Leesylvania State Park is located in the southeastern part of
Prince William County
Prince William County is located on the Potomac River in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 482,204, making it Virginia's second-most populous county. Its county seat is the independent city of Manassas ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. The land was donated in 1978 by philanthropist
Daniel K. Ludwig, and the park was dedicated in 1985 and opened full-time in 1992.
History
At the time of early English settlers, Leesylvania was believed to be the site of an
Algonquian village, overlooking
Neabsco Creek
Neabsco Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the lower tidal segment of the Potomac River in eastern Prince William County, Virginia. T ...
.
Henry Lee II
Col. Henry Lee II (1730–1787) of Alexandria, Westmoreland, Virginia Colony, was an American planter, soldier, and politician, the father of Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee III, and grandfather of Robert E. Lee.
Early life
Lee was the third ...
settled on the land from 1747 until his death in 1787. He and his wife had eight children at their home including Revolutionary War hero
Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee. He is also the grandfather to Civil War general
Robert E. Lee.
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
mentions visiting the Lee House three times in his diaries.
In 1825 the property was sold to Henry Fairfax, and later passed to John Fairfax in 1847. Fairfax later served as a staff aide to Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet. The site was Fairfax's boyhood home, and he returned to live on the property in late 1875, remaining there until his death in 1908.
The land was also used as a small Confederate force and gun emplacement during the Civil War. The
Freestone Point Confederate Battery was 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 ...
in 1989.
The battery engaged with vessels of the US Navy's Potomac Flotilla on September 25, 1861. There were no casualties on either side, but the Federal vessels withdrew at the conclusion of the fighting. (Ref: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in The War of The Rebellion)
Today, only a small cornerstone of the Lee House remains. The house and its path were completely bulldozed in the 1950s to make way for a road. A restored chimney of the Fairfax House remains. Henry Lee II and his wife, along with Henry Fairfax and his third wife are buried on the property. The sites and the cemetery are accessible by trail. The Leesylvania Archeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Recreation
The park has a small group-only campground, five hiking trails, fishing pier, boat ramp, visitor center, natural sand beach, and four picnic shelters.
References
External links
Leesylvania State ParkHiking at Leeslyvania State ParkLeesylvania (Ruins), State Route 610, Dumfries, Prince William County, VA 2 photos at
Historic American Buildings Survey
Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...
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Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Fairfax family residences
Lee family residences
Parks in Prince William County, Virginia
State parks of Virginia
Houses in Virginia
Plantations in Virginia
Protected areas established in 1985
1985 establishments in Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Prince William County, Virginia