VA-BX2 Brent Town

Marker text: BRENT TOWN

In 1687, King James II granted 30,000 acres of land here as a sanctuary for Roman Catholics to George Brent, of Stafford County, and London residents Robert Bristow, Richard Foote, and Nicholas Hayward. Brent established a fortified outpost the next year that overlooked an Indian path later called the Carolina Road; the Indians cut a new path farther west. In 1742, when the Prince William County seat was moved from Woodbridge, Brent Town, as the settlement on the Brent tract was known, was called but rejected as the new site. The exact location of Brent Town is unknown.

Department of Historic Resources, 1997.