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That Happened Here Shorts and posts with the intent of helping people learn more about the places around them.

Last week we discussed the return of the County’s lost early deed books. All of the historical deed and will books that...
10/11/2026

Last week we discussed the return of the County’s lost early deed books. All of the historical deed and will books that the county holds are available via the Circuit Court Clerk's Office’s Historical Online Portal (HOP). As an example, we found the will of the patron saint of That Happened Here, George Carr Round, as well as a deed when he and his wife transferred a house in Manassas to their daughter. These records are invaluable to researching the history of Prince William County.

10/08/2026

Dive into local history with the newest exhibit at the Manassas Museum, Open for Business. Take an in-depth look at some of the stores, restaurants, and entertainment offerings in Manassas from 1900-1960. Open through May 2027 at the Manassas Museum. Learn more at manassasva.gov/programs.

For this week’s then and now, it’s sometime around the turn of the 20th century, and we are standing (literally) in the ...
10/08/2026

For this week’s then and now, it’s sometime around the turn of the 20th century, and we are standing (literally) in the intersection of Center and West Streets in Old Town Manassas, looking at the Mory Saw, Feed & Planing Mill. The mill was a popular supplier to construction projects in the then rapidly growing town, producing construction-grade lumber. According to the county’s deed records, Morgan Mory, bought the mill in 1896; he also operated a saw mill near Limstrong (which we previously learned was a community near today’s intersection of Brentsville Road, Rt 234, and the Prince William Parkway.). By 1912, the mill was owned by AJ Conner; by 1943, the sawmill was demolished, and the Herbert Bryant Inc. Feed Store included an auto sales and service building. Today the site is the home to the Loy E. Harris Pavilion. Harris became president of Historic Manassas in the 1990s, and was instrumental in the creation of today’s Old Town. Harris passed away in 1999, just a year before the Pavilion opened.

For this week’s origin of road names, we are on Flory Road, which runs just under a mile between Park Gate Drive and Cro...
10/07/2026

For this week’s origin of road names, we are on Flory Road, which runs just under a mile between Park Gate Drive and Crockett Road in the Nokesville/Brentsville area. In the past we met both Elder Samuel H. Flory, and the Nokesville Church of the Brethren and Hebron Seminary that he served. As you may remember, Samuel and his wife Fannie moved to Nokesville along with a number of other Shenandoah Valley Brethren in 1886. As the Brown 1901 map shows, within 15 years there were at least 3 farms owned by Florys, and a new road was cut, allowing a quicker route to Brentsville than Old Church Road. There are 28 Florys buried at the Valley View Cemetery, and a number of Samuel and Fannie’s descendants still live in the area.

For this week’s look at Brentsville, we’re focusing on the Prince William County Clerk’s Office, which was built in 1822...
10/05/2026

For this week’s look at Brentsville, we’re focusing on the Prince William County Clerk’s Office, which was built in 1822 alongside the courthouse and jail, and housed the county’s legal records. As we learned in this week’s look at the newspapers, many of the early county records were lost during the Civil War. Phillip D. Liscomb, the clerk between 1854 and 1865, supposedly fled while the records remained behind. Here the historical record is confusing; Jonathan Roberts, working for the Union-installed Virginia governor Governor Pierpont, wrote him in June 1862 saying the “records are all gone; both in Prince William and Stafford, and the people do not seem to know anything beyond their own neighborhood.” However, just over a year later, one week before the October 1863 Battle of Bristoe Station (just a few miles up the road from Brentsville) Captain Joseph Keith Newell and the 10th Massachusetts Infantry entered the town. Newell noted that the “clerk of the county carelessly left all the county records and papers when he stepped out, and at this date they were in bad condition. The floors of four rooms were covered, fully two feet deep, with the papers and documents, some of great antiquity.....[w]hen next they begin to govern Prince William County, it is thought they will have to commence their county records where the war left off, and it is hoped they will appoint a county clerk who will take better care of his papers in the future.” Local historian Ron Turner points out that at least one of the books made its way to Culpepper in 1864. Sgt. William F. Keys, of the 143rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment added into the 1834-1861 Minutes Book “John Keys and Walter Keys and all the rest of you Keyes – if you are any relations of mine you had better keep shady at least til this cruel war is over – Culpeper C.H., April 23rd 1864”. Union soldiers dismantled the clerk’s office for its bricks in 1863, and by 1864, Captain Andrew McHenry of the 13th Pennsylvania Infantry said that the town’s buildings were “generally….in ruin.". In 1928, the schoolhouse (which we have visited previously) was built over part of the former clerk’s office foundation.

