Around 1716, ambitious Scottish merchants established a small settlement called Cameron near the head of Great Hunting Creek, close to today’s Telegraph Road bridge. Located at a crossroads of inland routes and tidal waters, Cameron became a thriving trading post where tobacco was packed and rolled to nearby inspection points. By the 1730s, the village included taverns, mills, and warehouses. Merchants like John Carlyle, later buried at the Presbyterian Meeting House, and William Ramsay, whose now-lost grave lies in the Christ Church burial ground, were drawn to the area. Though Cameron never became an official port, it laid the foundation for the future town of Alexandria.
