In the beginning was the land. It drew human life to our rich area of
Fairfax County, and sustained us for centuries before we became so
self-conscious about it as to make household language of words such as
ecology and bio-degradable waste. This is where we are at, however,
and thus it is thoroughly appropriate that the publication of
historical research reports in this format, a new program for Fairfax
County, should commence with a study of the Green Spring Farm. There
is no better site for an example, probably, to illustrate the early
patterns of life on the agricultural land of Fairfax County as well as
to follow the changes and pressures that have come about through war,
depression, boom, and technological change down to the present. Anyone
familiar with the history of this parcel of land, the Green Spring
Farm, will be familiar with a great deal of the history of Fairfax
County--told not so much in terms of its famous and powerful people as
in terms of those who drew sustenance directly from the land.
This report is published under authority of the Board of Supervisors
of the County of Fairfax. It is one result of a program of historical
site survey and research carried on by the Fairfax County Division of
Planning in cooperation with the Fairfax County History Commission.
The original selection of Green Spring Farm as a research topic was
made by the Fairfax County Historical Landmarks Preservation
Commission, Bayard D. Evans, Chairman, the predecessor of the present
History Commission as the chief historical agency of the County
Government.
Reproduction of the material in this report is invited, subject to the
customary credit to author and publisher.
John Porter Bloom
Chairman
Fairfax County History Commission