SOME MASON HOUSES IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Mason land holdings were vast in Stafford, Prince William, Loudoun and Fairfax Counties in Virginia, and in Maryland and Kentucky. In the northern Virginia area the Masons built or occupied a number of houses many of which are mentioned here.
Thomson Francis Mason Houses
501 Cameron Street, Alexandria. This is believed to be the "large and comodious" dwelling which, according to an 1823 entry in the Alexandria Gazette, Mason was renting at the corner of Cameron and Pitt Streets. The house is a three-story brick structure, probably built during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It is still standing. (Alexandria Gazette, March 13, 1823 and November 1, 1833.)
Colross, Alexandria, 1100 block of Oronoco Street, block between Oronoco, Pendleton, North Henry and North Fayette. This was an existing house built in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, acquired by Thomson F. Mason in 1833. Mason was buried in a tomb behind the mansion after his death in 1838. The main house was moved to Princeton, New Jersey, in 1929 and rebuilt there. Today the block in Alexandria includes a warehouse, car wash, automobile repair facility and a transformer station. The present location of the remains of Thomson F. Mason, removed from Colross, is not known to the writer. (Mary G. Powell, The History of Alexandria, Va., Richmond, Wm. Byrd Press, 1928, p. 261; New York Herald Tribune, July 7, 1929, "Colross Built 1785, to come to Jersey site."; Mrs. Betty Carter Smoot, Days in an Old Town, Alexandria, privately printed, 1934, pp. 121-32; Henry H. Saylor, Alexandria Virginia, The White Pine Series, New York, Russell F. Whitehead, 1926, (photographs and drawings); plus additional material available in the Alexandria Public Library.)
The Hallowell School, 609 Oronoco Street, Alexandria. A two-and-a-half-story brick structure, built circa 1800, it is the companion house to the Lee Home, next door at 607 Oronoco. At 609, Benjamin Hallowell operated a school among whose students was Robert E. Lee. T.F. Mason acquired the house after the Hallowell School moved elsewhere, at public auction on February 9, 1835, though he may have lived there earlier as a tenant. By the time of purchase he was already a resident at Colross, but a sale advertisement for 609 Oronoco Street in 1839 calls it " ... the late residence of the Honorable T. F. Mason ...". The house is still standing. (Deering Davis, Stephen P. Dorsey and Ralph Cole Hall, Alexandria Houses, Cornwall, N.Y. Architectural Book Publishing Co., Inc., 1946, pp. 88-89, 126; Benjamin Hallowell, Autobiography, Philadelphia, Friends Book Association, 1884, pp. 95-120. Alexandria Gazette, August 30, 1839,; Alexandria Deed Book V-2, p. 355(1835).)
Huntley, 6918 Harrison Lane, Groveton, Fairfax County. Still standing. Though Huntley was built during Mason's ownership of the property, no record has been found that he actually lived there.
115 South St. Asaph Street, Alexandria, is a two-and-one-half-story brick structure over an English basement built about 1800, and still standing. A sign on the structure says "Home of Thomas Mason, circa 1775." It was purchased by Mason in May of 1832, at about the same time that he purchased the lot next door at 117 S. St. Asaph Street. A three-story structure of the last quarter of the nineteenth century now stands there. Mason may have been a tenant at 115 before his purchase, but was already out of the house by November 8, 1833, when a Dr. Wheelwright announced that he had "... removed to the house on St. Asaph Street ... formerly occupied by Thomson F. Mason, Esq." (Deering Davis, Stephen P. Dorsey & Ralph Cole Hall, Alexandria Houses, Cornwall, N.Y., Architectural Book Publishing Co., Inc., 1946, p. 126; Alexandria Gazette, November 8, 1833. Alexandria Deed Books: U-2, p. 27 (1832); U-2, p. 29 (1832); and M-3, p. 646 (1852).)
This list includes only part of the real estate owned by Thomson Francis Mason. He lived in the Cameron Street house during the 1820's. He may have lived in either the Oronoco Street or St. Asaph Street houses before he purchased them. At any rate, he purchased Colross, Hallowell School and the St. Asaph Street houses in the decade before his death. He died in 1838 and was buried at Colross. There are long periods of time unaccounted for and probably many real estate transactions which have not yet been documented.
Other Mason Houses