“Washington, DC is the nation’s finest urban achievement.” -- Prologue, “Worthy of the Nation, Washington DC from L’Enfant to the National Capital Planning Commission”
"To a designer in the City Beautiful tradition, the urban experience was to be realized on foot." -- “Worthy of the Nation"
Last month when I visited the Mall during Memorial Day, part of my walk included a stroll down Constitution Avenue between 17th and 23rd. Though the years, countless commuters and visitors have passed along this main stretch north of the Mall and a gateway into the nation's capital. We’ve certainly done so a time or two, but it was only by walking that I began to appreciate and see more than just a glimpse of the impressive set of buildings set back on the north side.
Washington architecture and art critic Benjamin Forgey described this setting as a “Beaux Arts allee, a unique little stretch.” Unique, for sure, but there might not be any other stretch (in this case six blocks) in the monumental core where public knowledge of the names of the buildings is so low. Roberta and I have been here 27 years and of the six buildings on this stretch, I only knew the Federal Reserve.
Here, then, is a brief look at four of these buildings which were built in the 1920s and 1930s in the Stripped Classicism style, and are located between 19th and 23rd.
We’ll never know what Pierre L’Enfant thought of the City Beautiful movement that inspired urban planning in the city he sketched out a century earlier. But his ideas and concepts were certainly a guiding hand used by planners in Washington. Throughout much of the first half of the twentieth century, implementation of the McMillan Plan transformed large swaths of the central part of the city. The Federal Triangle and its set of massive governmental buildings come to mind, as well as the remaking of the Mall and construction of Federal buildings south of the Mall.
Seemingly lost in the shuffle of memory is the Northwest Rectangle. Many may not know there is a Northwest Rectangle Historic District, much less that it was built in part to frame the Lincoln Memorial. Even those who work here, who enter on the C Street side, may not have ever taken a stroll on the Constitution Street side.
As far as what was here before, this part of the district was once a stream bed and tidal flat. This portion of Constitution (then B Street) runs where the waters of the Washington City Canal flowed into the city. The Lock Keeper’s House at 17th and Constitution tells some of its story.
Near that same intersection is the site of the home of David Burnes, a Maryland planter and one of the original proprietors of the new Federal district. With its distinct pre-Washington look and feel, the dwelling stood there from 1760 to 1894. The Burnes home was one of the oldest in the city. The highly revered Van Ness mansion also stood near the corner of Constitution and 17th Street. The only thing left from those days of old is the Van Ness House stable (1816), which was reconstructed and incorporated into the grounds of the Pan American Union Building.
In our time we see the Lincoln Memorial as a monument connected not to Constitution Avenue, but the linear landscape of the Mall and the Memorial Bridge. In the 1920s, however, planners were focused on this stretch as part of framing the Lincoln Memorial. In a major shift, planners had decided to put Federal and public building west of the White House instead of east of the Capitol. The Federal Government was growing and larger central buildings were needed to replace older offices scattered about.
Note: The National Mall does not include West Potomac Park, but for simplification purposes, we use that term. West Potomac Park runs from the Lincoln Memorial to the grounds of the Washington Monument.
After the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in 1922, the Commission of Fine Arts began to look at the north side of Constitution between 17th and 24th Avenue. The CFA had been created by Congress in 1910 to “protect the goals introduced by the McMillan study.” The nomination form tells us the CFA, “concentrated particularly on the design and construction of the Lincoln Memorial and the landscape of West Potomac Park.”
The McMillan Plan had enlarged the Mall to the west, but planning and deciding what went where took some time. The first buildings to arise in what became the Northwest Rectangle were the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1897), Pan American Union (1910), DAR Memorial Hall (1910), American Red Cross HQ (1917), and the Department of Interior (1915-1917). Those buildings are a part of the Northwest Rectangle, but they form its eastern most part and are connected to the White House and the Ellipse.
