Clara Barton, founder and first president of the American Red Cross, established a field hospital at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Fairfax Station in August 1862 during the second battle of Manassas. It was here that she was first noticed for her humanitarianism, heroism, and organizational ability. From St. Mary’s as many as 1,000 wounded Union soldiers at a time were moved by train back to Washington. The country Gothic building was erected in 1858 to serve the Irish immigrants recruited to work on the construction of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad in Fairfax County. Although its interior suffered as a result of its wartime use, the exterior of St. Mary’s Church remains little altered since its construction.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
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DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia
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