Paris

History

Peter Glascock acquired the deed for what became the town in 1786 from Kimball Hicks. The land had been part of the Northern Neck Proprietary and also part of Thomas Lord Fairfax's Leeds Manor. Hicks had operated a tavern nearby since 1782, and Glascock also operated a similar venture, both of which were sometimes cited for failure to adhere to the terms of their licenses. A post office existed by September 1800. The Virginia General Assembly in 1810 issued a charter for a town at the intersection of Ashby Gap Road (which it authorized to be paved that year and later became Route 50) and the Dumfries-Winchester Road (which later became Route 17), although the town was actually platted two decades earlier (and not all of the 14 planned streets were ever completed). Scheel tells us that this village was known as "Punkin Ville", which has nothing to do with pumpkins, but "punkin" was slang for an out-of-the-way and insignificant place. Hagemann tells us that in 1819 the town was named to memorialize the tour of the returning Marquis de Lafayette to the United States after the War of 1812. No written account explains why the place was not directly named after the Marquis, although Peter Glascock served in the Revolutionary Army and greatly admired him. Hagemann's account seems unlikely in light of both the creation of the Paris US Post Office and the assignment of a postmaster/mail routes in 1800, and the town was created in 1810 in a place that was already called Paris. The market town prospered in the early 19th century (with a population of 200 in 1835) but lagged in the middle of the century because none of the newly constructed railroads went through it. It was last listed as an incorporated town in 1830. In 1835, Paris had several taverns, three stores, a…

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,403
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  11,280
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,963
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  9,982
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,856
• Eastern Bluebird

  Sialia sialis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,709
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  9,564
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  9,558

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-10-27
  4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
• M 3.03 — 2016-01-17
  3 km NE of Ranson, West Virginia
• M 3.6 — 2010-07-16
  5 km NNW of Barnesville, Maryland