Biohazard Cleanup Near Wiley Mason Neck, VA

Mason Neck is a census-designated place occupying a peninsula of the same name in the southernmost part of Fairfax County, Virginia, jutting into the Potomac River.

Mason Neck had a population of 2,025 at the 2020 census, barely changed from 2,005 in 2010, a stability reflecting how much of the peninsula is permanently preserved.

The roughly 20-square-mile peninsula is about two-thirds preserved as parkland by national, state, and regional authorities, and it is bordered by Belmont Bay to the west, the Potomac River to the south and east, Gunston Cove to the northeast, and Pohick Bay to the north-northeast.

Before European settlement, Mason Neck was inhabited by the Doeg people.

The peninsula's recorded history began around 1755 with the construction of Gunston Hall, the plantation house of George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights; built in 1755-1759 as the headquarters of a 5,500-acre plantation, Gunston Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and preserves more than 550 acres today.

Historic Pohick Church on Mason Neck was frequented by both George Mason and George Washington, and Cranford Methodist Church, built in 1857, served as a hospital during the Civil War.

The Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, established on February 1, 1969, was the first federal wildlife refuge created specifically for the protection of the bald eagle; it covers 2,277 acres and was renamed in 2006 for local conservationist Elizabeth Hartwell.

The refuge contains the Great Marsh, at 207 acres one of the largest freshwater tidal marshes on the Potomac River and home to a large great blue heron breeding colony.

Mason Neck State Park, established in 1985, covers 1,814 acres of the peninsula, is day-use only, and is regarded as one of the best places in Northern Virginia to view bald eagles.