 After exploration by Captain John Smith, England began sending colonists to what they called Virginia.While no records have yet been found showing the earliest colony settlement in the area, a cottage demolished between 1908 and 1914, two blocks from the city center, bore a stone engraved with the date "1699" set into one of its two large chimneys.During the American Revolution the area is most known for The Falls Church vestrymen George Washington and George Mason.