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Northern Virginia
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| Like much of
Maryland, the fate of
northern Virginia has been increasingly defined over the years by its
proximity to our nation's capital. In fact, the
District of Columbia
originally included territory on the southern banks of the Potomac River,
which was organized as Alexandria County in 1791. |
| Although Congress agreed to "retrocede"
this 32-square-mile tract to Virginia in 1846, the Civil War soon
reintroduced federal authority to the region, as Union troops struggled to
defend the capital and defeat General Robert E. Lee's storied Army of Northern
Virginia. |
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Since then, the feds have played an
ever-increasing role in the region, setting aside prime real estate for
national parks and government agencies, as the "National Capital Region"
has expanded well beyond the bounds of the original federal district
called for in the Constitution. |
| Nowadays,
the metropolitan statistical area of Northern Virginia is the largest in
the Commonwealth, accounting for about a quarter of Virginia's population.
It is also relatively affluent, ethnically diverse, and less politically conservative
than the rest of the Old Dominion. |
A note on the photos: Some of the pictures on this page were
taken in the late '80s and '90s, before we made the transition to digital
photography. We pulled these snapshots out of old photo albums,
scanned them and cleaned them up as best we could. They are provided
for historical perspective, rather than photographic quality. — The
Management
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Named for its original landowners, Alexandria was established in 1749, and
incorporated three decades later. This bustling port became part of the
District of Columbia
in 1791, but it was at a competitive disadvantage with
Georgetown in serving the commercial needs of the federal government across
the Potomac. By the 1820s Alexandria hosted one of the most important
slave markets in the country, a trade falling out of favor in the nation's
capital. Consequently, Alexandria's citizens petitioned Congress to
"retrocede" the county to Virginia, which took effect in 1847. Five years
later, Alexandria was re-chartered as a city. |
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In 1755, the town served as HQ
for British forces prosecuting the French and Indian War. Redcoats
returned to sack the city during the War of 1812. |
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| Occupied by Union troops for
the duration of the Civil War, Alexandria served as capital of the
"Restored Government of Virginia" (1863-65). |
In 1870, the City of Alexandria
became independent of the rest of Alexandra County, which was renamed
Arlington County n 1920. |
| Nowadays, Old Town Alexandria
boasts one of the best-preserved colonial quarters in America. |
Other Alexandria attractions
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Although no longer part of
D.C.,
Arlington County remains an integral part of the National Capital Region .
Geographically the smallest self-governing county in the U.S., Arlington is
home to Washington's domestic airport (Reagan
National) and the headquarters of our nation's armed services (the
Pentagon). |
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| Much of Arlington County was
once the estate of George Washington Parke Custis. |
Custis was Martha
Washington's grandson, and the adopted son of our first president. |
| Custis began construction of Arlington
House on a hill overlooking the Potomac in 1802. In 1831,
newly-commissioned Lieutenant Robert E. Lee married Custis's daughter, and
took up residence in the mansion. With the outbreak of the Civil
War, federal troops quickly occupied the Custis-Lee estate, and the U.S.
government confiscated 200 acres to serve as a Union cemetery in 1864. |
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| In 1882, the Supreme Court
awarded Lee's family compensation for the property. Congress
designated the mansion as a memorial to the Confederate general in 1955. |
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Arlington
National Cemetery now occupies 624 acres, and is the final resting place
of nearly 300,000 people, including veterans from all the nation's wars,
including pre-Civil War dead re-interred here in 1900. |
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| In addition to military
veterans, many other notable Americans are buried here, including two
Presidents, a dozen Supreme Court justices, and many explorers,
astronauts, and other historical figures. |
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In 1921, remains of four unknown
American soldiers from World War I were interred at Arlington in a Tomb of
the Unknowns. |
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| Remains from unknown World War
II and Korean War veterans were added in 1958, and a Vietnam veteran was
added in 1984. In 1998, the Vietnam remains were positively
identified, so that crypt now stands empty. |
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Just north of the cemetery, Arlington Ridge is home to the
U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, a sculpture commemorating the raising of
the Stars and Stripes over Iwo Jima in 1945. |
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The Air Force attempted to build
its own memorial on Arlington Ridge in the 1990s, but was
blocked by the Marines. Instead, a redesigned
Air Force
Memorial was erected in 2006 south of the cemetery, at a prominent site
overlooking the Pentagon. |
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At 270 feet, the memorial's three
spires have become a distinctive feature of the Arlington skyline. The
neighboring Navy Annex will be demolished in 2010 to allow for the expansion
of the cemetery. |
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Other Arlington County attractions
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Named for Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron — whose land grants
extended from the "Northern Neck" of the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers all
the way to modern-day West Virginia — Fairfax County was established in 1742
from the northern part of Prince William County. |
Other Fairfax County attractions
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This page was first published 4 January 2009, and last
updated 04 January 2009.
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