ourteen year old Farr boy.

This young boy, knowing that Union troops were located at Fairfax
Station waiting to attack the Court House, built a road block of
logs across the Ox Road over which these troops had to pass. Hiding
himself in the underbrush nearby, he fired so heroically upon the
enemy troops, as they approached, that they assumed there was a
large group of Confederates waiting for them and withdrew to Fairfax
Station. When they learned of the hoax, they returned and burned the
Farr home to the ground.

[Illustration]

V. THE TOWN

Historically, the most important house in the town of Fairfax is the
Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House at 10386 Main Street. This little
brick house was built in 1805 when the town was founded and the
original half meets the specifications of the 1805 Virginia State
Legislature. It is sixteen feet square, has a brick chimney, and is
"fit for habitation." The Ratcliffe-Logan-Allison House is
considered to be in "pristine" form and unchanged from its original
condition except for an 1830 addition which is believed to have been
built by the same brick mason.[1]

[1] _The Richard-Ratcliffe-Allison House is listed on the Virginia
Historic Landmarks Register and on the National Register of
Historical Places. It belongs to the City of Fairfax and is an
integral part of the founding of the town._

The little brick house was the first structure completed when
Richard Ratcliffe established his town named Providence (now
Fairfax). Henry Logan bought the house and later sold it to Gordon
and Robert Allison. They added a large parlor and bedroom to
the house and built a stable in the backyard to take care of
the horses of their paying guests and possibly those of the
Alexandria-Winchester Stage Coach Line.

[Illustration: THE RATCLIFFE-LOGAN-ALLISON HOUSE
_Photo by Ollie Atkins_]

Richard Ratcliffe's tavern at the northwest corner of the
intersection of Chain Bridge Road and The Little River Turnpike was
one of the larger houses in Fairfax. Caleb Earp operated a store in
the basement of this tavern and the crossroads was known as "Earp's
Corner" when George Mason recommended in 1789 that the court house
be located at this juncture.

The tavern was extended westward by a Capt. Rizin Willcoxon and
subsequently bought by the Allisons. An 1837 inventory shows there
was a store, a cellar, a granary, a bar, kitchen, parlour, dining
room, tailor's shop, sky parlour,