George Washington’s birthplace is two miles north, on Pope’s Creek just off the Potomac River. He was born there on 22 Feb. 1732 and lived there only for three years. Washington’s father, Augustine, purchased the land in 1718 and built the house by 1726. Washington’s half-brother Augustine, Jr., inherited the property after his father’s death in 1743. The dwelling, a U-shaped timber-frame house, burned on Christmas Day 1779. The present Memorial House, erected in 1930–31, is a Colonial Revival-style version of a medium-size planter’s house. Originally known as Pope's Creek, the property was renamed Wakefield about 1770 by George Washington’s half-nephew William Augustine Washington.