Fast-forward 156 years and a few miles east to
the Mosaic District, and see dozens of would-
be artists creating their own indelible record
of the day. Clad in paint-spattered aprons, they
put brush to canvas at Muse Paintbar, a “paint
and sip” emporium with art instructors and
bartenders at hand. Muse is just one of dozens
of retail outlets, eateries, and other amusements
in this six-year-old commercial hub. Although
the Mosaic District lies less than four miles
east of the heart of Fairfax City, its hip, urban
vibe couldn’t seem more distant. While Fairfax’s
historic heart is steeped in early American
history, Mosaic looks to the future.
STROLLING THROUGH HISTORY
Fairfax’s six-block historic heart is lined with stately Georgian-
and Federal-style buildings. Embossed markers along its brick
sidewalks serve mini history lessons. George and Martha
Washington recorded their wills at the circa 1800 Historic
Fairfax Courthouse. Confederate President Jefferson Davis
reviewed war strategy at a local tavern in 1861. That same
year, the first fatality of the Civil War, involving a skirmish
between the opposing forces, occurred nearby.
The Visitor Center, housed in an 1873 elementary school,
offers walking maps, guides, and suggestions galore. Its
small museum traces the area’s Colonial history, from
its origins as a land grant by King Charles II to nobleman
Thomas Fairfax, to its suburban boom in the 1940s and ’50s.
The city’s Civil War history comes into sharp focus at Historic
Blenheim and the Civil War Interpretive Center, about a
mile northeast of the courthouse. It’s here, on the site of
the former 367-acre farm occupied by four generations of
the Willcoxon family, that the soldiers made their marks.
The last family member died in 1988, and a dedicated cadre
of locals banded together to save Blenheim’s remaining 12
acres from development, along with the 1857 Greek Revival
farmhouse at the heart.
Today, the interpretive center focuses on the lives of the
Union soldiers who stayed here. Despite their Confederate
sympathies, the Willcoxon’s took pains to preserve the
attic graffiti.
“All the generations of Willcoxon’s protected that attic.
You didn’t get to go up there unless you were special,” says
Hildie Carney, one of whom worked to preserve the land.
Researchers have identified 125-plus signatures in the attic
alone, a portion of which has been painstakingly re-created,
along with a Civil War–era infirmary, in the center’s museum.
FLYWASHINGTON.COM 56 SPRING 2019
After the city acquired the house in 1998, more markings
were uncovered beneath eight coats of wallpaper and paint
in the living areas.
Just inside the door, a soldier has written, “It seems to [sic]
bad to destroy property in this way.” In the attic, another
writer assured, “Lovely ones we come to protect and
not to injure.” Another, more dejected soul, penned this
lament: “4th Month. No Money. No Whiskey. No Friends. No
Rations. No Peas. No Beans. No Pants. No Patriotism.”
While Fairfax’s historic
heart is steeped
in early American
history, Mosaic looks
to the future .
Historic Blenheim Wall Markings