Preservation of Mayfield Fort

Preservation of Mayfield Fort. 1865 to present. , Of the miles of fortifications constructed by the Confederate Army between 1861 and 1862, only a handful of sites survived development. Mayfield Fort is the oldest and most formidable of the former earthworks preserved today., After the fighting ended here in 1862, the forts around Manassas fell into disuse. As the battlefield shifted further south, Mayfield Fort was abandoned and remained uninhabited for the rest of the war. In 1865, local residents began to return to farms they had abandoned, among them the John Hooe family. The Hooes owned the land on which Mayfield Fort was constructed, but left after the Confederate army encamped here in 1861. One of the wealthiest families prior to the war, the Hooes rebuilt their lives and fortunes. By 1870, Hooe owned nearly $20,000 worth of land, a 42% jump in the value of his prewar holdings. This increase in wealth stemmed from the family buying cheap, devastated land from their neighbors. Despite this success, the Hooes decided not to farm the area where Mayfield Fort stands, allowing it to survive to today., [Captions:] , Artifacts discovered during a 2001 archaeological dig at Mayfield illustrate the military and civilian use of this site., An aerial view of Mayfield Fort shows the development that threatened to destroy this historic ground. Thanks to a donation of the land by the Holladay Corporation, the historic Fort and the Hooe family cemetery were saved as an important resource for future generations to enjoy., Mayor Marvin Gillum cuts the ribbon to dedicate historic Mayfield Fort on September 29, 2001.