Professional Surveyor at Seventeen, Culpeper County, VA 1749

John Buxton
Oil, 11" x 14"
$5500
ARTIFACT: Commission from Lord Fairfax to young George Washington to survey land

NARRATIVE: No one knows what George Washington looked like in his teen years but, at age seventeen, we know he was commissioned by William and Mary College for a land survey, becoming the first official surveyor for Culpeper County, Virginia. After taking the Oath of Public Office, George's first act was to survey a 400-acre plot on Flat Run in East Central Virginia. Lord Fairfax had previously employed young Washington for his skills at mapping and surveying land plots but, with the commission, Washington was recognized as a professional surveyor.