Anyone know the history or namesake of Gallows Road (Between Tysons and Merrifield)? Was there an actual hanging gallows or a family named Gallows?

Please, no speculation. I can think of reasons why it might be named that, too. I'm looking for someone who has the actual facts.

Thanks,

J.

What I've heard:

There were actually gallows in the Freedom Hill area of Tysons Corner, where prisoners were executed.

This makes sense since Freedom Hill is also off of Old Courthouse Road (where the courthouse used to be).

http://novaroads.mjhale.com/history/roadnames/index.html

Gallows Road: This road led to the Fairfax County Gallows which were located in the Freedom Hill area near Tyson's Corner. Offenders were tried in Alexandria and then transported on Little River Turnpike and then on Gallows Road to the gallows themselves.


Backlick Road: Got its name over 200 years ago from the salt licks along the road that attracted deer to the area. These deer were hunted by the Powhatan Indians who were early inhabitants of the area. Based on the amount of artifacts found in the areas near Backlick Road, it is believed that the Powhatan Indians had camps in the area. Backlick Road became an important link between the Little River Turnpike and Telegraph Road during the Revolutionary War.

Braddock Road: Named after General Edward Braddock who commanded British and colonial forces in the French and Indian War. General Braddock is said to have used the road that would bear his name to transport his troops and supplies from Alexandria to Winchester and then to a battle against the French Fort Duquesne near what is now Pittsburgh, PA. Legend has it that General Braddock buried cannon full of about $30,000 dollars of gold coin near a portion of the highway. He did this to lighten the load of his wagons after they got stuck in mud. The gold and the cannon have never been found.

Chain Bridge: A bridge was first built at this site in 1797. It was known as "Fall's Bridge" due to its proximity to the Little Falls of Potomac. The bridge was carried away by high water in 1804. A second bridge, suspended by iron chains anchored in stone abutments, was built in 1808. It was this bridge that came to be known as Chain Bridge. The present bridge, built in 1938, does not use chains, but does use masonry piers which photogrpahic evidence shows were in place in the later 1800's. The present retains the name Chain Bridge.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane.

Thanks! Awesome information. I appreciate it.

J.

did you not figure it had something to do with a set of gallows? are you fucking braindead

er hello Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> did you not figure it had something to do with a
> set of gallows? are you fucking braindead


There could've easily have been a farm owned by Farmer Gallows near that road long ago. The name doesn't necessarily mean there was an actual gallows there. There's a street in that neighborhood called Wolftrap Road- does that mean there was an actual wolftrap located there long ago? What about Broad St. in Falls Church- is that where broads used to hang out back in the day?

TheMeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> er hello Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > did you not figure it had something to do with
> a
> > set of gallows? are you fucking braindead
>
>
> There could've easily have been a farm owned by
> Farmer Gallows near that road long ago. The name
> doesn't necessarily mean there was an actual
> gallows there. There's a street in that
> neighborhood called Wolftrap Road- does that mean
> there was an actual wolftrap located there long
> ago? What about Broad St. in Falls Church- is
> that where broads used to hang out back in the
> day?


+1

Does anyone know how Guinea Road got its name?

I know that the road was called that when the burial ground was sold by the Fitzhugh family.

According to Brian Conley, Guinea Road crossed the Little River Turnpike until around 1920.

Everybody knows Gallows Road was named after Ernest and Julio Gallow!

Hell, the Civil War started after some guys got fucked up on their cheap-ass wine!

GMU Hokie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone know how Guinea Road got its name?
>
> I know that the road was called that when the
> burial ground was sold by the Fitzhugh family.
>
> According to Brian Conley, Guinea Road crossed the
> Little River Turnpike until around 1920.


Can't find anything right yet. Maybe it has to do with the guinea coin? It was an English coin worth 21 shillings, or since there was a large slave population there, maybe it was named after Guinea in west Africa....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane.

GMU Hokie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone know how Guinea Road got its name?
>

This is the road that Italians traveled on their way to be executed.

"brain dead" is two words, jackass.

