Colonel George Gilpin (1740–1813)
Revolutionary Patriot, Surveyor, Merchant, and Civic Leader
Colonel George Gilpin was a Revolutionary patriot, surveyor, merchant, and civic leader associated with Alexandria, Virginia, George Washington, and the founding of the United States. His activities included the Fairfax Resolves, Revolutionary-era military service, the Potomac Company, the development of Alexandria's waterfront, surveying, and the early civic and commercial life of Alexandria.
Quaker Roots and the American Revolution
George Gilpin was born in Maryland in 1740, the son of Samuel Gilpin and Jane Parker Gilpin. The Gilpin family had deep Quaker roots, and George was raised within that religious tradition.
By 1774, Gilpin was actively involved in the colonial resistance movement. He was one of the 25 men who signed the Fairfax Resolves, adopted on July 18, 1774. The resolutions were associated with George Mason and George Washington and set forth Fairfax County's opposition to British policies and its position on colonial rights.
Gilpin subsequently served in the Fairfax County militia during the Revolutionary period and became widely known as Colonel George Gilpin.
Thomas Gilpin and the Quaker Exiles
The Revolution also directly affected George Gilpin's family.
His brother, Thomas Gilpin, remained a Quaker and was among a group of Pennsylvania Quakers arrested in 1777 and sent into exile in Virginia after Pennsylvania authorities suspected members of the group of Loyalist sympathies.
George Gilpin attempted to assist his brother and the other exiles. He traveled to York, Pennsylvania, where the Continental Congress was meeting, to appeal on their behalf. Thomas Gilpin died in Virginia in 1778 during the period of exile.
Merchant and Alexandria Waterfront Development
Gilpin was active in Alexandria's commercial and civic development as a merchant, landowner, and surveyor. His activities were closely connected with the city's growing waterfront and its development as a Potomac River port.
Gilpin was one of the early Alexandria waterfront landowners to participate in a process known as “banking out.” Beginning in the eighteenth century, waterfront property owners extended their land eastward by leveling the high river bluffs and using fill to reclaim portions of the shallow crescent-shaped bay along the Potomac. The newly created land allowed the shoreline and wharves to extend toward deeper water.
George Gilpin was one of the first landowners to bank out land on the 200 block of South Union Street. By the 1790s, his wharf occupied the entire block.
The Potomac Company
Gilpin was also involved with one of George Washington's major post-Revolutionary projects, the Potomac Company.
The company was organized to improve navigation on the Potomac River and expand transportation and trade between the eastern seaboard and lands farther west. Gilpin served as a director of the Potomac Company, an enterprise closely associated with Washington.
His experience as a surveyor was particularly relevant to projects involving land, waterways, transportation, and development.
Surveyor of Alexandria
Surveying was an important part of Gilpin's professional career.
His surviving 1798 map of Alexandria, known as the Gilpin Map, records the town's streets, property divisions, waterfront, and physical development near the end of the eighteenth century. The map remains an important historical record of early Alexandria.
Gilpin also conducted surveying and land work in and around Alexandria, contributing to the documentation and development of property in the growing community.
The United States Capitol Cornerstone
Gilpin was also present at the laying of the cornerstone of the United States Capitol on September 18, 1793, when George Washington participated in the ceremonial laying of the stone.
George Gilpin and George Washington
Gilpin's association with George Washington extended across many years.
Their activities intersected through Fairfax County, the Revolutionary period, surveying, local civic affairs, and the Potomac Company.
Their association continued until Washington's death in December 1799. When Washington was buried at Mount Vernon, Colonel George Gilpin served as one of the pallbearers at George Washington's funeral.
Family and Later Years
George Gilpin married and raised a family whose descendants remained connected to Alexandria and the surrounding region.
He continued to reside in Alexandria during the early years of the United States and remained associated with the community's commercial, surveying, and civic affairs.
Colonel George Gilpin died in Alexandria in December 1813 and was buried in the Christ Church burial ground on Wilkes Street.
His Legacy
Colonel George Gilpin's life spanned the Revolutionary and early national periods of American history. His work as a patriot, merchant, surveyor, and civic leader contributed to the early development of Alexandria and connected him with many of the people and events that shaped the new nation.
Today, Gilpin Legacy works to preserve his history, including the Historic Gilpin Restoration Project leading the effort to replace his lost gravesite at Christ Church Cemetery in Alexandria.