Paris is a well-preserved early-19th-century Fauquier County village located at the foot of Ashby Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, adjacent to the Clarke County line. The colonial roads leading from Alexandria, Dumfries, and Fredericksburg to Winchester that intersected at Paris contributed to its initial economic vitality. During the first half of the 19th century, Paris was a small commercial and transportation center that served the surrounding population as well as those traveling through the region. According to Martin’s Gazetteer (1835), in addition to 25 dwellings, Paris contained three mercantile stores, a church (for use by all denominations), a school, two saddlers, a cabinetmaker, a tailor, a turner, a wheat fan maker, two blacksmith shops, two wagon makers, a chair maker, and three boot and shoe factories. Several taverns also operated in town, catering to the clientele that passed through the village. The routing of the Manassas Gap Railroad to the south in 1852 left Paris somewhat isolated and removed much of the traffic that otherwise passed through it on its way west. This commercial detriment created a halt in major development after the 1850s, a fact reflected in the architecture of the town, where the majority of buildings date to the first half of the 19th century. The Paris Historic District is included at the northern end of the Crooked Run Valley Rural Historic District.