Actually, it's hyphenated.

Anyone know the history of Hooking Rd., in McLean?

Historian Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone know the history of Hooking Rd., in McLean?

Hooking Rd was named after the 1st kegling center in Fairfax County which was built in the late 1800s. In 1936 it was burned to the ground by irate keglers when management changed the color of the rental shoes from blue & green to blue & red. In 1938 a new kegling center was rebuilt on the opposite side of rt 123 on chain bridge rd but Hooking Rd retained it's name for historical purposes. Actually, there is a family that lives on Hooking Rd named Weber, that when they learned the history of the street they lived on, had a kegling lane installed in their basement.

Pope's Head Rd has to have a good story behind it...

I have always laughed about the potential origin of Pohick Rd... If you are old enough to remember that road before the Parkway was even an idea you know what I'm talking about.

yeah, what is the reasoning behind pope head's road? it's the strangest road name that i know of.

hm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yeah, what is the reasoning behind pope head's
> road? it's the strangest road name that i know of.

I gotta say balls road is the weirdest. I always wanted to live on the culdesac of balls road.

hm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yeah, what is the reasoning behind pope head's
> road? it's the strangest road name that i know of.

Pope's Head is an old street name in London.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/GMP/phe_final_cdp_12-11-03.pdf



During the 18th century, the subject parcels were part of
a large parcel of some 1,200 acres owned and named by
Edward Payne. His holdings comprised lands along
Popes Head Creek and Piney Branch. According to
local historical records, Payne also built a small
gristmill. While the date of the original mill is uncertain,
it appears that it was built sometime between 1790 and
1804. The first historical mention of the mill was in
1815 in a sales notice for Hope Park by Dr. David Stuart
who purchased Hope Park from Payne in 1785.
The property remained intact until 1822, some 8 years
after Dr. Stuart’s death in 1814. In 1822, 383 acres of
Hope Park were “conveyed away”. In 1825, an
additional 220 acres were purchased by Ellzey T. Sheid,
who later divided this parcel (Deed Book Liber T-3,
page 67), on September 15, 1852. The farthest western
extent of this property ended at Piney Branch, and
contains most of the parcels that make up this portion of
park. These parcels are adjacent to the properties of
John Barnes, Sr., who purchased Hope Park in February
of 1838. At that time, the plantation was in a terrible
state. The Barnes family restored Hope Park when the
Orange and Alexandria Railroad extended west into the
Pope’s Head Creek Valley. The railroad provided the
local farming economy an instrument for getting harvest
to a larger market that boosted the local economy. The
large Barnes parcels were subdivided to his heirs in
1853 (Deed Book S-3, p. 375).
Further subdivision of these parcels resulted in the adjacent

Read the story of Blackbeard and you will know how it got it's name..

Can anyone explain where 'Annandale' came from?

Annandale is a Korean word for "pork fried rice".

-----------------------------------------------

"...your suffering will be legendary even in Hell!"

MC2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Can anyone explain where 'Annandale' came from?

http://annandale.va.us/history.html

Annandale is unique in that its history can be traced directly to the pre-Revolutionary period, when, in 1685, an Englishman by the name of Col. William H. Fitzhugh purchased over 24,000 acres of land and his descendants later named the tract "Ravensworth." From an untamed wilderness, Fitzhugh converted the land into one of the largest tobacco plantations in Northern Virginia.

For over six generations, members of the Fitzhugh family farmed at Ravensworth, slowly selling off portions of the land. It was not until 1830 that the plantation name was no longer used. In its place the community was named Annandale, after the Scottish village located at the mouth of the Annan River.

Thanks. For the longest time I thought it was named after a couple.

Pinhead the Cenobite Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Annandale is a Korean word for "pork fried rice".

I don't get it. Pork fried rice is a Chinese thing.

Guinea Rd - cause the end of it was at a toll booth on the Little River Turnpike and it cost a Guinea (old type of coin) to pay to get thru the toll booth

Popes Head Rd - named after the creek - which is the Popes Head (start) of the Bull Run - named after the Civil War General

Are you saying they do not eat pork and they do not eat rice in Korea?

