Effingham

Effingham, just south of here, was built ca. 1777 and was the home of William Alexander. In 1774 Alexander was elected to the Prince William County Committee of Safety, charged with enforcing an embargo on trade with Great Britain. During the Revolutionary War he served as a lieutenant colonel in the county militia. Alexander was a great-grandson of John Alexander, for whom the city of Alexandria, Virginia, was named. An enslaved workforce of African Americans lived at Effingham. Remaining on the property are a blacksmith shop, smokehouse, slave quarters, traces of a terraced garden, and a family cemetery, where William Alexander is buried.