Outline of the German Town of 1729, reconstructed by Woodford B. Hackley (1961).
© Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc.

Germantown was Fauquier County’s first permanent settlement, established in 1718 by Germans brought to the Rappahannock River valley by then Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood in the early 1700’s to excavate iron ore found on his property.  Once their terms of service ended, they moved from his settlement along the Rapidan River to land along Licking Run.  Many of the family names, such as Fishback, Rector, Kemper, and Hitt, survive in the County today.

In 1718, a deed was signed by these early families granting them land along Licking Run.  The lots were divided among 19 different families, with the 20th lot being left open for a church and parsonage.  Each lot was situated such that the Licking Run would run through each property at some point.  The modern-day boundaries of this settlement are Meetze Road along the northeast and Germantown Road along the southwest.  Until the American Revolution, these pioneers made their living growing and selling tobacco.  As the economy of the country changed, the Germantown families soon turned to growing corn and wheat and raising livestock. 

In 1985, the United States Soil Conservation Service dammed up Licking Run and created Fauquier County’s largest body of water, Germantown Lake.  Along this lake in 1987 C. M. Crockett Park was created, named for Charlie Mitchell Crockett who donated money to purchase the land needed for the park.  Crockett’s wife was a descendent of the original Weaver family who had settled in Germantown.  Learn more about early German settlements at https://germanna.org/about/history/ or Fauquier County’s Germantown by watching our video https://youtu.be/TssDLMQPTvw

 Following is a rough idea of Germantown's location overlaid on a current USGS map of Fauquier County.