What got the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission more focused on the area between 17th and 23rd was the housing needs of the Navy and War Departments. With the Federal Triangle mostly filled up with other departments, the NCPPC set its sites on the Northwest Building Area, which became the Northwest Rectangle. They began their efforts in 1931. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. prepared the formal recommendations for a “sophisticated grouping of buildings” that was similar in concept to the Federal Triangle.”
National Academy of Sciences Building
2101 Constitution Avenue
1924
Early Stripped Classicism
The first building to more closely frame the Lincoln Memorial, which stood like a lonely sentinel in its early years, was the National Academy of Science Building. The organization had begun in 1863, and was housed in the Smithsonian. Their new building was dedicated in April 1924.
The Washington Post reported:
Standing high in its architectural splendor in a setting of green and looking out on the Lincoln memorial only a few hundred feet away, science’s new temple — a monument to progress — was dedicated by President Coolidge. Attending the ceremonies were scientists from all parts of the country.
The prolific Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue’s design was an “original interpretation of the Neo-Classic design.” His "creative solution combined the regularities of Classicism with his own preference for “irregular” forms.” This novel synthesis came to be known as the “Alexandrian” style.” Sadly, Goodhue passed away just a few days before the grand opening.
The landscape plan was “suggestive of the Lincoln Memorial grounds.” The walkway extends for over 200 feet, a signature element of all four of the buildings we are looking at.
Wings were added to the building in the 1960s. It got a 50th birthday gift of sorts, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The Albert Einstein Memorial, unveiled in 1979 to commemorate the centennial of his birth, is located on the Academy grounds.
A marker points out the National Academy of Science established the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. Another says these organizations are dedicated to the furtherance of science, engineering, and medicine to the public welfare.
American Pharmacists Association HQ
(American Institute of Pharmacy)
2215 Constitution Avenue
1933
Early Stripped Classicism
In 1931, seven years after the National Academy of Science building opened, the National Capital Planning Commission voted to adopt the Northwest Rectangle Plan. It would eventually encompass the six buildings fronting Constitution between 17th and 24, others on C Street, as well as the aforementioned group facing 17th Street.
As noted by the nomination form, the ones on Constitution would pay tribute to classical principles, while reducing the ornamentation and application of columns. "Classicism Lite," if you will. Unlike the Federal Triangle, a notable portion of landscaping surrounded the buildings. The long staircases are also a standout feature.
The National Academy of Science building had kicked things off this way in 1924. In 1933, two more in this style were completed. On the corner of 24th and Constitution Avenue arose the American Institute of Pharmacy.
Of the four buildings we are looking at, the APA building is the smallest. This “pretty little building” was designed by John Russell Pope as a “temple to pharmacy.” The organization dates back to 1798 with the establishment of the Marine Hospital Service. The new name came in 1912.
Dedicated in May, 1934, the building was made of with Vermont marble. The long sloping lawn “mimics the siting of the Lincoln Memorial.” The entry is “embellished with allegorical bas-reliefs to portray the progress of pharmacy as well as Light and Hope.” The building possesses a “formal Palladian pavilion-like quality.”
At the dedication, Sir Henry Wellcome was honored with the Remington Medal, given for the greatest contribution to the profession of pharmacy in America. The Wellcome Trust is one of the wealthiest charitable foundations in the world.
The Evening Star pointed out it the building stood “in the shadow of the great Lincoln Memorial” and was “the first imposing structure one sees coming across the Arlington Memorial Bridge into Washington (seemingly forgetting the Lincoln Memorial). They also noted widening of Constitution Avenue was taking place at that time.
According to Potomac View Terrace, the building is the only privately-owned real estate on the National Mall. The expanded building, completed in 2009, is LEED certified and includes the Potomac View Terrace, which is situated on the 6th floor. The 200 foot long front stairs is a somewhat unique feature. A marker was recently installed that pays tribute to "Covid-19 Heroes."
