The Hooes of Mayfield

The Hooes of Mayfield. , You are standing on land once owned by the Hooes, an established family of considerable wealth in 18th century Virginia. Robert Howson Hooe purchased "Mayfield," in 1779 and shaped it into a bustling farming operation before passing it along to his grandson, John. On the eve of the Civil War, Mayfield included the family home and dozens of support buildings spread across 160 acres. The labor of enslaved men, women and children ensured the success of the farm and the wealth of the Hooes., In 1861, the Hooes fled the area when the Confederate Army arrived and began to build defensive fortifications here. When John Hooe returned at wars' end, he found a ravaged landscape and his property destroyed. Though he maintained ownership of his land, the Hooes never farmed here again. When the City of Manassas acquired the property in 1985, only eleven acres remained of the original 160. All of the historic features were gone except this cemetery containing the graves of eleven Hooe family members, buried here between ca. 1795 - 1900., [Captions:] , John Hooe, the owner of Mayfield. Descendants of John and his children continue to live in the area today., Hooe Family cemetery. After years of neglect and vandalism, the City of Manassas stabilized the cemetery and continues to maintain it as a historic resource., Archaeology conducted in 1984-85 uncovered many artifacts that speak to the civilian and military use of this site over the past 200 years.