the spring has since dried up and although many people, including the British, have searched for years for the "buried treasure", it has never been found.

Near the intersection of Ox Road and Braddock Road was a tract of land (the future site of George Mason College, the northern Virginia branch of the University of Virginia) which was owned by the Farr family. The large home on this tract of land was burned by Union forces during the Civil War in retaliation for a very brave act by the young fourteen year old Farr boy.

This young boy, knowing that Union troops were located at Fairfax Station waiting to attack the Court House, built a road block of logs across the Ox Road over which these troops had to pass. Hiding himself in the underbrush nearby, he fired so heroically upon the enemy troops, as they approached, that they assumed there was a large group of Confederates waiting for them and withdrew to Fairfax Station. When they learned of the hoax, they returned and burned the Farr home to the ground.

V. THE TOWN

Historically, the most important house in the town of Fairfax is the Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House at 10386 Main Street. This little brick house was built in 1805 when the town was founded and the original half meets the specifications of the 1805 Virginia State Legislature. It is sixteen feet square, has a brick chimney, and is "fit for habitation." The Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House is considered to be in "pristine" form and unchanged from its original condition except for an 1830 addition which is believed to have been built by the same brick mason.[1]

The little brick house was the first structure completed when Richard Ratcliffe established his town named Providence (now Fairfax). Henry Logan bought the house and later sold it to Gordon and Robert Allison. They added a large parlor and bedroom to the house and built a stable in the backyard to take care of the horses of their paying guests and possibly those of the Alexandria-Winchester Stage Coach Line.

THE RATCLIFFE-LOGAN-ALLISON HOUSE
Photo by Ollie Atkins

Richard Ratcliffe's tavern at the northwest corner of the intersection of Chain Bridge Road and The Little River Turnpike was one of the larger houses in Fairfax. Caleb Earp operated a store in the basement of this tavern and the crossroads was known as "Earp's Corner" when George Mason recommended in 1789 that the court house be located at this juncture.

The tavern was extended westward by a Capt. Rizin Willcoxon and subsequently bought by the Allisons. An 1837 inventory shows there was a store, a cellar, a granary, a bar, kitchen, parlour, dining room, tailor's shop, sky parlour, and at least twelve bedrooms in the tavern.

Capt. Willcoxon, who was a relative and friend of Richard Ratcliffe, built the addition to the tavern out of bricks kilned by slaves. The foundation of the Willcoxon home on Route 237 was also built of bricks from the same kiln. This home was named "Blenheim." The name of Union soldiers who occupied the house during the Civil War can be found etched on the walls of its attic.

Although "Blenheim" is still standing today, the Ratcliffe tavern was torn down in the 1920's and the bricks and mantels were purchased by Col. Francis Pickens Miller who incorporated them into the large brick building which is now known as Flint Hill Private School.