3. U.S. Public Health Service
Interior Department South
Federal Reserve-East
1931
Moving companies must have loved this building. Its occupants have been the US Public Health Service (1933-1942, 1946-1947), the headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Atomic Energy Commission (1947-1958), the National Science Foundation (1958-1965), the Department of the Interior (1965-2018), and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (2018-current). The Department of Interior’s move in 1965 here prompted a name change to Interior South, an annex for the department’s large HQ facing C Street.
Knowing jobs would be available in the growing nation’s capital, architects made their way to Washington in the 1930s. One of them was Jules Henri de Sibour, who came by way of Paris and New York. His works include the French Embassy, and Oxon Hill Manor.
The Evening Star noted the million dollar building held “an air of quiet dignity” and exemplified modern developments in lighting and other health and comfort features.” The E-shaped building is also formed in marble.
This organization goes back to the Marine Hospital Service in 1798. It gained its current name in 1912. Housed in five different buildings, they needed a bigger central place.
In 1968, the Department of Interior/Bureau of Indian Affairs moved their offices here. Four summers later, about 500 native Americans, who represented a coalition of 250 tribes, barricaded themselves inside. The leaders called for the "abolition of the bureau and creation of a new agency more responsive to their needs."
In 1978 the building was renovated extensively. In 2018, the building was vacated and was transferred to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (new name is Federal Reserve Board-East and is currently seeing renovation work.
Federal Reserve (Eccles Building)
Constitution Avenue
1937
Early Stripped Classicism
Given the weight of its voice, one would think the Federal Reserve would be located closer to the center of action in Washington. Then again, maybe this quiet and leafy spot is better as a place to try and make calm decisions.
This was the last building constructed on Constitution between 17th and 24th. From 1913 to 1937, the Board of Governors had met in the US Treasury Building and the employees worked at three different locations across the city. According to the Reserve website, the Banking Act of 1935 centralized control of the Federal Reserve System and put the Board of Governors at the helm.
The designer was Paul H. Cret. Like deSibour, Cret was born in France and came from the Northeast (Philadelphia). His designs in Washington include this one and the Pan American Union Building three doors down, as well as the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Duke Ellington Bridge.
As was the case with the other buildings beside it, this one takes a Stripped Classicism approach with limestone. And like the others, the Commission of Fine Arts approved its design.
As the Society of Architectural Historians website points out, the external appearance of the building was so progressive that the AIA Journal reported, “This would appear to indicate that the reign of the column and pediment is nearing its close, even in Washington.”
As was the case with the other buildings beside it, this one has had a quiet front, with car parking underground and entering from the C Street side. Like the American Pharmacy Association building, this one has a long marbled walk. Sidney Waugh designed the eagle sculpture above the entrance. Bronze windows are “separated by spandrels of polished Swedish granite, on which the bronze plaques are mounted.”
FDR dedicated the building. In her paper, “Paul Cret and the Federal Reserve Board Building,” Elizabeth Grossman tells the reader Roosevelt “associated the austere marble building, with the “increased power” given to the system under the New Deal Banking Acts. The new legislation “shifted power to Washington, DC” and the new building “symbolized both a more powerful Board of Governors within the Fed itself.”
In 1982, the building was named for Marriner S. Eccles, who had served as Chairman of the Board from 1934 to 1948. The Fed is expanding and is expected to occupy the former Public Health Service building to its east.
Conclusion:
It’s hard to know what the future holds for this stretch of Constitution Avenue. There are empty spaces nearby — one west of 23rd and one east of 23rd — that might be built upon.
From a planning document, we know the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) proposes to renovate and expand the Eccles Building and to renovate and construct an addition on the Federal Reserve Board-East Building (nee Public Health). The proposal indicates the changes would infill and or behind the current buildings. The view shed seems unlikely to change but purists might worry.
Our one request is the erection of an historical marker for each of these buildings. The impact on the view shed would be very small and public knowledge would be increased. Walkers, of course, would appreciate it the most.
In December, 1928, a number of distinguished guests including Vice President-elect Charles Curtis and Senator George H. Moses (President pro tem), gathered at a hill-top mansion in southeast Fairfax County.
