Marshall's, John, Leeds Manor Rural Historic District

Spread across roughly 22,184 acres of foothill country in northwestern Fauquier County, this rural district is organized around Leeds Manor Road, near the village of Markham. Most of the land once belonged to the Manor of Leeds, laid off by Lord Fairfax in 1736 for his own use. In 1793 John Marshall, his brother James Markham Marshall and two brothers-in-law formed a syndicate to buy the manorial lands, and the Marshalls later built many Federal-style homes there. Because of the manor and the leasing system that followed, development stayed light. The district holds about 395 contributing resources, including farmhouses, barns, silos, family cemeteries, churches, schools, mill sites, historically African-American communities and long runs of stone fencing. Early log and stone settler dwellings stand beside Italianate, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses, though most buildings are vernacular. Open pasture, creeks and mountain ridges remain largely intact, and livestock and hay farming continue today.