The community of Mount Woodley is a safe place. It is well lit and within walking distance of a police department, fire department, and hospital. Mount Woodley Manor currently boasts two playgrounds and allows no through traffic. Mount Woodley is in close proximity to a library and the schools are consistently ranked above average in student testing. Mount Woodley is within a five-minute drive to several supermarkets, and dozens of restaurants.
Mount Woodley Manor is located off of Sherwood Hall Lane in the historic Gum Springs neighborhood of Fairfax County, Virginia. Formally established in 1833, Gum Springs was founded West Ford, freed slave of the George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation. Gum Springs became a haven for freed slaves and runaways and many of the modern residents are descendants of the original families. Built in 1981, Mount Woodley Manor consists of 70 homes in the heart of this culture rich area.
Gum Springs is home to Virginia Historical Marker E-94, which reads “Gum Springs, an African-American community, originated here on a 214-acre farm bought in 1833 by West Ford (ca. 1785-1863), a freed man, skilled carpenter, and manager of the Mount Vernon estate. The freedman’s school begun here in 1867 at Bethlehem Baptist Church encouraged black settlement. In 1890 the Rev. Samuel K. Taylor, William Belfield, Lovelace Brown, Hamilton Gray, Robert D. King, Henry Randall, and Nathan Webb formed the Joint Stock Company of Gum Springs and sold lots. Gum Springs has remained a vigorous black community.”