The King’s Highway, which passed through modern-day Woodbridge, Dumfries, Triangle, and Quantico Marine Corps base in the 18th century, played a significant role in daily life and military operations in Prince William County. The road was utilized by local farmers, plantation owners, and merchants to transport goods and harvested crops to the port at Dumfries and to other coastal towns in the region to ship or sell.
In April 1775, in response to Virginia’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore seized the gunpowder from the magazine in Williamsburg a day after the battles of Lexington and Concord. Captain William Grayson’s Independent Company of Cadets marched south out of Dumfries along the road to the assistance of other local militia around the colonial capital. They reached Fredericksburg before being ordered back by Colonel George Washington. Potential bloodshed in Virginia had been avoided.
The historical marker can be found at the following GPS coordinates 38° 32’ 31′ N * 77° 20’ 68′ W
