User:John1watson

Hayfield Farm Community

Is a community in Alexandria, VA, developed by Wills & Van Metre in the 1960s near Fort Belvoir, VA, named after the land owned by Lund Washington, a cousin of George Washington, and a caretaker at Mount Vernon.

In 1785, shortly after the Revolutionary War, George Washington deeded 460 acres of his Dogue Run Farm to Lund Washington, a third cousin and the "faithful and trusted manager" of the General's Mount Vernon estate. The tract was named "Hayfield" and a brick dwelling house, completed in 1784 by Lund in anticipation of General Washington's return home, was the site's only substantial structure during Lund Washington's ownership. Upon his death, the farm was conveyed to Lund's widow, Elizabeth Foote. Thereafter, Hayfield was used by various owners as a school, cattle farm and residence.

Perhaps the most unique feature of Hayfield was its Round Barn, built for William Clarke between 1874 and 1887. Clarke's "Big Red Barn" stood 100 feet high, 100 feet in diameter as a 16 sided double octagonal shaped barn. Damaged by a fire in 1892, Clarke quickly improved the building with an open circular threshing floor, a 250 ton silo at the center, and 200 steps leading to a cuppola which topped the new roof. Farm manager J.H. Shertzer boasted that the enormous barn could store 400 tons of provender (hay) and that a wagon and team of six horses might drive around the inside with ease. The structure was indeed a "large and commodious barn" adorned with gutters, downspouts, and cast iron ornaments in which the initials "W.E.C" were the central design.

Lund Washington's brick house was destroyed by fire in 1917. Hayfield's secound Round Barn outlasted successive changes in ownership until it too was lot in a fire on September 22, 1967. Fairfax County Park Authority Resource Management Division

Hayfield Farm originally consisted of 691 houses, two of which have been demolished by Fairfax County in 2013. Today, Hayfield Farm (Fairfax County) is surrounded by Huntley Meadows and wooded military facilities. North, adjacent to the community, is a U.S. Coast Guard station off of Telegraph Road.