hn Halley, 1840. Fairfax County
Deed Book H-3, p. 227.]

[Illustration: Figure 3. R. R. Farr Survey, Fairfax County Deed Book C-8,
p. 448.]

As Colchester and Dumfries yielded leadership in commerce to
Alexandria and as Loudoun and Fauquier Counties developed centers of
commerce and seats of government at Leesburg and Warrenton, the desire
for better overland connections with Alexandria gained strength.
Public roadbuilding in this period was treated with indifference by
both public officials and the public at large. Theoretically carried
out by levying a certain amount of labor or materials from the
freeholders of the community, the system never produced good roads in
Northern Virginia; and, in the early nineteenth century, overland
travel generally had permitted them to deteriorate to the point where
both foreign and domestic travelers commented unfavorably on them in
their travel memoirs.[39] Moreover, in the 1800's, the new state
governments were in no position to provide financial support for local
public works and could offer nothing more than their moral support
through legislative approval of private roadbuilding by private
turnpike companies which raised their capital through the sale of
stock and obtained their income by charging tolls for use of the
road.

The earliest private turnpike company charter issued by the Virginia
Legislature was in 1795 for the "Fairfax and Loudoun Road" from
Alexandria to the ford of Little River. This company was never
organized, but, in 1802, a somewhat more liberal charter was given to
the Little River Turnpike Company. This company's road was completed
in 1806 and immediately led to enactment in 1808 of further
legislation authorizing extensions to Fauquier Courthouse.[40]

The Little River Turnpike was located so that Fairfax Courthouse stood
approximately half way between Alexandria and the western terminus at
Aldie. The courthouse thus served as a logical landmark dividing the
upper and lower segments of the road. The turnpike traversed Green
Spring Farm at a point about midway in its lower section. Throughout
the history of the road, the Moss family appears to have been deeply
involved. In 1809, William Moss was appointed and served as one of
three commissioners to advertise and receive subscriptions for stock
in the company constructing the road from the Little River Turnpike to
Fauquier Courthouse.[41]

Thomas Moss served as a director of the Little River Turnpike