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| Market Square - History Alexandria Virginia |
| Sep 04,2008 |
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History - Alexandria Virginia
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| Market Square - History Alexandria Virginia |
Market Square. North Side of King Street between Fairfax and Royal Streets. From its earliest days, this has been the site of Alexandria’s market, and George Washington sent wagons of produce from Mount Vernon to be sold here. One of the oldest continuously operating farmers’ markets in the nation, the market still exists here on Saturdays from 6:00 to 10:00 AM. In Washington’s day, the market itself was situated approximately where the south half of the city hall is today, and a number of shops existed where the current open space is today. In 1755, Gov. Robert Dinwiddie (1693-1770) designated George Washington (age 23) colonel and commander-in-chief of all Virginia forces; and Washington is known to have reviewed and possibly drilled the local Fairfax County militia and the militias of four other counties in Market Square. Later, as the colonies prepared for the Revolution, George Washington was appointed commander of the Fairfax independent militia companies, and he reviewed the militia troops in Alexandria’s Market Square in early January 1775. (On June l5, 1775, the Second Continental Congress selected George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Armies.) Richard Arell (d. c1796) operated a tavern on an alley in what is now Market Square from 1768 to 1774, and George Washington’s diary indicates that he dined here at least 16 times. A committee of Fairfax citizens, chaired by Washington, met at Arell’s July 18, 1774, to draw up resolutions disapproving actions taken by the British Parliament against the city of Boston in retaliation for its Tea Party and calling for an end to trade with England. The committee then adjourned to the courthouse to actually adopt them. These resolutions, drafted by George Mason (1725-1792), became the famous Fairfax Resolves, which later developed into the Virginia Declaration of Rights and still later into the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. When a Committee of Safety was later selected for Fairfax County, George Washington again served as chairman. Posset pots from Arell’s Tavern excavated from this site can be seen at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum (105 North Union Street, Suite 327). (Posset pots are large two-handled mugs used for drinking posset, a beverage made from hot milk curdled by wine or ale and usually sweetened and spiced.)
(Adapted from Robert Madison’s Walking with Washington, available in Alexandria museum gift shops.)
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