Editing Fairfax County, Virginia (section)

===18th century===
Fairfax County was formed in 1742 from the northern part of [[Prince William County, Virginia|Prince William County]], and was named after [[Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron]], proprietor of the [[Northern Neck Proprietary|Northern Neck]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n122 123]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.fairfaxhistoricalsociety.org/index.html
|title= The Historical Society of Fairfax County Virginia
|publisher= Fairfax County Historical Society
|access-date=January 25, 2010}}</ref> The Fairfax family name is derived from the Old English phrase for "[[blond]] hair", ''Fæger-feax''.

The county's initial settlements were along the Potomac River. [[George Washington]] settled in Fairfax County and built his home, [[Mount Vernon]], facing the Potomac. [[Gunston Hall]], the home of [[George Mason]], is nearby. [[Fort Belvoir]] is partly on the estate of Belvoir Manor, built along the Potomac by William Fairfax in 1741.

[[Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron|Thomas Fairfax]], the only member of the British nobility ever to reside in the colonies, lived at [[Belvoir, Virginia|Belvoir]] before moving to the [[Shenandoah Valley]]. The Belvoir mansion and several of its outbuildings were destroyed by fire immediately after the [[American Revolution|Revolutionary War]] in 1783, and [[George Washington]] noted the plantation complex deteriorated into ruins.

In 1757, the northwestern two-thirds of Fairfax County became [[Loudoun County, Virginia|Loudoun County]]. In 1789, part of Fairfax County was ceded to the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] to form [[Alexandria County, Virginia|Alexandria County]], then part of the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]].