Ashburn

As longtime residents know, Ashburn originated as Farmwell in the early 1800s. The name Farmwell came from the nearby mansion of George Lee, great-grandson of Thomas Lee who was a leading political figure in colonial Virginia. In 1841, a section of the Farmwell plantation was purchased by John Janney, a Quaker lawyer who was once nominated to be the vice presidential candidate of the national Whig party. Janney ultimately lost the nomination to John Tyler by just one vote (his own), and therefore lost out on being Vice President of the United States and President of the United States by that tight of a margin. Janney settled down on the property he bought and named Ashburn Farm until 1870. According to local lore, the name Ashburn came from an incident in which lightning struck an ash tree. The tree burned brightly and continued to smolder for several days which caused quite the stir in town. A couple of decades later in 1896, confusion existed between the well-known town of Farmville and the area known as Farmwell, so the town decided to rename itself Ashburn, after Janney’s famous farm.

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