I grew up in Annandale in the 1950's to 1980's. I remember an old man bum who would wander around town with a sack collecting junk. He lived in a shack on a chunk of land near the intersection of Backlick Rd and 236, next to where the old Thom McAnn shoe store used to be. When he died it was found out that he was very wealthy and had no heirs. Supposedly, the county eventually took his land and sold it to developers who built those ugly brown townhouses that are still there. Do any of the old timers here remember Mr Coffee and this story about him?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2017 02:22AM by Crestwood54.

Mr.Coffee,
Yes I do remember him well. He liked living outside in his shack with his dogs. He liked cigars,and used them as chewing tobacco . He could found every Sunday in he back pew of St Michaels .He nice man if you get a word out of him. Way back on the 1950's is my acquaintance with him. Annandale a nice place to be.
Thanks
Mike

If you never got to Mr Coffee you would not be able say much about. He came from a dairy farm after an stoke became disoriented and wanted to be left alone . The dogs that were cattle dogs for herding would not leave their owner alone after the accident or stroke. His family might not even knew his where abouts his the old one-time just go away when tragidy strikes or when their time is near.Fairfax County was a great farming county long ago. Do some research before name calling him a bum.He was smarter than you.Don't sweat the small stuff.

Funny someone would mention him after do long.
He had children believe it or not perhaps one of my school teachers in elementary school. Living in a shack well back in his day or his parents a shack was all there was. Living on a farm with cattle and livestock is not the downtown condo Most farms eventually go out of production and get revitalized into air ports,or shopping malls.
Yes I remember Mr Coffee but I never called him bum.I never gave him a label or made jokes about him either. I was say good morning how,are you today Mr Coffee.

Mr Coffee,His property was the length of Ravensworth Road in the nineteenth cenury. His hair bright red as three other men back then. A One a farm owner with same red hair across from the farm where Mr Coffe use to stay with his dogs
during his last days. He grew corn and tomatoes,to sell every year on Ravensworth Road and to local stores in Annandale. And two other sons one the mechanic of the family. He rented walls yo horsebowners in bottom part of his barn . and a third constuction superitendantfor St Michaels school and church. Mr Coffee was not bum.

I think he was banned from Gold Gym for smelling bad and wearing oversized shirts.

God fearing man.… Father Scanell of St. Michaels Stole land from him (pennies on the dollar) …..

Mr. Coffee was a hermit not a bum. He owned a very large portion of land and gave property for next to nothing to St Michaels. He used to walk around Annandale with a burlap sack collecting bottles for the 3 cent redemption at the Giant Food. My mother made the mistake of picking him up one day because she felt sorry for him. Pee-yew!!! He never bathed and he chewed tobacco. He sat in the last pew in church and even spit his tobacco juice on the kneelers. Nobody sat near him!
He lived in the middle of the woods in a tar paper shack, and a few times my friends and I would sneak out of recess into the woods and visit him. He had a dog that was just as scruffy looking as he was. We thought he was cool living in the woods but we knew he was a bit off his rocker. The man was a millionaire on paper with all of that land but you would never know it by the way he lived.
I went to St Michaels from kindergarten through 8th grade so I knew every inch of that property -- a lot of it was off limits to students, so guess where my friends and I chose to explore?