In this week’s look at the newspapers, it’s July 1936, and the Washington Evening Star tells us that the Virginia state ...
10/04/2026

In this week’s look at the newspapers, it’s July 1936, and the Washington Evening Star tells us that the Virginia state library has recovered Prince William County’s deed book containing its earliest property records. During the Civil War, many of the county’s records were lost when Brentsville became a frequent host to the warring armies. The county was designated a “burned records county,” meaning that deeds, wills and other records were lost due to “unauthorized removal.” In 1936, Virginia State Library librarian Wilmer Hall learned that a Rhode Island book dealer possessed the deed book and offered to sell it back to Prince William County for $250 (about $6,000 in 2026). Hall supported purchasing the book because he feared that refusing to pay would result in the records disappearing permanently. George G. Tyler, the county’s Circuit Court clerk, strongly opposed paying for the documents; he viewed buying back stolen public records as a “moral surrender” and “blackmail.” He argued that the county already legally owned the records and should not have to pay to recover them. Efforts were made to obtain private funding, but Tyler was completely unsupportive. Tyler even asked the area’s congressman whether federal legislation could force the return of the deed book. It was eventually bought and given to the state - with one of the purchasers promising that it would not go to the county if he could help it, because of Tyler’s attitude. In 2023, the State Library returned the original deed book to the county.

10/02/2026

Andrew Leitch, a resident of Dumfries and a captain in the 3rd Virg...

For this week’s then and now, we are at the intersection of VA Rt 234 and I-95, at what was once a Holiday Inn. Accordi...
10/01/2026

For this week’s then and now, we are at the intersection of VA Rt 234 and I-95, at what was once a Holiday Inn. According to the Wall Street Journal, the hotel chain began when Kemmons Wilson decided to build a motel in his native Memphis, TN after being disappointed by the poor quality of roadside accommodations during a 1952 family road trip to Washington, D.C. By June 1972 there were more than 1,400 Holiday Inns worldwide. The iconic roadside “Great Sign" was the company's most successful form of advertising. Wilson admitted that while it was eye-catching, it was expensive to construct and maintain. It featured a changeable marquee (as evident in the two “then” photos). According to county property records, this location was built in 1967, featuring a 120-unit courtyard layout, an outdoor swimming pool surrounded by guest rooms, banquet spaces, and the Holiday House restaurant. The facade of the building has been substantially renovated, and serves today as a Motel 6, with a Red Roof Inn occupying the 1977 extension. (One of the then photos was recently posted on Facebook by the fine folks at Vintage Dumfries Virginia. Check them out!)

In this week’s origin of road names, we’ve got another road that has become separated from the physical feature that gav...
09/29/2026

In this week’s origin of road names, we’ve got another road that has become separated from the physical feature that gave it its name. Keyser Road today crosses Bristow Road somewhere between Independent Hill and Brentsville. As the 1938 County aerial photos show, the road was once called “Keyser Ford Road”, because of the ford crossing Cedar Run. By 1954, county records show that the road now ended far short of the ford. We’ve learned that fords were often named for the person owning the land containing the crossing; in fact, the Brown 1901 County map shows a “G. Keyser” having a farm on the north side of Cedar Run along the road. However there are no wills, deeds, or birth and death notices in the county court records for a “G. Keyser”, although there was a large family from Thoroughfare that shared the name. It is complete conjecture, but there was a German-born ‘Gottlieb Kaiser’ who lived in the Brentsville district, and owned his own farm. The 1900 census implies that he lived near a family named Harnsberger, who owned land near “G. Keyser”. Did Virginians in the late 1800s misunderstand what a German immigrant called himself? Probably not likely, but when the historical record is bare, the imagination takes flight.

09/29/2026

Tour the Bristoe Station battlefield the night of Saturday, October 17, from 7-9 pm to see nearly 1,000 luminary candles placed for the soldiers who died at Bristoe Station during the Civil War in camp and battle.

Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park, 10501 Tenth Alabama Way, Bristow, VA. 703-366-3049.

October 17
7 - 9 p.m.; FREE, donations welcome.

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Dumfries, VA

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