Colonial Road

This crossroad is a branch of the old Dumfries-Winchester highway, a colonial route connecting Quantico Creek and the Potomac River to the Shenandoah Valley. Dumfries, about 26 miles southeast of here, emerged as a busy tobacco port by the mid-18th century and became the seat of Prince William County in 1759. This road carried crops to the port and supplies to the backcountry. In March 1748, 16-year-old George Washington traveled this road as part of a surveying party that crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains and laid out portions of the vast land grant controlled by Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax.