Brentsville - The Public Lot

(caption of upper, left picture) Prince William County’s surveyor, Thomas Nelson Jr., recorded this plat of Brentsville on November 30, 1822. The Public Square is outlined in red. The Courthouse, Jail, and Clerk of the Court’s Office were constructed on ...

Brentsville - One-Room School

(caption of upper, left picture) The Brentsville School as it appeared ca. 1940.

Lucy Walsh Phinney Collection, Gift of Steve and Cynthia Phinney in Memory of Lucy Phinney

This school was built in 1928 over the original location of the County Clerk’s ...

Brentsville – Clerks’ Office

Built by 1822 with the Courthouse and Jail, the Clerk’s Office was located here. The three buildings created a symmetrical design within the Public Lot. The Clerk’s Office was built to be “…26 feet by 16; pitch 18 feet; walls ...

Brentsville – 1822 Tavern Site

If you had stood in this spot between 1822 and about 1900, you would have seen a large structure to your right, bustling with activity. This is the site of the Brentsville Tavern, also know as the Brentsville Hotel. You ...

Brentsville – Outbuildings

Tavern Activities

The Brentsville Tavern depended on many people working in numerous buildings. Outbuildings likely included a dairy, a smokehouse, a laundry, and housing. The November 22, 1828 Alexandria Gazette described the lot as “…well improved, with every necessary out building…”.

Archaeologists ...

Brentsville –Tavern Cellar

Here, you can see the edges of a large depression. It is located inside ropes that mark the Tavern’s foundation. This feature was one of two cellars underneath the ca. 1822 Tavern building. These cellars were beneath two rooms that ...

Brentsville – The Tavern

The Brentsville Tavern was a substantial building. It served a variety of people- from Magistrates to farmers. A notice in the November 22, 1828 Alexandria Gazette advertising the sale of THE BRENTSVILLE HOTEL described the Tavern:

…a comfortable main building ...

Brentsville - County Courthouse

This building was constructed by 1822 as Prince William County’s fourth courthouse. The County seat was moved to Brentsville from Dumfries to centralize its location within the county. The Courthouse design is typical of 1800s Virginia courthouses. The front wall ...

Brentsville - County Jail

Built by 1822 with the Courthouse and Clerk’s Office, the Prince William County Jail, or gaol, was larger than most jails built in Virginia at that time. Debtors, runaway slaves, thieves and murderers awaited trial here in timber-lined rooms. Initially, ...

Brentsville

”The houses generally are in ruin …”

Brentsville was the Prince William County seat during the Civil War. In response to John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, the Prince William Cavalry (Co. A, Virginia Cavalry) was formed here ...