-----------------------------------------------

"...your suffering will be legendary even in Hell!"

They eat this pork http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samgyeopsal
They eat this rice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamed_rice

They do not eat pork fried rice.

have you been to Korea?

-----------------------------------------------

"...your suffering will be legendary even in Hell!"

Yes, I lived there for a few years.

http://www.trifood.com/kimchibokumbop.asp

-----------------------------------------------

"...your suffering will be legendary even in Hell!"

Meh. That's different.

Did you really google Korean fried rice to prove me wrong?

no it was one of my favorites.

-----------------------------------------------

"...your suffering will be legendary even in Hell!"

Oh ok. Same here. I ate it almost everyday back in college. Cheap and tasty.

I thought some of the postings (and hence the posters) were ridiculous. But as I neared the end of the page I suddenly realized I had just read it all so what did that make me? Certainly no better..... lol

I found this online too...

Gallows Road: This road led to the Fairfax County Gallows which were located in the Freedom Hill area near Tyson's Corner. Offenders were tried in Alexandria and then transported on Little River Turnpike and then on Gallows Road to the gallows themselves.

you know, nobody knows where the original Courthouse and gallows were located exactly - it's supposed to be where that building with the big "O" ring is now, in at the 123/Old Courthouse Rd intersection is but I dont think they ever found the cornerstone or anything like that...................

Pure speculation, but I remember reading about the current courthouse, and when it was built it was a big deal that it was made of brick and stone. Perhaps the old court house was a wooden structure, and no cornerstone or lasting imprint in the ground would be found. The gallows definitely would have been made from timber as well.

My grandparents owned a 145 acre Farm on Pope Head Road back in the early 1930's. My grandfather was a famous Architect back in his time named Milton Bennett Medary. They had a barn outback of their White Farm House that all the men would hang out in late at night and party and talk while my mom said she would sit at the window with her mom and baby brother and watch. They where never allowed to go back there. They bought the 145 acre Farmhouse with no electricity or running water at the time. They had horses and nannies for each child.

One day my grandmother was coming back home and driving up a very steep hill with my mom at age 7yrs old at the time, named Pope Head Road when a Milk Truck with a kid driving it flew over the hill and hit straight on into my grandmothers car causing my mom to fly through the windshield. My grandmother and my mom where in Critical condition. My mom actually lost part of her scull and piece of her lip and cutting up her face leaving a huge/ deep scar completely down the whole side of her face.
The doctors said she may not live. My grandfather got live in nurses to care for both my mom 7yrs old and my grandmother around the clock. They both slowly healed, but mom with years of therapy and had withstand-ed brain damage which caused her to loose memory back to the age two. She had to start all over again as if she was never seven, but 2. She hated herself and everyone for the way they treated her. Here mother and father sold the 145 acre farm, but a few acres they gave to the nannies and servants that help them for years on the land including giving them my moms horse and a few other live stock to start them out on. They then moved back to Philadelphia and then putting my mom in a school in Florida and hiding her away from society because they where ashamed of the way she looked and they did not want her to interfere with there rich popular life style. My mom was angry and hurt. I found notes from the school in my moms drawer after she passed stating that my mom really needed clothes and shoes and the teach saying what she wanted for Christmas and how much she missed everyone. It made me cry to read this letter from so long ago that my mom never let go. It explains why she was treated so bad for so many years.. My mom said when she was living in Florida later with her mom that she would go to the library and teach herself how to read because her mother did not think she was capable. She was running a high fever and very sick and her friends would sneak over to care for her. When my mom tried to have a relationship as she got into her teens her mom would chase them off or pay them to leave. My mom then ran from home at 21yrs old after she got word that she may be put away again and her mom tried saying she was harmful to herself. She jumped into her Dodge and took until she got a flat. She walked to a gas station along the road to where she met my dad. She had no choose but to get someone in her life and seduced my dad and later marrying him and had us three children so her mother could not commit her into a Crazy House..my mom put it. All her life she read books and took coursed just to prove she was as smart and capable of working and caring as anyone else could. My mom to me is "MY HERO" And this story was just a fraction of my moms life as being a hidden Child from Society from age 7 years old. She escaped one nightmare and had to live a safer nightmare with my dad until she passed away at 71yrs old. I never understood all the times I would see my my crying growing up until I read her story and letters she held onto for so many years and the story she told me 2 weeks before passing away in my home with Hospice by my side. I fell in love all over again with my Hero and Mother Olga Jacoba Medary.. I would like to know if anyone has any information on how I can find the records on my grandmothers accident and exact date and if any news paper articles and where. Thank you.. Cathy... A book was also written about my grandmother as a Artist with some of the History about ope head Road..

