Joseph and his wife lived a life of luxury, traveling abroad and entertaining in their large spacious home. The fireplace in their dining room is framed with beautiful blue and white tiles which they bought in Holland on their wedding trip abroad.
Many of the schools, churches, and private homes in this area are landscaped with American and English boxwood which the Willards grew as a hobby. When the land was bought for development, hundreds of boxwood bushes became dispersed throughout the town and its environs.
Joseph Willard became a lieutenant-governor of Virginia and an Ambassador to Spain during the administration of Woodrow Wilson. He had married Belle Layton Wyatt from Middlesex County who was a distinguished hostess. Their home became the scene of many brilliant affairs.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 attended the wedding of Mrs. Willard's grand-daughter, Belle Wyatt Roosevelt, to John Palfrey of Boston. Secret service men swarmed around the Willard home and a special ramp was built from the flag-stone walk at Truro Episcopal Church onto the sill of the church door, so the President could attend the wedding in his wheel-chair.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy (Fairfax Chapter) dedicated the chimes in the cupola of the Fairfax Methodist Church to Antonia Ford, commemorating a small Southern girl who left a heritage of unselfish love and devotion to the South in general, and to the Town of Fairfax, in particular.
XI. STEALING OF IMPORTANT PAPERS
During the time that the Union Army occupied Fairfax a group of Blenkers Dutch held the court house in the spring or autumn of 1862. They had been recruited in Pennsylvania from the most ignorant and reckless German characters and could not understand a word of English.