house in Alexandria's market square. Alexandria no longer was
central to the County's most important interests. Its port was losing
trade to rivals, principally Baltimore, and the voice of the growing
numbers of settlers in the western part of the county complained that
Alexandria merchants gained at the expense of others by having the
court meet in their town. George Mason of Gunston Hall felt that
Alexandria politicians were building up too strong a hold on the
machinery of County government, and sought the aid of members of the
General Assembly to arrange for changing the location of the
courthouse.[20] Finally, in 1798, the Virginia General Assembly
directed that Fairfax County's Court House be relocated to a site
closer to the center of the County.[21]

The search for a suitable site had gone on for almost ten years
previously and might not have been concluded even then if its urgency
had not been sharpened by the passage of Congressional legislation
leading to creation of the District of Columbia, and the threat that
Alexandria would fall within the boundaries of the new Federal
capital. Since by law the County Court could not meet outside the
boundaries of the County, no further delay could be permitted. Land
was acquired, a new courthouse was built, and the County Court moved
into its new quarters early in 1800.[22]

NOTES FOR CHAPTER I

[1] Albert O. Porter, _County Government in Virginia_, (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1947), p. 13.

[2] _A Hornbook of Virginia History_, (Richmond: Virginia State
Library, 1965), p. 64.

[3] Virginia, Laws, 1748, c. 7, revising earlier statutes on courts
enacted in 1662 and 1679.

[4] Wilmer Hall (Ed.), _Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial
Virginia_, (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1945), V. 93.

[5] _Industrial and Historical Sketch of Fairfax County_, (Fairfax:
County Board of County Supervisors, 1907), p. 45.

[6] Northern Neck Grants Book, Liber E, p. 182. William Fairfax was a
cousin of the Proprietor, and acted as his agent.

[7] The so-called Truro Parish Partition Map, purporting to lay out
boundaries for a division of Truro Parish to create a new parish for
the western settlements. See _Virginia Magazine of History and
Biography_, XXXVI, 180.

[8] Fairfax County Deed Book, Liber A, No. 2, p. 494.

[9] Fairfax County Deed Book, Liber A, Pt. 1, p. 52, Survey, March 17,
1742.

[10] E. Sprouse (ed), Fairfax County Abstracts: Court Ord