Alexandria, VA news and local guide

On October 21, 1669, Robert Howsing received a patent for 6,000 acres, including the future town, for bringing 120 people to Virginia. Virginia's Tobacco Inspection Law of 1730 required tobacco to be inspected at public warehouses, and one was built at West's Point, north of Hunting Creek, on land of the Alexander family. After Fairfax County was split from Prince William County in 1742, planters and merchants including Thomas Fairfax and Lawrence Washington sought a port for the new county, and on November 1, 1748, the House of Burgesses received a petition for a town at the Hunting Creek warehouse. Lawrence's younger brother, the young surveyor George Washington, sketched the shoreline to promote the site. The county surveyor John West laid out 60 acres, assisted by the 17-year-old George Washington. On May 2, 1749, the House of Burgesses approved "An Act for erecting a Town at Hunting Creek Warehouse, in the County of Fairfax." The land at West's Point had come from the Alexander family, and Philip Alexander owned a 500-acre estate just to the south. Sources Wikipedia: Alexandria, Virginia