Towlston Grange is an 18th-century

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The estate served as a residence for several prominent members of the Fairfax family. Towlston Grange is located at 1213 Towlston Road in Great Falls. There is a photograph of Bryan Fairfax's Towlston Grange in its unrestored state, taken by "The Rambler" of the Washington, D.C. Evening Star newspaper in 1918, that shows a -story clapboarded house built in the English tradition.

Residents

William Fairfax

William Fairfax William Fairfax (1691–1757) was a political appointee of the British Crown in several colonies as well as a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia. Fairfax served as Collector of Customs in Barbados, Chief Justice and governor of the ...

acquired several thousand acres on

Difficult Run Difficult Run 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 Northern Virginia in the United States. The area has had many ...

from his cousin

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (22 October 16939 December 1781), was a Scottish peer. He was the son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and Catherine Colepeper, daughter of Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper. The on ...

and named his property Towlston Grange.

George William Fairfax

William's eldest son

George William Fairfax George William Fairfax (January 2, 1724April 3, 1787) was a Planter (American South), planter in colonial Virginia who represented then-vast Frederick County, Virginia, Frederick County and later Fairfax County, Virginia, Fairfax County in the Hou ...

and his wife Sally Fairfax née Cary settled at Towlston Grange after their marriage in 1759.

Bryan Fairfax

Bryan Fairfax Lancelot Beresford Bryan Fairfax (8 February 192511 January 2014) was an Australian conductor based in the United Kingdom, who was known for his championing of little known or neglected works.William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

's will.

His friend

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 ...

and

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

traveled to Towlston Grange to stand as

godparent In infant baptism and denominations of Christianity, a godparent (also known as a sponsor, or '' gossiprede'') is someone who bears witness to a child's christening and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelon ...

s for Bryan's third son, Fedinando. Fairfax sold Towlston Grange to

for ''£''82.10. He moved to

Mount Eagle (plantation) Mount Eagle was a plantation home built by Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron in 1789–90, south of Hunting Creek and Alexandria in Fairfax County, Virginia. It was demolished in 1968; the Huntington Metro Station and several condominium ...

, (south of

Hunting Creek Hunting Creek is a cove and tributary stream of the Potomac River between the City of Alexandria and Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commo ...

, and Alexandria), where he lived from 1790, until his death. Upon the death of his cousin

Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron MP (1707–1793), was a member of the Scottish peerage and politician. He died at Leeds Castle, England, which he inherited from his mother Catherine, daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper ...

in 1793, Bryan inherited the title of eighth

Lord Fairfax of Cameron Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron Lord Fairfax of Cameron is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. Despite holding a Scottish peerage, the Lords Fairfax of Cameron are members of an ancient Yorkshire family, of which the Fairfax baron ...

. "Bryan Fairfax inherited Towlston Manor in 1757 upon the death of his father, William Fairfax, cousin of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, for whom Fairfax County was named. Lord Fairfax later gave him the adjoining Great Falls Manor of 12,588 acres in 1765. The house, Towlston Grange, was built while Bryan and his family were in England in 1766 or shortly after his return. On March 4, 1767, Martha and George Washington traveled to Towlston to stand as godparents for Bryan's third son, Ferdinando. The first known letter to his friend George Washington with the Towlston address is dated 1768. Washington's diaries, Bryan's letters, and Fairfax tradition recount the many happy visits that Washington made to Bryan, Elizabeth, and their young family in this home. The Virginia census of 1782 noted Towlston Grange as having one dwelling, ten outbuildings, six white persons and 18 slaves, a modest plantation. Most of Towlston Manor was leased to farmers. In 1790, Bryan moved into a grander house he built outside of Alexandria that he named Mount Eagle. George Washington wrote Fairfax, commenting on how happy he was to have him closer to Mount Vernon." ''(From the 1999 GFHS Calendar.) '

Jack and Ethel Durham

Jack and Ethel Durham purchased and restored Towlston Grange in the 1930s. Jack served as the Chairman of the Fairfax County History Commission. Ethel co-founded Langley (Cooperative) School in McLean. They raised a daughter, Nancy. They promoted the creation of the

Great Falls National Park Great Falls Park is a small National Park Service (NPS) site in Virginia, United States. Situated on along the banks of the Potomac River in northern Fairfax County, the park is a disconnected but integral part of the George Washington Memorial ...

, and advocated the restoration of the Patowmack Canal, and preservation the

C & O Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Potomac Canal, wh ...

right-of-way as a national park.

References

External links

Towlston Grange Then, Great Falls Historical Society

{{Coord, 38, 57, 23, N, 77, 15, 38, W, display=title Fairfax family residences Houses in Fairfax County, Virginia Plantations in Virginia