[3] At the time of early English settlers, Leesylvania was believed to be the site of an Algonquian village, overlooking Neabsco Creek.

He and his wife had eight children at their home including Revolutionary War hero Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee.

John Fairfax continued to farm the plantation using enslaved labor, and during the American Civil War served as a staff aide to Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet.

The house and its path were completely bulldozed in the 1950s to make way for a road, when increasing river pollution led to precipitous decline in both ducks and fish, and thus closure of both a hunting club and a commercial fishery on the site, and promoters established a pier for access to a gambling boat on the Potomac River on the Maryland side (which permitted gambling that was illegal in Virginia.

[7] The park has a small group-only campground, five hiking trails, fishing pier, boat ramp, visitor center, natural sand beach, and four picnic shelters.