The Besley's finally sold their farm after almost 200 years of work and toil. The property passed first to the Walton family, neighbors from just across Chain Bridge Road, then on to Bayard Evans in the 1940's. It was Evans who decided in the late forties to build an earthen dam at the north end of their property across the stream known as Dead Run.

The pond created behind the dam was used as both a watering hole for livestock and a fishing hole for the family and neighbors. In the late 1950's, the state constructed Route 123 cutting the Evans property into two pieces. The approximately 14 acres of land and a one-acre pond on the north side of 123 continued to be used as farm land until about 1979 when the Evans family decided to develop it into residences. The property was developed into what became a townhouse community of fifty homes known as Evans Mill Pond. Today there is very little left of what it was two hundred years ago

Millstone of the type that would have been used in a mill such as this, although this is just a replica and not a working model.

However, the bulldozer missed four or five Oaks that still stand on the knoll east of the pond along the jogging path to the south. These trees are between 200 and 250 years old, probably among the oldest remaining in Fairfax County.

Bayard bought the property of 37 acres in the 1940’s and used it as a farm with livestock, a millhouse and a colonial style restaurant called Evans Farm Inn that became very popular in the area. It included the Sitting Duck Pub, which had a side entrance one level below the restaurant, that was a popular Friday and Saturday evening sing-along bar for people in the neighborhood, a few of whom still reside at Evans Mill Pond. The farm and livestock areas were open to visitors and for decades many local residents brought their children to see and feed the animals.

As the McLean area grew, the restaurant fell out of favor to the point that it no longer remained profitable, so Ralph Evans took steps to close the restaurant and dispose of the land. In the early eighties, he and a partner developed Evans Mill Pond. After closing the restaurant, the remaining property on the East side of Dolly Madison Blvd. was sold to Elm Street Development, which eventually resulted in the Evans Farm community in the late 1990’s.

GPS: 38° 55.96' N 77° 11.70' W 341'/104 meters Falls Church Quadrangle