Chantilly was home to a number of colonial plantations in the 1700s, including the Sully Plantation (now the
Sully Historic Site) built by
Richard Bland Lee I. Other plantations included George Richard Lee Turberville's "Leeton Grove" (originally a 5,000+ acre plantation, the main house of which still stands at 4619 Walney Rd.), the John Hutchison Farm, and the Chantilly Plantation. During the
Civil War,
federal troops destroyed by fire the Chantilly Plantation manor house. One building remains, a stone house across Route 50 from the Greenbriar Shopping Center. While it is not clear what this stone house was used for, most historical evidence suggests it was probably a plantation overseer's quarters during the antebellum period, and a tavern or boarding house following the war. After the war, Cornelia Stuart, who had become deeply in debt, sold her Chantilly estate. The advertisement for the sale referenced several "tenements", one of which was the Stone House. The village grew during the 19th century, particularly following the construction of the
Little River Turnpike to
Winchester. The evolution of the Chantilly area into an outer suburb of Washington, D.C., gained momentum after 1980, as developers built residential subdivisions and commercial areas, filling in the farmland south of Dulles Airport. File:Chantilly VA Historical Marker.jpg|Historic marker commemorating Old Chantilly Farm House File:FallHouse.JPG|alt=FallHouse.JPG|Sully Plantation (
Sully Historic Site) Main House File:Chantilly VA Historic Building.jpg|The Stone House. The only building of the former Chantilly Plantation (not to be confused with the Sully Plantation) that still exists today. It is located on the north side of Route 50, across from the Greenbriar Shopping Center. Historical evidence strongly suggests the Stone House was an overseer's quarters before the
Civil War, and became a tavern later.
Civil War During the
American Civil War on September 1, 1862, the
Battle of Chantilly (or Ox Hill) was fought nearby. Following his victory at the
Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Manassas),
Confederate General
Robert E. Lee directed Major General
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to cross
Bull Run on August 31 and sweep around the position of Major General
John Pope's Union Army of Virginia at
Centreville. Reaching the Little River Turnpike (now U.S. Route 50) northwest of Centreville, Jackson turned southeastward toward Fairfax Court House (now the city of
Fairfax) to strike in rear of Pope's army. During September 1, Pope, apprised of Jackson's movement, began to withdraw toward Fairfax Court House. Late in the day, Jackson clashed with Union forces under Brigadier General
Isaac Stevens and Major General
Philip Kearny near Ox Hill, west of Fairfax. During the ensuing battle, which was fought amid a raging storm, both Union generals Stevens and Kearny were killed. The fighting ended at dusk, and Pope's army continued its withdrawal to Fairfax and subsequently to the Washington defenses. Although commercial and residential development now covers most of the Chantilly (Ox Hill) battlefield, the small
Ox Hill Battlefield Park preserves a portion of the battle site. ==Geography==