GMU Hokie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone know how Guinea Road got its name?
>
From anti-Italian racists and Jews!

Great Falls has the Ole Dirt Road.

'C'mon honey, let me take you for a spin on the ole dirt road'

Jimminy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone know the history or namesake of Gallows
> Road (Between Tysons and Merrifield)? Was there an
> actual hanging gallows or a family named Gallows?
>
> Please, no speculation. I can think of reasons why
> it might be named that, too. I'm looking for
> someone who has the actual facts.
>
> Thanks,
>
> J.

this was taught in 4th grade history in the later part of the 20th century...WTF has happened to our schools?

Blackbeards crew was hanged there and the road was changed from Capitol Landing Rd to Gallows Rd. The remaining 13 pirates were hanged and left to rot in gibbets along Williamsburg's Capitol Landing Road (later known as Gallows Road).
Source was Blackbeard the Pirate (2002 ed.), North Carolina: John F. Blair

Gordon Blvd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> you know, nobody knows where the original
> Courthouse and gallows were located exactly - it's
> supposed to be where that building with the big
> "O" ring is now, in at the 123/Old Courthouse Rd
> intersection is but I dont think they ever found
> the cornerstone or anything like
> that...................

You mean the Toilet Bowl Building? (I've lived here since the mid-1970s and everyone I know calls it that.) It makes sense that the old courthouse would have been located there if the street is named Old Courthouse Road and there's no other street nearby named "Courthouse Road" (which would suggest the "Old" referred to the old routing). Old Courthouse used to go through to meet Gallows Road at what is now the corner of Old Gallows Road and Gallows Branch Road, but when they reconfigured all that back in the late 1980s, around the time of the mall's expansion, Old Courthouse was truncated to its current end at the crossroads with Aline Avenue.

I've read that Blackbeard's Crew was hanged in Williamsburg, VA, not Falls Church.
Lots of fun stuff in this thread though, I read it all.

TheMeeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
There's a street in that
> neighborhood called Wolftrap Road- does that mean
> there was an actual wolftrap located there long
> ago?

Yes. Wolves were a serious problem in colonial times. Virginia paid 20 shillings per wolf killed.

