In 1874 the grandson of George Mason bequeathed in his will two parcels of land to his long time coachman Griffin Johnston (later Johnson). The parcels were five acres each; one was in the Spring Bank area (currently at about the intersection of Richmond Highway and Quander Road) and the other parcel was near Little Hunting Creek. The deed for the latter tract stated:

…as further recognition of his faithful service…should further reward the said Griffin Johnston to the extent of the conveyance hereinafter made…of the property situate on Little Hunting Creek in the County of Fairfax…containing 5 acres.

Johnston obtained his land via the least common form of ownership for African Americans who had recently become free men. It was more likely that they obtained land by purchasing it and that was a hard feat to accomplish. Slaves would rarely earn any substantial money on their own and newly free men often had to partner with others to accumulate the funds needed to own land.

Ironically, if fittingly, the Civil War provided former slaves earning opportunities not available to them before and many early African American landowners owed their start to such one-time windfalls as U.S. Army reenlistment bounties, paid work on war time projects and later, reconstruction employment.

From the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century, Fairfax County counted 66 African American landowners. In that short time span, those new owners accumulated substantial holdings and were both remarkably productive with their land use and remarkably supportive of their burgeoning communities.

At a time when acres were sold for single-dollar denominations, Lee and Mount Vernon Districts boasted several African American landowners with substantial property values. Among them were John Wade ($1,040), Charles and Sarah Pearson ($1,900), and L. R. and Jane Lee ($3,000).

On their lands, new landowners began all manner of businesses from those dedicated to skilled craftsmanship (builders, carpenters, blacksmiths) to those who built and managed restaurants and inns on their property, to those who became classic farmers selling produce and dairy products. Many of these businessmen became the hubs around which entire communities revolved.

Even more noteworthy than the business acumen of people thought new to this role was the manner in which they ensured an immediate return on that landownership for their communities. Landowners donated land for the purposes of building schools and churches for the benefit of their families and neighbors. African American schools and churches, such as the Laurel Grove School and Laurel Grove Baptist Church—both on Beulah Street, in Franconia, and both erected on land donated by Georgianna and William Jasper—proliferated in this time period. In Fairfax County twenty-four African American churches and fifteen schools had their start between 1860 and 1900. Some of those schools and churches stand today on their original land.

Surpassing the classic Horatio Alger-type American success story and enduring as a daily reminder of the potential of the human spirit, to many local residents our area’s historic African American schools and churches remain the symbols of the best our nation has to offer