Mount Vernon? No. Gunston Hall? No. Woodlawn? No. River Farm? No. Collingwood? No.
The glory of that day belonged to what is known today as Hollin Hall III. Harley Peyton Wilson (1873-1934) and his wife built the three-story Colonial-style structure with 18 rooms and clapboard wings, completing it in 1920.
Still purposeful as a space for weddings, receptions, parties and rehearsal dinners, the manor sits tucked away just north of Sherwood Hall Lane and next to the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church (1099 Windmill Lane). The location is about three miles south of Alexandria and about a third of a mile north of a private home known historically as Hollin Hall I, the Spinning Room and Little Hollin Hall (1901 Sherwood Hall Lane). The neighborhoods of Hollin Hall and Hollin Hills bookend Hollin Hall I and III.
Fairfax County residents know a thing or two about the Mason footprints in this part of the county. In 1760, George Mason owned 8,280 acres, more than three times George Washington’s total before the future President acquired land from William Clifton and named it “River Farm.” (Image: An Interpretive Historical Map of Fairfax County, 1760 by Beth Mitchell).
Thomson Mason, a son of George Mason, and his family lived at Hollin Hall I. Hollin Hall III sits on the site of Hollin Hall II, which burned down in the 1820’s. Mason and his family were living there (Hollin Hall II), but had to move back to Hollin Hall I after the fire.
(Note: Hollin Hall I is on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites. It has gone through a number of changes from its first iteration. The home is a private residence and can't be seen from the roads around it.)
Forgotten in these stories are the Wilsons. And that’s somewhat ironic. One can’t even see Hollin Hall I from the roads that surround it, but you can drive up the hill and see Hollin Hall III. If you get lucky like I did the other day, Amanda Casey, the Rental Events Coordinator, will treat you like a guest. You can walk the hilltop grounds, imagining the Wilson’s showing guests their English garden and the spread of land below when trees and homes did not block the views.
Northerners had been coming to Virginia for many years before the Wilsons arrived in the 1910s. Before and after the Civil War, this part of the county had been influenced by Quakers. In the 1890s, magnates from Pennsylvania had helped finance the new Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway that ran about a half mile to the east of Hollin Hall I and the site of Hollin Hall II.
Born in New York in 1873, Harley Peyton Wilson built an impressive resume before coming to the former Mason land outside of Washington. He became “one of the foremost public utilities organizers and executives in the country.” He was also the principal owner of the Washington Rapid Transit Co. and a director in the Washington Railway & Electric Company. In 1925, when the Washington region was in the midst of putting more and more buses on the roads, Wilson purchased 97% of the WRTC stock. As pointed out by DC Preservation, “The all-bus WRTC inspired the growth of competition and encouraged expanded bus routes.”
In 1913 Wilson acquired the Hollin Hall Farm that spread across land known today as the Hollin Hall neighborhood. On that high point south of Alexandria, Wilson and his wife built their new home on or close to the site of Hollin Hall II. They stayed at Hollin Hall I until their new home was completed in 1920. In addition to the 18 room manor, they also built a guest house, carriage house and gardens.
Part of their bragging rights would have been pointing out or pointing to their proximity to the boats and steamers on the Potomac River, the electric trolley line (Belmont Station, modern day Alexandria Avenue), Mount Vernon and Woodlawn, and the road George Washington had used to get to Alexandria and points northward. On its way to becoming a major thoroughfare (Route 1), the road was beginning to hold more and more automobiles. Washington was in the midst of a boom that would take its population from 278,000 in 1900 to 437,000 in 1920. As Smith and Miller note in A Seaport Saga, “As Alexandria entered the Roaring Twenties, it basked in the sunshine of peace and relative economic prosperity."
Readers of The Washington Post first read about the Wilsons in March, 1913. Wilson had acquired the “historic Hollin Hall farm,” consisting of 300 acres. Mrs. Wilson began to show up in the Alexandria Society sections. Locals who could afford it were “motoring” to see relatives and friends, while the passages on the smoke-stacked ships still announced wealth.