Nightmare on Pope Head Road 1940 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My grandparents owned a 145 acre Farm on Pope Head
> Road back in the early 1930's. My grandfather was
> a famous Architect back in his time named Milton
> Bennett Medary. They had a barn outback of their
> White Farm House that all the men would hang out
> in late at night and party and talk while my mom
> said she would sit at the window with her mom and
> baby brother and watch. They where never allowed
> to go back there. They bought the 145 acre
> Farmhouse with no electricity or running water at
> the time. They had horses and nannies for each
> child.
>
> One day my grandmother was coming back home and
> driving up a very steep hill with my mom at age
> 7yrs old at the time, named Pope Head Road when a
> Milk Truck with a kid driving it flew over the
> hill and hit straight on into my grandmothers car
> causing my mom to fly through the windshield. My
> grandmother and my mom where in Critical
> condition. My mom actually lost part of her scull
> and piece of her lip and cutting up her face
> leaving a huge/ deep scar completely down the
> whole side of her face.
> The doctors said she may not live. My grandfather
> got live in nurses to care for both my mom 7yrs
> old and my grandmother around the clock. They both
> slowly healed, but mom with years of therapy and
> had withstand-ed brain damage which caused her to
> loose memory back to the age two. She had to start
> all over again as if she was never seven, but 2.
> She hated herself and everyone for the way they
> treated her. Here mother and father sold the 145
> acre farm, but a few acres they gave to the
> nannies and servants that help them for years on
> the land including giving them my moms horse and a
> few other live stock to start them out on. They
> then moved back to Philadelphia and then putting
> my mom in a school in Florida and hiding her away
> from society because they where ashamed of the way
> she looked and they did not want her to interfere
> with there rich popular life style. My mom was
> angry and hurt. I found notes from the school in
> my moms drawer after she passed stating that my
> mom really needed clothes and shoes and the teach
> saying what she wanted for Christmas and how much
> she missed everyone. It made me cry to read this
> letter from so long ago that my mom never let go.
> It explains why she was treated so bad for so many
> years.. My mom said when she was living in Florida
> later with her mom that she would go to the
> library and teach herself how to read because her
> mother did not think she was capable. She was
> running a high fever and very sick and her friends
> would sneak over to care for her. When my mom
> tried to have a relationship as she got into her
> teens her mom would chase them off or pay them to
> leave. My mom then ran from home at 21yrs old
> after she got word that she may be put away again
> and her mom tried saying she was harmful to
> herself. She jumped into her Dodge and took until
> she got a flat. She walked to a gas station along
> the road to where she met my dad. She had no
> choose but to get someone in her life and seduced
> my dad and later marrying him and had us three
> children so her mother could not commit her into a
> Crazy House..my mom put it. All her life she read
> books and took coursed just to prove she was as
> smart and capable of working and caring as anyone
> else could. My mom to me is "MY HERO" And this
> story was just a fraction of my moms life as being
> a hidden Child from Society from age 7 years old.
> She escaped one nightmare and had to live a safer
> nightmare with my dad until she passed away at
> 71yrs old. I never understood all the times I
> would see my my crying growing up until I read her
> story and letters she held onto for so many years
> and the story she told me 2 weeks before passing
> away in my home with Hospice by my side. I fell in
> love all over again with my Hero and Mother Olga
> Jacoba Medary.. I would like to know if anyone has
> any information on how I can find the records on
> my grandmothers accident and exact date and if any
> news paper articles and where. Thank you..
> Cathy... A book was also written about my
> grandmother as a Artist with some of the History
> about ope head Road..


I hope you actually get this answer - have you gone to the Virginia Room at the Main Library in the city? That's more than likely the best place to get what you are looking for...........either that or check with the FCPD Archivist. Good luck. Yr mom sounded pretty awesome

As far as the "Toilet Bowl Building" goes, I cant imagine who greenlighted that design. I mean c'mon dude you didnt see that?

From what I've read, the Courthouse in Old Courthouse road was somewhere in that area, the Gallows was on a hill further down what is now Gallows Road.

I've never heard that the Fairfax County Courthouse was in Annandale; does anyone have anything that backs that up? I was always under the impression that the Old Courthouse was near Old Courthouse.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Gallows Road was the road to the Gallows, from the Courthouse. People were tried at the county courthouse, not in Alexandria, and were taken to the gallows to be hung. The courthouse was located near what later came to be called Freedom Hill during the time that Fairfax County encompassed both modern Fairfax and Loudoun counties. When Loudoun became a separate county the courthouse was moved to its present location. The location of the old courthouse was more centrally located on the main trade route of the county in those days (the Leesburg Pike), and the Tysons area is also the highest point in the county, with the radio tower near Tysons II sitting on the highest very highest spot,above Freedom Hill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2013 03:58AM by GettinOld.

Guinea Rd,

Not sure how it became named but it crossed the tracks at the End of Sideburn Rd not presently at Roberts, or formerly between Target and the VRE Station but further up, it came out where Premier Court is.

