Part II: Paris

The Paris story continues below. For the first installment, click here. Now, to the narrative...

Lord Fairfax thus took on both an empire and a quest, namely, to map the limits of his trackless domain. The quest led him to become the first and only Peer of the English Realm to emigrate to America. He made his first crossing in 1735, to inspect his lands and plot his strategy. He returned to England in 1737, spent ten years dotting legal i’s and crossing royal t’s, then returned to the Northern Neck for good in 1747. He first settled at Belvoir, (now Fort Belvoir), where he made the acquaintance in 1748 of a sixteen-year-old member of the Virginia gentry who was working as a surveyor. Fairfax hired the youngster to survey his holdings in the Northern Neck, including the area around Ashby’s Bent. The relationship lasted throughout Lord Fairfax’s lifetime.

More historical irony; six years later the young surveyor, now an officer in the English army, led an ill-fated foray through Ashby’s Bent into the western lands to confront the forces of France (remember, this posting is about Paris). His expedition ended in defeat (the only surrender of his military career), after firing the opening shots in a seven year conflict between the English and French empires that drained the British Exchequer, leading directly to oppressive taxation of the English Colonies, with the ultimate result of rebellion and secession of said colonies from the Empire.

And who was the biggest winner of the rebellion? Why, none other than General George Washington, ex-surveyor from Mount Vernon (near Belvoir) who is rightly remembered as the Father of his country. And who was the biggest loser? Arguably, it was Thomas Fairfax, who, as a result of the rebellion, forfeited title to a domain which includes Alexandria, Fairfax, Prince William, Loudon, Fauquier, etc. etc. counties, a region which today comprises some of the most valuable real estate in the world. Consider this; under the terms of the original royal grant, the Fairfax family enjoyed a ground rent on every square foot of Alexandria and Fairfax Counties, in perpetuity. Bill Gates? The Saudi royal family? Gimme a break.

And this is why I love this place, the karma. As the British prisoners from Yorktown were marched through Ashby’s Bent on their long trudge to Winchester, Lord Fairfax took it all in stride. Clad in buckskins, and presiding at Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley, he accepted his fate. He held no grudge against Washington, nor did the rebels retaliate against the well-known Tory.

Of course, Fairfax had not neglected his own affairs. While he enjoyed the seigniorial title to the Northern Neck, he had established several manors, personal holdings of the Fairfax family. The foremost of these was the Manor of Leeds, named in honor of the birthplace of the Lord. As the rumblings of revolution became unmistakable, Fairfax transferred seigniorial title of the Manor of Leeds to a compliant nephew, who then sold the Manor back to his uncle, thereby giving Fairfax a private title recognized by the revolutionary government. Thus, Thomas arrived at the end of his life, on December 12, 1781, less than 2 months after the surrender at Yorktown, with at least a clear title to the Manor of Leeds, including the current village of Paris, Virginia.


More on Paris on the morrow. Stay tuned.