ded many times by Union troops but still managed to keep its
secret.

Beyond the D'Astre place was the home of Charles Broadwater, which
has recently been torn down for widening of The Little River
Turnpike. When torn down, the well house revealed numerous musket
balls from the war. The house itself was a study in architectural
beaming. Each wall header was constructed of large hand-hewn oak
timbers. Each timber had hand-hewn slots which received studs
secured by wooden pegs.

The large colonial brick house at the corner of Sager Avenue and
University Drive was possibly built during this era too. The land
had been part of the Ratcliffe division, designated as Lot 26, and
had passed from the Moss family to the Jackson family. Later, a Mr.
Harry Fitzhugh, who taught school here, bought it and eventually
sold it to Mr. F. W. Richardson.

The Draper house at the corner of Main and Route 237 was built in
1827 by Dr. S. Draper who occupied it until 1842, at which time a
Mr. William Chapman bought it. The wide upstairs portico and two
immense chimneys at each end of the brick house were characteristic
of the houses built at that time.

The large white frame house belonging now to Mrs. Fairfax Shield
McCandlish, Sr., and being located across from the Fairfax Post
Office was built before 1839 and was owned and occupied by the
Conrad family. They called it "Rose Bower". A son, Thomas Nelson
Conrad, served as a Captain in the Confederate Army and at one time
as a Rebel Scout. In 1859 it was bought by a Mr. Thomas Murray who
later rented it to a lawyer by the name of Thomas Moore. Mr. Moore
had married one of the young ladies who attended Coomb's Cottage--a
Miss Hannah Morris from Oswego County, New York. Mr. Moore was to
have the distinction of carrying the court records to Warrenton,
when the war clouds gathered around Fairfax.

By 1843 Zion Church was founded under the leadership of the Reverend
Richard Templeton Brown. He writes: "On the 8th of February last we
had the pleasure of a new congregation at this very destitute place
and prompt measures were adopted for the immediate erection of a
plain and substantial church. The edifice has been commenced, and,
if not entirely finished, will be used during the present year. Some
of the most influential citizens of the place and neighborhood are
interested in the work; the ladies also are zealously engaged; and
we trust that, by the blessing of God, the Church at this place w