The ca. 1740 brick farmhouse of Bel Air in Prince William County was originally the home of the Ewell family. Mason Locke Weems (1759-1825), clergyman, first biographer of George Washington, and inventor of the popular Washington story of the hatchet and cherry tree, married into the Ewell family and lived at Bel Air from 1809 until his death. Parson Weems lies buried in the family cemetery here. With its robust but somewhat casual proportions, and massive chimney on the south end, the house is a provincial interpretation of the Georgian style. Its interior retains ambitious and unusual woodwork, including a removable paneled partition between the passage and drawing room. In the partition are original casement windows for lighting the passage. Other noteworthy features are the Georgian stair and the parlor chimneypiece with its crosseted overmantel. Like many colonial houses in Northern Virginia, Bel Air has a fieldstone foundation.