Ferdinando Fairfax (1769-1820), the third son of Reverend Bryan Fairfax, was just eighteen years old when he inherited the 29,000-acre Shannondale tract as well as Piedmont plantation and the Belvoir estate in Fairfax County. Both his uncle and father were good friends of George Washington, who had stood godfather to Ferdinando.3 Ownership of these properties placed Fairfax in the company of other large local landowners and entrepreneurs such as John Semple and Henry Lee. Like Semple and Lee, Fairfax was eager to develop the industrial potential of his property, erecting mills and utilizing the timber and iron resources at his disposal. Unfortunately, he too appears to have been short of the capital needed to realize his dreams and was plagued by debt during the last years of his life.

Ferdinando Fairfax was the first owner who attempted to develop the potential of the Shannondale tract, which contained tillable land, iron ore, timber, and water power suitable for industrial use, in addition to the mineral springs. Details of Fairfax’s use of the property before 1800 are sketchy, although he did erect a residence on it called “Shannon Hall” across the Shenandoah River from the Springs. A fire burned through part of the property shortly before May 1793, although it precise location and the extent of the damage are not known. Possibly to pay his debts or raise capital for his industrial enterprises, Fairfax had signed a bond for the property over to William Byrd Paige in December 30, 1799, for $55,542.32. Fairfax made a payment on the mortgage to Paige for $6,542.32 on April 1, 1800. Payments were due annually, and the full amount was to be repaid by September 1, 1809.4

The Springs or other natural resources at Shannondale were probably not developed for public use until at least 1820. Although maps by Charles Varle (1809) and John Wood (1820) both record Fairfax’s residence, neither one shows a ferry or any structure on Horse Shoe Bend (the name first given to the area). (See Figure 1.) Varle’s Topographical Description of Frederick, Jefferson, and Berkeley Counties is also silent on Shannondale Springs while mentioning Berkeley Springs and other local resources.5 1

Fairfax’s activities from the time that he inherited the Shannondale tract until his death in 1820 are important to the history of the smaller Shannondale Springs property because they may help to date the Bath/Spring House still standing at the Springs and determine the function of other sites in the area.

By the start of the new century, Fairfax was one of the richest and most prosperous residents of the area. He was one of the original trustees of the Charlestown Academy (1797), the largest slaveholder in the area, and one of the original members of the Jefferson County Court in 1801. He owned or leased several properties in Charlestown, was a justice of the peace during this period, and played a major role in the design and construction of the original jail in Charlestown (1802) and the Market House (1806).6

His attempts to develop the commercial potential of his property appear to have begun in earnest by 1808, when he gave notice of his intent to apply to Jefferson County February Court to establish a ferry across the Shenandoah River from his land to the public road opposite Shannon Hill.7 The Shannondale Ferry was probably established in Spring 1809. Since the road to the ferry landing went past the springs, there is no doubt that this resource was well known, at least locally, by this period.

By 1809, he had extracted iron ore samples from five sites on his property and sent them to several ironmasters for conversion into bar iron and thence to James Stubblefield at the Harpers Ferry Armory to determine their suitability in the manufacture of firearms. These activities suggest that Fairfax did not have his own furnace or forge at Shannondale at this time. Nevertheless, he appears to have been moving in this direction, for between 1809 and 1811 he purchased the furnace bellows, various pieces of equipment, and available cast and wrought iron of the defunct Keeptyrst Furnace from the Armory.8

In 1811, Fairfax sold a 1395.5 acre segment of the Shannondale tract to the U.S. Government. The land was on the east side of the Shenandoah River, beginning at a point below Harpers Ferry and running up the river. The following year, he advertised for an individual to build a flour warehouse on the Potomac River just below Harpers Ferry and very near Digg’s Island, and mortaged part of his Piedmont estate in Loudoun County to Elijah Chamberlain. In 1813 he purchased the 196-acre farm in present day Harpers Ferry that included the Lee-Longworth House. The land was leased by the U.S. Government. The same year Fairfax mortgaged his Shannon Hill tract to Charles Gibbs.9

All of these events point to Fairfax’s attempts to find a market for his own goods (certainly iron ore and possibly wheat or flour) at Harper’s Ferry. Lacking the capital to finance an iron furnace at Shannondale, Fairfax advertised for partners in a 1815 prospectus published in Washington, D.C. In his Description of Ferdinando Fairfax’s Shannondale Iron Estate, with A Plan of a Company for Improving the Same, he describes the existing improvements on the whole tract, noting:

The Valley run has been thought adequate to carry a saw-mill with a single flutter-wheel, which I have accordingly erected upon it, preparatory to other works... In the present state of the works of the Potomac Company, the river Shenandoah is navigable for flour-boats, and other boats, from Harper’s Ferry (at its mouth) through the whole extent of this property, and many miles above, a great part of the year... The small tenements upon the whole tract offered to the company, are so interspersed, as to serve rather to protect from fire, &c. than to destroy in future the wood-land. Some are rented for lives, some for terms of years, all under very strict covenants; but the leases of the most important are already in my hands, for the good of the company.10 2

Figure 1. Portion of Varle's 1809 map, showing Hammond's Ferry (about a mile down river from the later Shannondale Ferry). The mineral springs are not marked, but are located directly across the river from the Fairfax estate.

Thus, with the exception of a saw mill and some scattered tenant farms, Fairfax’s propery, including the Springs, seems to have undergone relatively little development by 1815. His efforts to find financial backing for the Shannondale Iron Estate found little support.

By 1814, Fairfax’s financial empire was unravelling. In that year, the administrators for William B. Page, deceased, initiated a chancery suit against him. Under the terms of the settlement, issued in 1816, Fairfax was obliged to auction his 10,000-acre Iron Mine tract to settle his debt.11 The land was purchased by William Herbert, Jr. In April 1817, Fairfax was involved in another chancery suit, this time with George Reynolds,12 and in September of the same year his Short Hill tract in Loudoun County went on sale to repay the mortgage issued in 1812.13

In the context of all the previously mentioned financial activities, Ferdinando Fairfax “of the city of Washington” sold Thomas Griggs, Jr., and Benjamin Beeler an undivided two-thirds of the land containing Shannondale Springs in November 1819. The property was described as being “opposite the Shannon Hill tract, containing by estimation about sixty acres more or less and being commonly called the Horse Shoe Tract...” Of the undivided two-thirds owned by Beeler and Griggs, Beeler was to have two-thirds. (In other words, when the sale was concluded Fairfax owned 3/9ths, Beeler, 4/9ths, and Griggs 2/9ths.) On July 1 of the following year, Fairfax sold Griggs his remaining one-third interest in the Horse Shoe Tract in order to secure payment for a debt of $2,850 owed John Hopkins, Jr., of Winchester. Ferdinando Fairfax, age 52, died at his residence in Fairfax County, Virginia, on September 24, 1820.14