Esthetician School in George Mason, VA

The land that is now George Mason was located on the farm of John and Harriet Burtis, originally of New York State; the Burtises were abolitionists who grew vegetables and raised sheep. On May 25, 1861, Corporal John Barnes of the C.S.A. 17th Virginia Infantry Regiment’s Company D, also known as the Fairfax Rifle Rangers, riding with his companion, ordered Burtis to give him provisions. Burtis procured several of his sheep for the Corporal, but refused to use his team of horses to move them to the Confederate camp in Fairfax Station. Barnes eventually convinced a local free black man to move the sheep for him, but loudly declared in the presence of the man that he would arrest Burtis and seize his team. Burtis, having learned of the danger he was in, left with his wife and his team, taking a “…circuitous route through the woods”, eventually reaching Washington.

In 1962, planning began for the 150 acres of land donated by the City of Fairfax to be the new campus of George Mason College of the University of Virginia, with the campus opening in 1964. In 1972, Governor of Virginia Linwood Holton signed legislation to separate George Mason College from the University of Virginia, renaming it George Mason University.

A. G. Van Metre Associates began developing George Mason Forest in the early 1980s, and completed the community in 2003, having built approximately 200 single-family homes. On July 3, 2013, the George Mason Forest Homeowners Association filed for incorporation, successfully being granted corporation status on July 26.