To facilitate shipping, Scottish and English merchants who owned real estate at Cameron, a small hamlet four miles west of the Potomac, petitioned the Virginia General Assembly in the fall of 1748 to establish a town at West's Hunting Creek Warehouse. In the spring of 1749, this site was selected and the new town was named Alexandria in honor of the early owner of much of the land, Scotsman John Alexander. John West, Fairfax County surveyor, laid-out 60 acres (by tradition, assisted by 17-year-old George Washington), and lots were auctioned off in July 1749. alexandriava.gov