After the death of George Mason I, his eldest son George Mason II sold his father's Accokeek plantation and moved to a property along Chopawamsic Creek that he called Chopawamsic,[1] which means “Isolated Lodge” in Algonquian.[2] Chopawamsic consisted of more than 2,000 acres (810 ha).[1]George Mason II built his manor along Chopawamsic Creek using blocks of local sandstone.[1] Mason planted an orchard and tobacco and raised sheep and cattle,[1] relying on the forced labor of enslaved people. Mason's 1715 will listed 21 named slaves.[3]
Like his father, George Mason III amassed vast land holdings in Stafford, Fauquier, Prince William, and Fairfax counties.[1] Most of his land holdings were leased out as small farms with the rent paid in tobacco.[1] His other sources of income included a fishing business and a ferry service across Occoquan River.[1] A few years after his marriage to Ann Thomson in 1721, Mason moved his family to Charles County, Maryland.[1] Chopawamsic was used as an occasional residence until Mason's death in 1735 when his widow and children, including Founding FatherGeorge Mason IV, returned to live there.[1] Ann Thomson Mason chose Chopawamsic as her dower after her husband's death and managed Mason family interests from the estate for the remainder of her life.[1] George Mason IV spent his early adolescence and began his early education at Chopawamsic and resided there until the age of 24 when he moved to present-day Fairfax County.[1]Stevens Thomson Mason, son of Thomson Mason, who was first Attorney of the Bar in Dumfries, was born at Chopawamsic in 1760.[4] Thomson Mason and his family resided at Chopawamsic where most of his children were born and later also at Raspberry Plain in Loudoun County.
^Prince William County/Manassas Convention and Visitors Bureau (2008). "Prince William County 2008-2009 Visitors Guide"(PDF). Prince William County/Manassas Convention and Visitors Bureau. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2008-02-17.