Coverage of the Wilson’s hosting and activities dotted the society section of The Washington Post, The Evening Star, and The Washington Times for the next twelve years. In April 1926, William Gibbs McAdoo (1863-1941) and his family stayed a few days. His wife Eleanor was the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson. The marriage took place at the White House. Eleanor wrote two books. McAdoo’s resume included helping Wilson get elected. His reward was an appointment as Secretary of the Treasury (1913-1918). McAdoo would become Senator of California (1933-1938).
When they weren’t at home, the Wilsons traveled to New York, other esteemed summer places, and abroad. In 1928, they visited France, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland. At one point, Mrs. Wilson divided her time between Hollin Hall and the swanky new Mayflower hotel in Washington, which became known as the “Grande Dame of Washington, D.C.” She hosted a number of teas, including ones during the Virginia Historic Garden Week, as well as a Flower Show in May, 1933.
In October 1919, the Wilsons hosted Mr. and Mrs. William Cox. He served as Secretary of Commerce under the Wilson administration. Other guests were former Governor (California) Frank and Mrs. Merriam, and General and Mrs. Arthur Murray.
The Washington Post reported:
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are living in the old “spinning house” of the estate while their new manor is being completed.
The Wilsons continued to host throughout the 1920s and hit the big time in December 1928. Entering the mansion was the Vice President-elect/Senator (Majority Leader) Charles Curtis (1860-1936), as well as Senators George Moses and Samuel Shortridge, Representative Adam Wyant and Wallace Dempsey, Justice Peyton Gordon, Judge Barley of Alexandria, and others such as Mr. Louis Hertle of Gunston Hall.
Perhaps Hertle had a moment in the sun talking about Thomson Mason, (1759-1820), who served as Justice of the Peace in Fairfax County, State Senator (1800-1804), and delegate to the General Assembly. Or maybe he pointed out that George and Martha Washington dined at Hollin Hall on March 19, 1798 and that Thomson and his wife Sarah dined at Mount Vernon on November 2, 1797.
In January, 1929, the Wilsons hit another milestone when they entertained about 250 guests. The Old Guard families in Alexandria -- the Smoots, the Leadbeaters, and others -- continued to make the society papers, but there’s no denying the Wilsons were stealing some of the show. Country seats dotted the hills around Alexandria, but the Wilson’s had their new roomy place and high connections to Washington.
The garden corps surely enjoyed the Wilson's garden. A description given in 1941 described it as:
Wonderful cultivated gardens with their backgrounds of old boxwoods, clump shrubs, rose colored arbor, marble fountain and charming flower beds all surrounded by expansive lawns.
Mrs. Wilson, who was born in Portland and grew up in Oakland, served in a number of leadership roles including President of the Fairfax Garden Club, Vice President for the Anne Lee Memorial Home of the Aged, and a member of the board of GW University Hospital. At one event at their home, fifty percent of the proceeds went to the Wakefield Memorial Association. Mrs. Wilson also donated a rare antique bowl and a silver bowl that served as prizes for winners at the Fairfax Garden Club Show in May 1931.
Although it was not the original one, “Hollin Hall” got attention in the newspapers. The Seattle Times (June 22, 1928) wrote an article titled, “Washington’s Society Seeks Outdoor Life.”
The Wilson’s entertained for the birthday anniversary of a cousin of the late Woodrow Wilson. Friends stayed at the guest house, danced in bathing suits and listened to an orchestra.
Coverage of the Wilson's was bountiful, but there was some confusion. One report in 1932 said, "Hollin Hall, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, is one of the historic places of the Old Dominion." Then again, confusion still exists today. Hollin Hall I is on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Places, but a sign outside Hollin Hall III says “Hollin Hall."
Mrs. Wilson continued to make the Society news in 1933. Then came sad news in 1934. At age 57, she had drawn her last breathe at their home. Surviving were Harley and her two sisters, Margaret Dieke and Mrs. Marcy C. Hughes, who were living at the Wilson home. Services were at Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria and she was laid to rest at the Presbyterian Cemetery.
