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Colchester George Washington Yorktown Virginia attraction display education historical marker Historical Site information landmark marker Place of Interest sign Tourist Destination Travel Destination attractive Comte de Rochambeau destination educating Fairfax County historic marker historic site info signage tourist attraction VA appealing history no people text tourism travel South attract historic nobody word daytime displays historical markers landmarks markers signs appeal color image educate historical outdoor vertical day destinations historic markers historic sites tourist attractions US colour image outside day time USA day-time U.S. words color images Jason O. Watson / historical-markers.org daylight outdoors U.S.A. verticals colour images natural light outsides United States United States of America sign with text |
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COLCHESTER
Colchester, founded in 1753 at the location of a ferry crossing, was the second town established in Fairfax County. Located on the main post road from Boston to Charleston, and at the end of the Ox Road leading west to the Blue Ridge, the town prospered as a trading center and tobacco port. In 1781, Gen. Washington and Comte de Rochambeau passed through Colchester en route to Yorktown. The creation of an alternate postal route over a new bridge upstream in 1805; the diversion of grain shipping from the Shenandoah Valley to Georgetown, Alexandria, and Baltimore; and, according to tradition, a great fire in 1815 contributed to the town's decline.
Department of Historic Resources, 1999 |