (command), a shell command * Where (SQL), a database language clause * Where.com Where, Inc. was a location-based media company in North America. Their main products were ...

future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

was born in 1755. By the time of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

the prosperous settlers had all acquired other land and the settlement was defunct. Therefore, Germantown is sometimes called a lost German colony.

References

Sources

*Germantown. Daine Gulick. The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc.. Fauquier County Parks and Recreation. 1993.
Marker
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Fauquier County, Virginia Unincorporated communities in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Fauquier County, Virginia