Virginia Rambler: Ghost Roads, Part 1

Maps show us where we are, where we've been, and where we're going. And sometimes, they also show us where we can't go. "Ghost roads" appear on maps, but when you get to them, they aren't drivable, and maybe not there at all.

Accotink Road in Lorton is one of these ghost roads. At the point where it intersects with Fisher Woods Drive, it devolves into a deeply rutted gravel path. Clearly it's been many years since it was fit for vehicular traffic, but it's still there on the map.

Here's the start of the abandoned stretch of Accotink. You can see the end of the paved "driveway" that extends down to the Thorsen house (the last house on the paved road), tucked into the woods just to the left of this vista.

Off to the left, two pillars rest on the ground. They appears to have been gateposts.... somewhere. Possibly at Twinbrook, an estate that was formerly near the start of this stretch of Accotink Road. Or possibly at Mount Air, the 18th century plantation whose ruins Accotink Road borders.

This road becomes increasingly rutted as you continue. It had rained hard a few days before our visit, and you can see the mud deposits and pebbles. For such mundane materials, it's oddly picturesque.

This hollow would make a perfect den for a fox, rabbit, or other small creature.

At a T intersection, to the right is Kernan Run; from here, this stream runs through adjacent Mount Air. (See map at top of this post.) The stream is named for Mrs. George Kernan, the mother of the last owner of Mount Air.

Further down the road, on the left, is a rusty gate. You have to look hard to see that beyond this gate, there was once a road. This is Swank Road, subject of my next Ghost Roads post.

And to our surprise, a posted hunting area. (Remember: this is suburbia--lots of houses, schools, and convenience stores, not so many hunting zones.) While we were hiking, we heard shots. Yikes.

Only platform hunting is permitted here. Could this wooden structure be the remains of a platform?

Beyond the posted hunting sign, the going gets rougher. To continue, you have to scramble over, under, and around the fallen trees that cross the path.

If you weren't looking down, you'd miss it: a section of abandoned rails; beyond it, an inexplicably paved short stretch of road. On or very near this site was a railroad spur that connected the Newington line to the former Camp A. A. Humphreys (present-day Fort Belvoir). It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers during World War I to transport troops to the army base to be deployed. [4], [5]

The engineers who built this spur camped on the grounds of Mount Air. The rails tell a story: they were originally ordered by the Russian government, but the country, which had its hands full with the pesky Russian revolution, couldn't accept delivery in 1917, so the rails were diverted to Lorton, Virginia instead. (Thank you, Communism.) [1], [2]

Here's a close-up of the rail, and another section, painted and embedded in the ground at an 80-degree angle. Soon, these remnants of a past era will be gone, replaced by the grounds of the new National Museum of the United States Army. [3] Few people know the rails are here now, and no doubt few people will notice when they're gone. It's sad to think that process of building the museum created to share the history of the U.S. Army will obliterate part of that history.

Just beyond the rails, Accotink Road ends where it meets the Fairfax County Parkway. Half of this ghost road will vanish when the new museum is built. Perhaps it will continue to haunt the maps for a bit longer.

Notes

[1] from Mount Air by Edith Sprouse (p. 51), C 1970, Division of Planning, Fairfax County.

[2]  http://www.trainweb.org/rf&p/archive/stations/stations.htm

[3] http://thenmusa.org/

[4] http://www.army.mil/article/33827/Mount_Air__Former_homestead_tied_to_Fort_Belvoir_history/

[5] http://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2012/07/railroad-warehouses-fort-belvoir.html


Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

Virginia Rambler: Mount Air

Northern Virginia is blessed to have some lovely historic homes--Mount Vernon, Gunston Hall, and Woodlawn Plantation among them. Other beautiful stately homes have been lost. Among those lost are the Belvoir Plantation (on the grounds that are now Fort Belvoir) and Mount Air in Lorton.

Mount Air was a large, working plantation. The land grant for the land it occupied was issued to Dennis McCarty in 1727, and by 1742 a mansion and a working farm and outbuildings were standing. The mansion survived a fire, as well as occupation by troops during the Civil War and World War II, but sadly, it burned to the ground in 1992, just weeks after the last owner died. The ruins and outbuildings have been preserved. For several years I've wanted to visit, and on a mild January day, Mark and I finally got there.

Click on any photo to get a larger version.

Interpretive signs show the remaining buildings and the grounds.

Below, we're looking at the right side of the mansion. County archaeologists tuckpointed the bricks in the basement walls and filled in the basement to preserve it. They swept all the rubble from the fire into the basement and then covered it with the stones you see here.

Below, we're standing in front of the right side of the mansion, looking at the left-side wall. Just to the left of the chimney you can see a set of stairs leading down to the basement.

The chimney below is the tallest remnant of the mansion.

There are two cabins on the property, in poor repair (below); they're relatively close to the mansion. According to oral history, they were slave cabins. (Mount Air was a tobacco plantation, and before the Civil War, the owners had approx. 50 slaves there.) The second photo below shows the slate roof tiles.

Below is the corn crib. You can't tell here, but it's on stilts.

Much of the property is wooded. On the edge of the woods, we found a blanket of snow drops.

Parts of the original formal gardens remain. This is from the boxwood alley.

Behind the greenhouse (also in poor condition), I saw this old gas can, with "Transportation" stenciled on the side. It was a spooky thing to see, since the mansion had burned to the ground. The cause of the fire is unknown, and not likely to be related to this gas can--the surveyors and preservationists would surely have noticed the can--but it's eerie nonetheless.

Preservationists think there were several additional buildings they haven't yet found. Here's a stone step, or lintel, or something, that's not on the map.

And here's another remnant of a structure; this one is very near the left rear corner of the mansion ruins. This was the well house for the original well, which was in use until the 1960s. It drew on water from streams that ran under the plantation land.

Below is the barn (right side). It was designed in Greek Revival style, to match the mansion.

The caretaker's cottage (below) was a 20th-century addition. The preservationists recommend that it be torn down because it's not "historically significant."

Near the mansion is a native Virginia meadow. While the Army Corps of Engineers was building nearby Camp Humphreys, they camped in this meadow. Another interesting detail: somewhere in this meadow are the graves of the several members of the McCarty family, the original owners of Mount Air. It's said that a later owner found it depressing to look at the graves (in view of the verandah of the mansion), so the headstones--but not the bodies--were relocated to Cedar Grove, a family property elsewhere.

We left Mount Air at sunset and promised ourselves we'd return in the spring, when the remnants of the formal gardens would be in bloom.

Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.