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Hunt Club residents in Reston worry redevelopment will affect possible slave cemetery

Published July 26, 2023 at 3:00PM | Updated July 27, 2023 at 5:00PM

Cemetery #FX242 near Lake Fairfax Park in Reston (via SEM Fairfax Land Associates/Fairfax County)

Hunt Club Cluster residents in Reston are pushing back against a potential redevelopment of a 9-acre property just north of Lake Fairfax Park that encompasses a possible slave cemetery and a 1790s-era log cabin.

SEM Fairfax Land Associates has been working to secure approval from Fairfax County to build Fairfax Hunt Estates, a community of eight single-family homes, at 1321 Lake Fairfax Drive and preserve the log cabin known as Fairfax Hunt Club, according to the application submitted on Nov. 22, 2022.

Countywide

Executive order that integrated U.S. military inspires Fort Belvoir road’s new name

By Matt Blitz

Published July 26, 2023 at 9:30AM

New street sign for EO 9981 Road (photo courtesy of Paul Lara, Paul Lara USAG Fort Belvoir Public Affairs Office)

Fort Belvoir’s Lee Road is officially being renamed EO 9981 Road in a ceremony this morning (Wednesday).

The name change comes as a result of a 2022 recommendation made by the Congress-backed Naming Commission tasked with coming up with a plan to remove names, symbols, displays, and monuments that honor the Confederacy from all “Army assets.” That includes bases and roads.

News

New residents wanted to occupy and rehab historic Mount Gilead house in Centreville

By Matt Blitz

Published June 7, 2023 at 11:45AM | Updated June 8, 2023 at 11:00AM

Mount Gilead in Centreville (photo via Fairfax County Park Authority)

Fairfax County is beginning the process later this month of selecting the next inhabitants of the 238-year-old Mount Gilead property in Centreville.

The Fairfax County Parks Authority (FCPA) has scheduled a June 20 public Zoom meeting to discuss Mount Gilead’s inclusion in the county’s Resident Curator Program.

News

Robert Hanssen, double agent who used Vienna park as dead drop site, dies in prison

By Vernon Miles

Published June 6, 2023 at 10:15AM | Updated June 22, 2023 at 1:11PM

Robert Hanssen, former Vienna resident and convicted spy (image via FBI)

Spy Robert Hanssen, a former Vienna resident who passed along secrets to the Soviet Union and Russia via a nearby park, died yesterday (Monday) in a Colorado federal prison.

Hanssen, 79, was an FBI counterintelligence agent who was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for passing classified information to Soviet (later Russian) intelligence.

Around Town

Art by Reston’s master planner on display at George Mason University

By Fatimah Waseem

Published May 22, 2023 at 11:00AM

Rossant's work will be on display at George Mason University through June 30 (Photo courtesy Fenwick Library).

The work of Reston’s master planner James Rossant is on display at George Mason University through June 30.

The exhibit, “Cities and Memory: The Visionary Architecture of James Rossant with Poetry by Juliette Rossant,” displays the work of Rossant alongside poems that reflect on his art by his daughter, Juliette Rossant.

Around Town

Reston Museum to dive into local transportation network at special event

By Fatimah Waseem

Published May 5, 2023 at 11:00AM

A special event on May 10 will dive into the transportation history of Reston (Photo via Reston Museum).

Reston Museum will take a deep dive into the history behind street names, Reston’s transportation system and the road to accessibility at a special event on May 10.

Called “This Way to Reston,” the program will kick off at 7 p.m. at Reston Community Center Lake Anne. Although the program is free, registration is required. Programming is supported in part by RCC.

News

Vienna Elementary, one of Fairfax County’s oldest public schools, to throw 150th birthday bash

By Angela Woolsey

Published April 25, 2023 at 2:15PM

Vienna Elementary School from 1915. The four-room building burned down around 1919 and was replaced by the current school in 1923 (courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

When Vienna Elementary School celebrates its 150th anniversary next month, the occasion will double as a milestone for the entire Fairfax County Public Schools system.

Opened in 1923, the 74,904-square-foot home of the Vikings at 128 Center Street South is the oldest continuously operating public school building in the county, though the school as an institution can trace its origins back to the founding of FCPS in 1870.

Around Town

Traveling exhibit on Prohibition in Virginia brews up Reston stop

By Fatimah Waseem

Published March 20, 2023 at 11:30AM

A traveling exhibit is coming to Reston this week (Photo courtesy Reston Museum).

A traveling exhibition looking at the ins and outs of Prohibition in Virginia is coming this month to Reston Museum.

The Library of Virginia’s Teetotalers & Moonshiners exhibit will be on view between tomorrow (March 21) and April 29. Reston Museum will also showcase artifacts from its own collection of Bowman Distillery items.

News

Reston Association gauges interest in changing Lake Audubon’s name

By Fatimah Waseem

Published March 17, 2023 at 9:30AM | Updated March 19, 2023 at 6:32PM

A November dawn at Lake Audubon in Reston (photo by Ray Copson)

Updated at 4:05 p.m. — Yesterday’s meeting on a potential Lake Audubon renaming was suspended after 20 minutes due to a medical emergency. The meeting will be rescheduled, but an exact date hasn’t been determined yet, Reston Association spokesperson Mike Leone says.

Earlier: Months after floating the possibility of a name change for Lake Audubon, Reston Association is beginning initial conversations with the community.

News

Board of Supervisors sends Fort Belvoir renaming concerns up to Secretary of the Army

By Vernon Miles

Published March 9, 2023 at 3:30PM | Updated March 24, 2023 at 2:35PM

Army headquarters at Fort Belvoir (image via Fort Belvoir/Facebook)

Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors is no stranger to renaming things, from roads to magisterial districts. But now, the board is leading a push not to rename a site associated with slavery.

In a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday (March 7), Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck raised the topic of Fort Belvoir’s potential renaming. The base is named for the Belvoir plantation that once occupied the site.