"The Fairfax Line:
18th Century Surveying in the Shenandoah Valley"
Lecture by David L. Ingram
Wednesday, Sept. 8, 7:00 p.m.
Heritage Center, Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society in Dayton,
VA.
On Thursday, Sept. 8, David L. Ingram will present "The
Fairfax Line: 18th Century Surveying in the Shenandoah Valley" at
7:00 in the Heritage Center, Dayton, VA. The Fairfax Line, first surveyed
in 1746, survives today as the boundary line between Rockingham and Shenandoah
Counties as well as the boundary between Rockingham and Hardy County,
West Virginia. The line passes through portions of the Shenandoah National
Park and George Washington and Monogohela National Forests.
Two of the four surveyors of the Fairfax Line were noteworthy in other
aspects of their lives. Thomas Lewis was Augusta County's first surveyor
and later became Rockingham County's first surveyor. He was influential
in colonial times in the Valley, and George Washington was his guest in
1784 at his home "Lynnwood" near Port Republic. Colonel Peter
Jefferson was a prominent Virginia surveyor and is even more widely known
as the father of President Thomas Jefferson.
Mr. Ingram, descendant of one of the founding families of Augusta County
and a licensed land surveyor in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland,
is currently President of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Surveying
in Lansing, Michigan, the only museum in the western hemisphere devoted
to land surveying. A collector of surveying instruments, books, and ephemera
for over twenty years, Mr. Ingram is sponsoring the Historical Society's
newest exhibit, "Gentlemen Surveyors: Land Surveying in the Shenandoah
Valley" which opens mid-September at the Heritage Center, Harrisonburg-Rockingham
Historical Society, Dayton, VA.
The Heritage Center, Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society, is located
at 382 High St., Dayton, VA 22821. It is open Monday through Saturday,
10am - 4pm. For more information on the lecture or exhibit, visit www.heritagecenter.com
or call 540 879-2616.
Gentlemen Surveyors:
Land Surveying in the Shenandoah Valley
September 19, 2024 through December 23, 2024
Thomas Lewis, Rockingham County's first land surveyor, and early Valley
land surveys and deeds are the topic of the Heritage Center's newest exhibit,
set to open in mid-September.
David L. Ingram, president of the Museum of Surveying in Lansing, Michigan
and managing partner of Ingram-Hagen & Co., P. L. C. at Mount Crawford,
is lending his expertise and artifacts to illustrate how surveying was
conducted in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Early surveyors like Thomas Lewis, whose Fairfax Line survey in 1746
still marks the boundary between Rockingham and Shenandoah Counties, usually
were well-educated and from upper class families. They had to know mathematics
and how to use compasses, chains, and other surveying tools. Government
officials appointed county surveyors, and many used their office as the
first step to a successful life.
The exhibit will have instruments owned or made by local surveyors in
early years of the county. Before the Civil War, the Ellis Lewis family
near Elkton were clock and mathematical instrument makers. Unfortunately,
the family was nearly wiped out by the War, and very little remains of
their instruments or their family. A Lewis compass, one of only three
known to be in existence, will be in the exhibit.
Copies of early deeds and land grants will be on display, along with
surveys drawn by early Rockingham County surveyors. Early surveyors learned
the trade from practicing with licensed surveyors and by studying books.
Several instructional books from the period will be in the exhibit.
The exhibit opens September 19, 2024 at the Heritage Center, Harrisonburg-Rockingham
Historical Society, 382 High St., Dayton, VA 22821. The Heritage Center
is open Monday through Saturday, 10am - 4pm. For more information, visit
www.heritagecenter.com or
call 540 879-2616.
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