Around Town

At the center of a new exhibit in the National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir is a wax replica of Revolutionary War soldier William Seymour.

Around Seymour are soldiers charging into battle, including formerly enslaved man Cato Varnum who won a Badge of Military Merit for his actions at Yorktown. Just behind Seymour are Anna and John Lane, a couple who fought together at Germantown.


News

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors recently marked the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and saluted the Vietnamese American community’s vital role in the local area and nation.

“We honor all the contributions that the Vietnamese American community makes to Fairfax County on an everyday basis,” Board Chairman Jeff McKay said when presenting a resolution at an April 22 meeting. “Anywhere you go in Fairfax County, you can see this.”


Around Town

The first shots of the American Revolutionary War were fired in Concord, Massachusetts, 250 years ago this Saturday (April 19).

To commemorate the war’s 250th anniversary, there will be a variety of events around Fairfax County over the next few weeks, continuing a year-long, statewide VA 250 initiative.


News

Wistful remembrances mingled with excitement for the future, as local elected officials, library staff and community members gave Patrick Henry Library in Vienna an early send-off over the weekend.

The 13,800-square-foot library building, which has stood at 101 Maple Avenue East since 1971, is set to be replaced this summer. When the branch reopens in about two years, it’ll feature not only expanded and upgraded facilities, but also an entirely new name — the Vienna-Carter Library.


News

As a designated national historic place, Sully Historic Site’s backstory likely doesn’t qualify as obscure, but it may be incomplete, the Fairfax County Park Authority says.

The agency hopes to fill in some of those gaps with a new “Reimagining Sully” project expected to kick off this spring. The initiative will aim to tell “more complete and accurate and authentic stories” about the former plantation, according to FCPA Resource Management and Interpretation Division Director Laura Grape.


Countywide

What do a Fairfax County public library, bowling alley and the Dulles family home have in common?

They’re all examples of modernism, an architectural style that exploded onto the scene in Fairfax County after World War II, according to a new survey that could help preserve some key remnants of the movement.


News

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.


News

Before it became Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Caroline Ware’s farm in Wolf Trap served as the staging area for a noteworthy yet little-known battle in the civil rights movement’s long struggle against segregation.

A constitutional history and social sciences professor at Howard University, Ware hosted a picnic on May 14, 1944 for friends and students, four of whom got arrested after refusing to move to the back of the bus they boarded to return to D.C.


News

Fairfax County school officials will try again this month to win planning commission support for the proposed new Dunn Loring Elementary School.

“Clearly, we need to do a little more work — [to] get all the pieces right,” Providence District Planning Commissioner Jeremy Hancock said last Wednesday (Oct. 30) after more than two hours of presentations, discussion and public comment.


News

Before breaking ground on an extensive renovation last weekend, Fairfax County officials and community members took a moment to reflect on the history contained within the walls of Mount Vernon’s original high school.

Located on a 22-acre property that was once part of George Washington’s estate, the main school building was constructed in 1939 under a Public Works Administration program intended to update public school facilities and boost the economy, according to its Virginia Historic Landmarks Register listing.


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