History Beneath Our Feet

We are fortunate in Lorton to have a connection to the past in every step we take. Not only is the ground we walk upon today part of a rich Native American heritage that goes back thousands of years but, more recently, footprints can be traced to the likes of John Smith, George Washington, George Mason, Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, and "The Gray Ghost" - fabled Civil War Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby.

Valuable information still lies beneath the surface almost everywhere you look. For instance, a 2003 archeological excavation at present-day Lorton Valley North community produced a full range of studies from prehistoric American Indians to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“Whereas the most commonly reported archeological finds related to rural America have come from the homes of the rich and famous, this site offers a wonderful and pristine opportunity to record the lives of one rural farm family and possibly their slaves,” said an archeologist for the Fairfax County Park Authority at the time. 

An Interesting History 

John Coffer, a former Revolutionary War officer, bought the land around the property from the widowed sister of Francis Mason in 1797. Coffer, who had 18 slaves, died in 1807 and divided all of his lands among his five children, with the property around the site going to his daughter, Fanny.

Fanny married Richard Wilson in 1812. By 1860, Fanny she was living with her widowed daughter, Mary Ingelheart. She died in 1866, according to a tombstone located in a small cemetery on an adjacent property. The Ingleheart name appears on the 1879 Hopkin’s Atlas, next to a house symbol on the site near Giles Run. It the earliest mapped reference to a house being on the property.

The discovery of a domestic foundation, a large pile of very old bricks within another foundation and a square pit-like feature, possibly a privy, gave no indication that the site had been disturbed. Visible on the ground were exposed pieces of earthenware and stoneware pottery, glass and a few stone flakes from an earlier American Indian occupation.

The area became known as the “Fanny Wilson Site” and over several months time the site yielded a sizable collection of artifacts that helped add to the knowledge of the area’s rich past. The archeological excavation was funded in part by developer Kettler, under the supervision of the Fairfax County Park Authority and with the help of many volunteers.

Who knows how many other sites in and around Lorton are waiting to be discovered and what secrets they might give up. A wealth of history beneath our feet can continue to enrich our lives and contribute to our awareness of the important lessons from the past.