Matildaville is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

located along the

Patowmack Canal The Patowmack Canal, sometimes called the Potomac Canal, is a series of five inoperative canals located in Maryland and Virginia, United States, that was designed to bypass rapids in the Potomac River upstream of the present Washington, D.C., are ...

near present day

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 ...

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. It was named for the wife of

Light Horse Harry Lee Henry Lee III (January 29, 1756 – March 25, 1818) was an early American Patriot and U.S. politician who served as the ninth Governor of Virginia and as the Virginia Representative to the United States Congress. Lee's service during the Ameri ...

, on 40 acres of land owned at the time by

Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Rev. Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17361802) was an Anglican clergyman and Scottish peer (the title was created in 1627 before the Union of 1707). He was a lifelong friend of George Washington and became the first American-born Lo ...

, and served as headquarters for the

Patowmack Company The Potomac Company (spelled variously as Patowmack, Potowmack, Potowmac, and Compony) was created in 1785 to make Internal improvements, improvements to the Potomac River and improve its navigability for commerce. The project is perhaps the fir ...

from 1785 until 1799. Now, all that remains of the town are a series of ruins on the grounds of

Great Falls 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 ...

History

Although both the Maryland and Virginia legislatures issued charters for the Patowmack Company in 1785, and

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 ...

became its first president (as well as owner of 50 shares of stock), the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

did not issue a charter for this town until 1790. Its first trustees were: George Gilpin, Albert Russell, Josiah Clapham,

Richard Bland Lee Richard Bland Lee (January 20, 1761March 12, 1827) was an American planter, jurist, and politician from Fairfax County, Virginia. He was the son of Henry Lee II (1730–1787) of "Leesylvania" and Lucy Grymes (1734–1792), as well as a younger b ...

Leven Powell Leven Powell (1737August 23, 1810) was a Virginia planter, merchant, Continental Army officer and Federalist Party (United States), Federalist politician who served several terms in the Virginia House of Delegates as well as in the Virginia Ra ...

and Samuel Love. It began as a staging and headquarters area for construction of the canal. At its height the town included the residence of the Patowmack Canal Company superintendent, a market, grist mill, sawmill, foundry, inn, ice house, workers' barracks, boarding houses, and other homes. Boatman and passengers stopped to wait their turn through the locks. Although the canal which ultimately opened up the

Ohio River Valley The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinoi ...

for development was a lifelong dream of George Washington, the President died two years before completion of this first section. In 1802, the Patowmack Company finished a series of five canals and locks (including the Patowmack Canal) which enabled flat-bottomed boats poled like gondolas to skirt the falls of the Potomac River, and in 1807 it collected $15,000 in tolls. However, its construction costs greatly exceeded estimates and it never became a financial success. In 1821 a joint committee appointed by the Virginia and Maryland legislatures recommended that its charter be revoked, though instead it merged into the newly organized

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company 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 ...

in 1828. An attempt to reinvent the town as a textile manufacturing center, modeled after the town of

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

, was made in 1839 by the Great Falls Manufacturing Company. The Company purchased the Patowmack Canal land at Great Falls, along with several town lots. In 1839, the town was re-chartered as South Lowell. However, in 1853, Congress granted the U.S. government power to condemn land in order to construct an aqueduct. In 1858, the government filed a lawsuit to shut the mills, which shareholders and the State of Virginia contested for four decades, by which time the Civil War had ended and the manufacturing enterprise long closed. Tourists and local fisherman at Great Falls frequently dined and lodged at one of the town's taverns. Dickey's Tavern, constructed circa 1797, claimed to have hosted every U.S. President from George Washington to

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and was the last remaining building in Matildaville before a fire destroyed it in 1950.

References

{{Fairfax County, Virginia

Archaeological sites in Virginia This is a listing of sites of archaeological interest in the state of Virginia, in the United States. {{Commons cat, Archaeological sites in Virginia Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlant ...

Geography of Fairfax County, Virginia Former municipalities in Virginia Ghost towns in Virginia 1790 establishments in Virginia