The National Park Service officially announced that the Public Quarry on Government Island in Stafford County, Virginia has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Government Island is most noted for the extensive quantities of sandstone extracted between 1791-1825, used to construct the White House and U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. 

An early American industrial site, Government Island was quarried as early as 1694 by the Brent family. Its stone, known as Aquia stone or freestone, was used in structural and decorative architectural elements of prominent homes, churches and bridges throughout Colonial America.  The closest example of such elements can be found in the trim of nearby Aquia Church (1751-1757) in Stafford. The island was quarried for nearly a century before it was purchased by the federal government, giving it its namesake. 

Government Island was purchased by Stafford County in 1998 with the strong encouragement of local historian Jane Conner, and is being planned as a public park. The proposed hiking trail will help to interpret the site’s history and stone-quarrying process, and allow visitors a glimpse of the thousands of hand-made chisel marks that remain forever etched in the stone faces on the island. In December 2006, the planned two-mile loop trail on Government Island was also designated as a segment on the National Park Service’s Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, a developing network of locally-managed trails between the mouth of the Potomac River and the Allegheny Highlands.

The National Register of Historic Places is the Nation’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation, as authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior. 

For more information about Government Island and the plans for this public park, please contact Stafford County Tourism at (540) 658-8681, or visit www.TourStaffordVa.com. 

<back to June 2007 news index