Manassas is the county seat for Prince William County
Brentsville is in Prince William County
Prince William County(660) ► ADJACENT TO PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY Fairfax County(710) ► Fauquier County(119) ► Loudoun County(345) ► Manassas(93) ► Manassas Park(7) ► Stafford County(213) ► Charles County, Maryland(150) ►
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If you had stood in this spot between 1822 and about 1900, you would have seen a large structure to your right, bustling with activity. This is the site of the Brentsville Tavern, also know as the Brentsville Hotel. You would have also seen the . . . — — Map (db m2778) HM
If you had stood in this spot between 1822 and about 1900, you would have seen a large structure to your right, bustling with activity. This is the site of the Brentsville Tavern, also know as the Brentsville Hotel. You would have also seen the . . . — — Map (db m2812) HM
Brentsville was the Prince William County seat during the Civil War. In response to John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, the Prince William Cavalry (Co. A, Virginia Cavalry) was formed here on the courthouse lawn in January 1860. The ladies . . . — — Map (db m2781) HM
Fourth seat of the Prince William County government. Courthouse, jail, Episcopal Chapel, and White House were built in 1822 on land originally part of the Brent Town tract confiscated from Robert Bristow, a Tory, in 1779.
♦ St. James . . . — — Map (db m780) HM
This building served as the fourth courthouse for Prince William County. For seventy years, county business including trials, paying taxes, and voting occurred in this building and on its steps. Auctions, including the buying and selling of slaves, . . . — — Map (db m152412) HM
1822
This now quiet Virginia town was once the busy center of Prince William County for most of the 19th century. The brick Courthouse and Jail were built on the county's public lot in 1822, after which the town grew up around it. . . . — — Map (db m152415) HM
This building served as the Prince William County Jail when Brentsville was the county seat. Inmates were housed here awaiting trial in the nearby courthouse. If convicted of a crime, criminals were transferred to the state penitentiary in Richmond . . . — — Map (db m152413) HM
Built by 1822 with the Courthouse and Jail, the Clerk’s Office was located here. The three buildings created a symmetrical design within the Public Lot. The Clerk’s Office was built to be “…26 feet by 16; pitch 18 feet; walls of the foundation . . . — — Map (db m2813) HM
This building was constructed by 1822 as Prince William County’s fourth courthouse. The County seat was moved to Brentsville from Dumfries to centralize its location within the county. The Courthouse design is typical of 1800s Virginia courthouses. . . . — — Map (db m2797) HM
Built by 1822 with the Courthouse and Clerk’s Office, the Prince William County Jail, or gaol, was larger than most jails built in Virginia at that time. Debtors, runaway slaves, thieves and murderers awaited trial here in timber-lined rooms. . . . — — Map (db m2796) HM
Haislip and Hall FamiliesJohn W. Hall was a Confederate veteran who served as a courier during the Civil War.
Samuel Haislip built the home for his wife and their seven children around 1850. The original . . . — — Map (db m152426) HM
Southwest of Brentsville along Cedar Run stood "Oakland," the home of Joseph Latimer. Born in 1843, Latimer entered the Virginia Military Institute at age 16. He studied under Thomas Jackson and was first in his class. After Virginia joined the . . . — — Map (db m237421) HM
In 2000, this ca. 1830 “log cabin” home was moved to the Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre from the Braemer area in Gainesville to save it from demolition. It was the home of John William Hall (1840-1931) who was a Civil War . . . — — Map (db m2732) HM
(caption of upper, left picture)
The Brentsville School as it appeared ca. 1940.
Lucy Walsh Phinney Collection, Gift of Steve and Cynthia Phinney in Memory of Lucy Phinney
This school was built in 1928 over the original location of . . . — — Map (db m2827) HM
Tavern Activities
The Brentsville Tavern depended on many people working in numerous buildings. Outbuildings likely included a dairy, a smokehouse, a laundry, and housing. The November 22, 1828 Alexandria Gazette described the lot . . . — — Map (db m2811) HM
Between 1822 and about 1900, a large structure bustling with activity stood near here. One of the first buildings constructed in town, the Brentsville Tavern became the new community's social center.
Although known as the Brentsville Tavern, . . . — — Map (db m152417) HM
In 2004, archaeologists from the University of Mary Washington's Center for Historic Preservation excavated portions of the Tavern site. They identified portions of the main buildings as well as numerous outbuilding sites and features. Some of . . . — — Map (db m152418) HM
Here, you can see the edges of a large depression. It is located inside ropes that mark the Tavern’s foundation. This feature was one of two cellars underneath the ca. 1822 Tavern building. These cellars were beneath two rooms that flanked the . . . — — Map (db m2810) HM
Well Improved…
The Brentsville Tavern was among many buildings on the Tavern Square. Owner Thomas Hampton’s 1828* notice read:
SALE OF VALUABLE PROPERTY AT BRENTSVILLE, PRINCE WILLIAM C.H., VA. On Thursday the 18th day . . . — — Map (db m2779) HM
The County gallows was located in this area. The gallows was erected when needed then disassembled. It was a grim symbol of the ultimate price of lawbreaking. Gallows were widely used in America to execute the convicted.
In 19th-century . . . — — Map (db m2746) HM
(caption of upper, left picture) Prince William County’s surveyor, Thomas Nelson Jr., recorded this plat of Brentsville on November 30, 1822. The Public Square is outlined in red. The Courthouse, Jail, and Clerk of the Court’s Office . . . — — Map (db m2828) HM
The Brentsville Tavern was a substantial building. It served a variety of people- from Magistrates to farmers. A notice in the November 22, 1828 Alexandria Gazette advertising the sale of THE BRENTSVILLE HOTEL described the Tavern: . . . — — Map (db m2809) HM
In 1820, Prince William County's port city of Dumfries was in decline and more people moved away from the Potomac River. Citizens petitioned the State to relocate the county seat to a more centralized location. Along Valley road and in between . . . — — Map (db m152424) HM
Brentsville Union Church was built ca. 1880. The church sits on a lot deeded to The Trustees of the Union Church in 1871 by George M. Goodwin, who owned Tavern Square. It was erected “for the use of the Congregation of the Methodist Episcopal . . . — — Map (db m2761) HM
