s little book it has been the aim of the Editor to
obtain facts of the early history, as well as to set forth what changes
time has wrought in the erstwhile veritable hamlet of years gone by. To
this end he has exerted every effort in the examination of records, that
authentic data only, in describing the old church and village, may
appear in these pages. Aside from the descendants of the old settlers,
the heads of many households in the village of Falls Church have left
kindred and friends in other sections of the country, and identified
themselves heartily in the work of developing and beautifying the
natural advantages of the spot they have selected for the building of
new homes. It is but natural that interest should be taken in the
evidence of their thrift and enterprise, by those whose lives were
linked with theirs in times past, as in the town they have helped to
build up. The attempt has been to join the past with the present, in
reciting incidents of the early days, to show no less the improvements
that have come as the years roll on.

The joint work has been done by Messrs. Chas. A. Stewart, Pickering
Dodge and George M. Newell, Mr. Stewart having collected, edited and
compiled the text, Mr. Dodge the photographic work, and Mr. Newell the
printing.

The Editor is indebted for courtesies and assistance to Mr. H. H. Dodge,
Superintendent of Mount Vernon, a vestryman of Pohick Church, Mr. H. S.
Ryer, stenographer, Mr. F. M. Richardson, Clerk of the Court, Fairfax
Co., and Rev. George S. Somerville, Rector of the Falls Church. Valuable
information was obtained from Howe's History of Virginia, Snowden's Old
Landmarks in Virginia and Maryland, as from the Official Records of the
Union and Confederate Armies.

M. M. O.

[Illustration: The Lawton House]

A Virginia Village.

Introductory.

Falls Church, while a Virginia village, is thoroughly cosmopolitan.
According to a recent census only about fifty per cent. of its
inhabitants are natives of Virginia, the rest coming from the various
States of the Union or from foreign countries.

Falls Church might properly be called a national village, since its
citizens are chiefly employees of the government, and the interests of
its eleven hundred people naturally center at the National Capitol.

Every geographical section of the United States has here a
representative type of citizen who has chosen this quiet village for a
home. For this and other reason