The Home of Fred Hosea Curtice, Sr. and Cuba Evangeline Grayson Curtice 1917-1988

By Patricia Strat – Historical Society of Fairfax County, Virginia Member

Background

Century Oak Farm was named after a solitary, large red oak tree located on the south side of Thompson Road in what is today’s Sully District of Fairfax County. The farm and the oak may have faded into history were it not for a report, requested by Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith, to document the people and places of Fairfax County’s Navy community.¹

Location of the Farm

Figure 1 shows modern-day landmarks surrounding the former 107-acre farm which was bisected by the construction of the Fairfax County Parkway in the late 1980s.² Thompson Road was the northern boundary of the farm. The golf course of the International Country Club was the western boundary. While not on the boundary, Inova Fair Oaks Hospital is a nearby landmark to the southeast. Navy Elementary School, on West Ox Road, is to the east. 

Fred Hosea Curtice, Jr. (1918 – 2013) was Hosea and Cuba Curtice’s eldest child. After serving as a machinist in the Army Air Corps during WWII ³, Fred studied agriculture at the University of Maryland, graduating in 1951.⁴ While at UMD, Fred prepared a 17-page paper for his “Farm Management” class in which he describes Century Oak Farm:⁵ 

“The farm was cleared from virgin Pine before the Civil War and the buildings were made of lumber cut from the place. A number of people owned it and in 1910 my grandfather (Note: Cuba’s father) purchased it and had Tenant farmers on it until Father and Mother moved on it in 1917. The soil had been depleted by the previous owners and by the tenant farmers….” ⁶

The Dairy Farm

Hosea and Cuba Curtice built and operated a dairy on the farm for 52 years, from 1917 to 1969.⁸ In Fred’s paper, he records the farm’s livestock: 

Livestock: Number by Classes and Production per unit

The crops grown at Century Oak included: corn, wheat, oats, alfalfa, timothy, lespedeza, and barley. In his university paper, Fred documented which crop was grown in each field from 1945-1949, as well as fertilizer and lime treatments for each field.¹⁰ He also documented the yield of each field and crop for the years 1945-1948, listing the reasons for high or low yields.¹¹ 

Viability of Farming in Fairfax County

After graduating from the university, Fred worked at the family farm for another decade before moving to southeastern Virginia to work as a supervisor for the Farmers Home Administration. In 1969 he began working for the insurance company AFLAC.¹² While a student at Maryland, Fred had predicted the economic disadvantages of farming in Fairfax County: 

“The farm is located in an area that formerly was farmed, but is changing over to small residences and subdivisions. The distance from neighboring dairy farms makes it difficult to exchange seasonal work such as silo filling, haymaking and etc. This makes it more expensive for these operations…. It is rather difficult because of distance to own machinery cooperatively with neighbors… Another economic disadvantage is that the labor supply in the area is taken up by the large amount of cConstruction work and higher wages in the nearby area. This makes it difficult to find competent help.” ¹³

Farming Ends

In the 1960s, the eponymous red oak succumbed to the improvement and paving of Thompson Road.¹⁴ The dairy operations ceased in 1969 when Hosea Curtice retired. Afterward, Century Oak’s croplands were leased to others for growing hay.¹⁵ Although no longer associated with a farm, the name “Century Oak” survives as the name of a vibrant, suburban neighborhood.

Patricia Strat began researching local history in 2007 when she decided to find out who “Gabrielson Gardens Park” in Oakton was named after. By Earth Day 2008, her efforts resulted in a State Historic Highway Marker, honoring Dr. Ira Nora Gabrielson, the first Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, at the Oakton Library. Two more highway markers in Oakton followed: a Fairfax County Marker for the Vale School/Vale Community House (2009) and a State Marker for Florence Jodzies (2011). She wrote the article “The History of Ira Gabrielson’s Great Crest in Oakton” for The Historical Society of Fairfax County, Virginia yearbook, Volume 31, 2007-2008; the Book: “75 Years in Vale: Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the Vale Club, Oakton Virginia” in 2010, and “People and Places of the Navy Community Fairfax County Virginia 1887-1984” prepared for the Fairfax County History Commission, 2019.

References:

1. Strat, Patricia. “People and Places of the Navy Community, Fairfax County, Virginia, 1887 – 1984.” Prepared for the Fairfax County History Commission, Feb. 22, 2019 https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/history-commission/sites/history-commission/files/Assets/documents/Resources/Navy-Community-Fairfax-County.pdf#page=1 This article add to that report through family photos, memorabilia and memories shared by Hosea and Cuba Curtice’s grandson, Steven Noll.  (Note: Throughout this article, Fred, Sr. is referred to by his middle name, Hosea. His son, Fred, Jr., is referred to by his first name.)  ↩︎
2. Parkway: DR. GRIDLOCK.”  The Washington Post, Nov. 4, 1988, p. E1-E2.  ↩︎
3. Noll, Steven. Grandson of Fred Hosea Curtice Sr. and Cuba Evangeline Grayson Curtice; son of Barbara Curtice Noll, in discussions with the author. January and February 2020. ↩︎
4. University of Maryland, “Terrapin,” College Park, Md., https://archive.org/details/terrapinyearbook1951univ/page/26/mode/2up , 1951, p. 26.  ↩︎
5. Curtice, Fred Hosea, Jr. “Term Paper – AE 108, Farm Management,”  University of Maryland, College Park, undated (circa 1949), Curtice family memorabilia held by Steven Noll.  ↩︎
6. Ibid., 1. ↩︎
7. Ibid., 3. ↩︎
8. 8. “Fred Curtice, Fairfax Dairy Farmer.” The Washington Post, Oct 24, 1978. B7.  ↩︎
9. Curtice, 9. ↩︎
10. Ibid., 4. ↩︎
11. Ibid., 8-9. ↩︎
12. 12. “Fred Hosea Curtice, Jr. Obituary.” The Washington Post, March 1, 2013. ↩︎
13. Curtice, 2. ↩︎
14. Noll ↩︎
15. Noll ↩︎