he site of Alexandria is a small bay along the upper reaches of the tidal Potomac River. It served as a center for trade among the American Indians long before John Smith reached the upper Potomac in 1608. Europeans and Africans first settled the opposite Maryland shore, but a disgruntled Margaret Brent moved across the Potomac and acquired part of the future Alexandria in the 1660s. John Alexander of Stafford County, for whom the city is named, purchased the land in 1674.

In 1730 the Virginia Assembly established official tobacco inspection stations and warehouses at Great Hunting Creek and in Alexander's quarter. Merchants settling around the warehouses created a community known as Belle Haven and petitioned for recognition as an independent town in Fairfax County. The Virginia General Assembly granted the recognition on May 11, 1749, and the first land sales were held on July 14.