Little Hunting Creek

The Washington family land south of here, named Mount Vernon in the 1740s, was part of a grant made in 1677 by the Northern Neck proprietors to Col. Nicholas Spencer and Lt. Col. John Washington, George Washington's great-grandfather. John Washington's son Lawrence Washington, took possession of the eastern half of the grant on Little Hunting Creek. George Washington inherited it in 1761. Across Little Hunting Creek, the Brent family also was granted land in the 17th century. Margaret Brent, secretary to Lord Baltimore, is regarded as the first woman in the British colonies to demand the right to vote.