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_%28British_coin%29
Where guinea hits the Turnpike, there used to be a toll booth. It cost a guinea to get thru it. I think that's why it's called Prosperity Ave too, cause of the tollboth. But I may be wrong about that one LoLz

2) Fred's Oak Dr at the Fairfax County Parkway is where Guinea Road used to end. Hard to believe, eh? Ever better, the Parkway used to acutally be Pohick Rd at that point LoLz. It used to go all the way to 123. Anyways, that's why Fred's Oak get's access to the parkway and why the county has that facility there.

3) Before the BCP was built, they were gonna realign Guinea to pop out at 123 opposite that little shopping center where the Fairfax Station post office is.

remember the first Guinea Roundabout with the tires? and how the buses would get all effed up on them?

I also remember all y'all down there losing yr minds when they scraped that little forest away to make yr Target - I bet y'all have ALL FORGOTTEN about that forest by now ha ha ha ha ha!!! Sometimes the Lorax is wrong cause y'all DEFINATELY love that Target more than you did that forest LoLz

Nice story, and I'll probably use it. I'm not one to let implausability stop me.

A guinea was a hell of a lot of money for a road toll. It is (was?) a pound and an shilling, back when stealing something worth two shillings was a hanging offense.

Decent thread. Thanks for bringing around again.

An alternative theory I have heard about the origins of Guinea Road is that it derived its name because it led to the shanties where slaves for the Ravensworth plantation were housed. Africa was sometimes referred to as "Guinea" in those days. There is still a small country in Africa that bears this name. The descendants of those slaves ended up establishing a small community called Ilda, where Guinea Road crosses Little River Turnpike. A cemetery was discovered and relocated there a few years ago and a historical marker was added to mark the spot.

Burke Brat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Guinea Rd,
>
> Not sure how it became named but it crossed the
> tracks at the End of Sideburn Rd not presently at
> Roberts, or formerly between Target and the VRE
> Station but further up, it came out where Premier
> Court is.

Close, but no cigar.

Guinea and Sideburn were 2 separate rr crossings. Remember, New Guinea Road did not exist at that time.

Sideburn turned to gravel somewhere South of Zion Dr. and crossed the tracks hwere it deadends into them now. It continued straight for a quarter mile, or so, and deadended into Guinea Road.

Guinea Road turned to gravel past the end of Zion Dr. and crossed the tracks at the crossing that existed until thy built the Roberts Pkwy. overpass in the early 2000s.

After crossing the tracks it bent right onto the alignment that is now Premier Ct., passed an intersection with Poburn rd. (1 lane dirt, that was obliterated by Lake Barton and Burke Center), paralelled the tracks to it's intersection with Sideburn RD., then turned Southwest and meandered through the woods to its end at Pohick rd. near 123.

Guinea rd. past the end of Premier Ct. and the part of SideBurn south of the tracks were also obliterated by the Burke Center development Jugernaut. (thanks, Til Hazel!) The area was much prettier in those days.

Burke Brat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Guinea Rd,
>
> Not sure how it became named but it crossed the
> tracks at the End of Sideburn Rd not presently at
> Roberts, or formerly between Target and the VRE
> Station but further up, it came out where Premier
> Court is.

Close, but no cigar.

Guinea and Sideburn were 2 separate rr crossings. Remember, New Guinea Road did not exist at that time.

Sideburn turned to gravel somewhere South of Zion Dr. and crossed the tracks hwere it deadends into them now. It continued straight for a quarter mile, or so, and deadended into Guinea Road.

Guinea Road turned to gravel past the end of Zion Dr. and crossed the tracks at the crossing that existed until thy built the Roberts Pkwy. overpass in the early 2000s.

After crossing the tracks it bent right onto the alignment that is now Premier Ct., passed an intersection with Poburn rd. (1 lane dirt, that was obliterated by Lake Barton and Burke Center), paralelled the tracks to it's intersection with Sideburn RD., then turned Southwest and meandered through the woods to its end at Pohick rd. near 123.

Guinea rd. past the end of Premier Ct. and the part of SideBurn south of the tracks were also obliterated by the Burke Center development Jugernaut. (thanks, Til Hazel!) The area was much prettier in those days, I wish it still was..