Park Authority

Fairfax County, Virginia

CONTACT INFORMATION: Open during regular business hours 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday

703-324-8700
TTY 711

12055 Government Center Pkwy.
Fairfax, Virginia 22035

Jai Cole,
Executive Director

artiFACTS

Welcome

The Fairfax County Park Authority’s Museum Collections are home to more than 5,000 museum objects (chairs, quilts, baskets, machines, clothing), thousands of archival items (photographs, maps, letters and other documents) and upwards of three million artifacts (archaeological discoveries such as spear points, pottery). They are the stories of Fairfax County.

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Unearthed Scissors Point to Valuable Role of 18th-Century Women

By Heather Hembrey, M.A., M.A.A.

Fairfax County’s archaeological collections contain artifacts from many sites where women once lived and worked. For Women’s History Month, artiFACTS features a small pair of scissors unearthed at the Thomas Brown farm site.

Unearthed Scissors Point to Valuable Role of 18th-Century Women

In the early 1740s, western Fairfax County was largely unsettled and undeveloped. Farmers like Thomas Brown who couldn’t afford to buy land, rented there until they could purchase their own. In 1742, Thomas leased 150 acres from Willoughby Newton. Later, in 1761, he purchased 400 acres near present-day Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, thus rising in status from tenant to landowner. By 1770, he had built a house and was running a prosperous tobacco plantation.

Thomas purchased goods from Colchester merchants Glassford and Henderson. His accounts reflect the Browns’ increasing wealth and show evidence of women’s domestic activities, including sewing. In September 1766, Brown bought “1 hank silk, 2 skeins twist [yarn].” In November 1769, he purchased “3 sets netting needles”. He likely purchased these steel scissors. They are 4.75 inches long and decorated with bands beneath the finger holes.

In 1770, the Brown household included several enslaved laborers including Hannah, Judith, Kate, Lucy, Adam, Brister, and Charles. Hannah, Judith, Kate and Lucy likely helped Elizabeth Brown with domestic tasks such as cooking, gardening, tending animals, and sewing. It took a great deal of sewing to create and maintain the clothing, linens, blankets and other household textiles that served the members of the household.

When the Brown house site was excavated in the 1990s, these scissors were among the rich concentration of mid-18th-century artifacts that date to the time of the Browns’ occupation. Once the archaeological work was completed, the site was destroyed by the I-66 Route 28 Improvements Project. Nothing of the Browns’ farm remains, nor do we have images of Thomas, Elizabeth, or the enslaved people within the household. Yet these scissors survive to represent the many tasks that the women – enslaved and free - undertook to maintain Brown’s plantation.

Other artiFacts

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Preserved Pews Highlight Commitment to Faith for Black Residents in 18th Century Floris Community
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A Determined Woman
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Writing in the Walls
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Fingerprints at Union Farm
Fingerprints at Union Farm
A Delicate Shard Down on the Dulin Farm
A Delicate Shard Down on the Dulin Farm
One Small Rocket from Fairfax County
One Small Rocket from Fairfax County
A Symbol of African-American Faith and Tradition
A Symbol of African-American Faith and Tradition
The Scent of Flowers in the Air - a bottle of cologne from the 1800s
The Scent of Flowers in the Air
More Cowbells for Fairfax County
More Cowbells for Fairfax County
The Axe of the Archaic: A Stone Tool that Shaped Fairfax
The Axe of the Archaic: A Stone Tool that Shaped Fairfax
Colonoware and Culture: Fairfax County History Left in Clay
Colonoware and Culture: Fairfax County History Left in Clay
A Bottle of Liquor at Newgate Tavern, 1787 Tells Tales of the Past
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A Shoe and a Bungalow – Sears, Roebuck & Company’s Fairfax County Footprints
A Shoe and a Bungalow – Sears, Roebuck & Company’s Fairfax County Footprints
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Snail Mail Served Key Role in US History
Fire Cracked Jasper Point
Fire Cracked Jasper Point
School Bell
School Bell
The Bomb that Didn’t Burst in Air
The Bomb that Didn’t Burst in Air
A Very Rare Find
Snowballs in Summer
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A Very Rare Find
Grow your History Knowledge with a Pretty Flowerpot
Grow your History Knowledge with a Pretty Flowerpot
Fairfax County Woman was Role Model for Nurses in early 1900s
Home Schooling – 1820s Style
Fairfax County Woman was Role Model for Nurses in early 1900s
Fairfax County Woman was Role Model for Nurses in early 1900s
The Coat Off His Back
The Coat Off His Back
Serve a Slice of History
Serve a Slice of History
A Light in Dark Places
A Light in Dark Places
Old-Fashioned Ballot Box Reflects How Times Have Changed on Election Day
Old-Fashioned Ballot Box Reflects How Times Have Changed on Election Day
Someone Lost Their Marbles, Literally!
Someone Lost Their Marbles, Literally!
Photo or Drawing
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We Found It! We Found…Clorox!
We Found It! We Found…Clorox!
Tracing the Origins of Silhouettes
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Projectile Point Points to Ancient History of Mount Air
Projectile Point Points to Ancient History of Mount Air
Entertaining with Japanese Imari Ware
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Putting the Pieces Back Together
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The Curious Tales of a Jacket with No Tail
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Orange and Alexandria Railroad
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Cookie Cutters Offer a Taste of History
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Raise a Glass to “Air-Twist” Glass Stems
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Fans Serve Double Duty for Cooling and Advertising
Fans Serve Double Duty for Cooling and Advertising
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More Than Meets the Eye: The Rigg-Buckley House
A 3D Experience from the Past
A 3D Experience from the Past
Turning the Dirt
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More Than Just a Pretty Face
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A Thimble Sheds Light on the Lives of Women in History
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Newspaper Discovery Shines Light on Suffragette Movement
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Ellanor C. Lawrence Time Capsule
The Ellanor C. Lawrence Park Time Capsule
Dried Sediment Ready to be Examined
Glass Beads Provide Connection to Our Past
Frying Pan Meeting House Bible
Meeting House Bible
Tin Glaze Ceramics
Tin Glaze Ceramics
Lincoln Portrait
Lincoln Portraits Enjoyed Popularity in America’s Past
Staffordshire Slipware
The Origin of Staffordshire Slipware
Christmas Quilt
Christmas Quilt has Ties to Dranesville Tavern
Violin
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Hand-Wrought Nails
Hand-Wrought Nails in Early America
Family Gazette
Newspaper Provides Insight into Past Residents of Green Spring
Stoneware
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Sully Car
Photo Prompts Cruise Down Memory Lane
Gun Flint
Gun Flint
Buttons
Buttons Attach us to History
Church Pew
Church Pew Offers Lesson on County’s Cultural and Racial History
Tobacco Pipe
White Clay Tobacco Pipe
Agate
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Glass Fragments
Glass Fragments Provide a Window into the Past
Child’s Tea Set
A Child’s Tea Set
Colonial Hinge
Hand-wrought Colonial Hinge
Commencement Invitation
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Colonial Padlock
Colonial Padlock
Silk Top Hat
Silk Top Hat
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Fire Screens
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Broken Glass
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Reflections of History
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Sully Tall Clock
Fairfax Virtual Assistant