Fairfax County is seeking community input to help preserve the Peake Family Cemetery, a historically significant burial site in Hybla Valley’s Gum Springs neighborhood.
The Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) will begin restoration efforts this spring as part of its initiative to protect historic cemeteries across the county.
With extensive construction on the horizon for Richmond Highway, Fairfax County has been handed a roadmap to help manage the impact, preserve the area’s heritage, support local businesses and keep the community engaged.
Last week, the nonprofit consulting group Urban Land Institute (ULI) released a report with a blueprint for redevelopment along the upcoming 7.4-mile Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route from the Huntington Metro Station to Fort Belvoir.
Fairfax County will hold a community meeting later this month to gather feedback on its efforts to document one of the region’s oldest African American communities.
The first meeting — scheduled for Tuesday, May 28, at 6:30 p.m. at the Gum Springs Community Center (8100 Fordson Road) — will give community members a chance to learn more about the timeline and goals of the Gum Springs Heritage Resources Study.
Fairfax County will alight with joy and celebration with a variety of opportunities to celebrate Juneteenth this coming weekend (June 17-19).
Just last week on June 6, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors officially recognized Monday, June 19 of this year as Juneteenth. Only recently anointed a state and federal holiday, the occasion commemorates the day in 1865 when enslaved men and women in Galveston, Texas finally heard the news that they had been freed two years prior under the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
A church is under consideration for the Gum Springs area, according to a proposal filed with Fairfax County this month.
The applicant, Cornerstone Church, is seeking the county’s blessing to develop at 7900 Fordson Road, just across Sherwood Hall Lane from Bethlehem Baptist Church.
As motorists make the turn onto Fordson Road from Richmond Highway, they are greeted by a green sign welcoming all to Gum Springs. Underneath the bolded letters, it reads “1833.”
Gum Springs is perhaps the most historically significant Black community in Fairfax County. It was founded nearly two centuries ago by West Ford, a former enslaved person at Mount Vernon who was freed.
A popular, family-owned southern comfort food restaurant is taking its sweet potato pie to Hybla Valley.
Della J’s Delectables is moving from its Springfield home of the last five years to Mount Vernon Plaza, right off of Richmond Highway near Gum Springs. It will occupy a space that was formerly a Ruby Tuesday’s.
Gum Springs, the oldest Black community in Fairfax County, is holding its Juneteenth celebration this weekend as it faces an uncertain future.
The New Gum Springs Civic Association (NGSCA) will celebrate Juneteenth with a community day tomorrow (Saturday), featuring roller skating, food, music, and words from the great-great-great granddaughter of the community’s founder, West Ford.
