The phrase “the Brick House” referred originally (in the seventeenth century) to a particular house built of brick, indicating how unusual such a building was in the early years of the colony. The original house lay about three miles east of Eltham on the south side of the York River across from West Point; after 1738 it was also the location of the Brick House tobacco warehouse (hening description begins William Waller Hening, ed. The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619. 13 vols. 1819–23. Reprint. Charlottesville, Va., 1969. description ends , 5:15). By the mid-eighteenth century the Brick House lent its name to its immediate surrounding neighborhood, which is the sense in which GW refers to it here. In that neighborhood lay land that had been in the Bassett family for many years, as well as one of the larger quarters of the Custis estate, which GW was managing for Jacky (chamberlayne description begins C. G. Chamberlayne, ed. The Vestry Book and Register of St. Peter’s Parish, New Kent and James City Counties, Virginia, 1684–1786. Richmond, 1937. description ends , 335, 669–70; see also the Custis Papers in ViHi). In 1760 Burwell Bassett owned an ordinary at Brick House which was run by a Mr. Baker (harris [1] description begins Malcolm Hart Harris. Old New Kent County. 2 vols. West Point, Va., 1977. description ends , 41).