Harley joined her just a few months later. He had bequeathed $1,000 to the Anne Lee Home for the Aged. At his funeral, former Vice President Curtis was among the honorary pall bearers, along with Major General William Connor, Superintendent of West Point.
After the Wilsons passed away, the property did not have an occupant. Then in 1941, Merle Thorpe, a writer, advisor to FDR and former editor of the magazine, The Nation’s Business, acquired the house. The report was on the front page of the Evening Star’s Section B. It described the dwelling as having colonial brick and a green slate roof and included the guest house, a hot house, cultivated gardens and a swimming pool.
The tradition of hosting continued in May, 1947, when Dr. Esther Cuakin Brunauer of the State Department was the guest speaker there at the installation meeting of the Washington Alumnae Chapter of Delta Gamma. She was one of five women who had been selected by the Women’s National Press Club for outstanding service in 1946.
In December, 1958, the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church bought the home, the ten acres, the guest house, garage, and greenhouse. By that time, suburban homes had sprouted up nearby, including the neighborhoods of Hollin Hall and Hollin Hills. The latter offered mid-modern homes designed by Charles Goodman.
In the 1960s, mansion homes south of Alexandria such as Mount Eagle, Spring Bank, and City View gave way to the tsunami of suburban growth. Hollin Hall III might have gone down too, but the new church had come to its rescue. As told at the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church website, the congregation began to meet in the late 1950s at the main room of the guesthouse. A new church (meeting house) arose in 1985, just steps from Hollin Hall III.
The tradition of hosting continues at the century old mansion with weekend rental events, mostly weddings. We think the Wilsons would like knowing people still gather at the home they built and the place they nourished.
Note: I would like to thank Susan Hellman for her assistance in understanding the history of Hollin Hall I; Amanda Casey, Events Coordinator, Hollin Hall and the Meeting House, for showing me inside Hollin Hall III; and David Heiby, Superintendent, Presbyterian Cemetery and Columbarium, for showing me where the Wilsons were laid to rest.
One of the things that fascinates me are places that hold some history, but are overlooked or seldom visited. One such tucked away place is located in Woodbridge, south of the Occoquan River and west of Route One. Railroad Avenue, Colchester Ferry Place and Potomac Path Drive of the Belmont Bay neighborhood hint at some of the forgotten history there.
Before we get rolling, a tip of the hat to two main sources —Prince William County (map) drawn by Eugene Scheel (1992) and “Along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac RR” by William E. Griffin, Jr. Also, a big thank you to Steven B. Shwartzman and his book, “Fortunate Son, Thomas Mason of Woodbridge.”
The Potomac Path starts this story, the colonial road (later known as the King’s Highway) the Virginia planters and others took to get from the Northern Neck to points northward. Their seventeenth century forebears had not been interested in travel, and were annoyed when anyone crossed their plantation fields or wanted them to build a road.
But the dependency on tobacco continued to wear out the fields. Slowly, the gentry moved further and further away from Williamsburg and into the northern part of the colony. In the second half of the seventeenth century, speculators acquired thousands of acres on or near Mason Neck and Great Hunting Creek. One of the biggest purchase was made by Robert Howsing in 1669, 6,000 acres that would become land we now call Old Town Alexandria, Potomac Yard, Crystal City and Pentagon City.
This movement led to the founding of Prince William County in 1731. A marker at the corner of Route One and Annapolis Way tells us the first courthouse of the county stood 150 yards to the east. That would put its site near the end of Colchester Ferry Place, a quiet place away from the rush of cars on Route One.
Note: It appears this marker was removed for current construction.
We know very little about the courthouse, but the book “Prince William: A Past to Preserve” tells us a jail, pillory and stocks were also built beside the courthouse. In his book, “The Courthouses of Early Virginia,” Carl P. Lounsbury notes the Prince William justices did not always bother to travel the far away distance. Nevertheless, courthouses were critical to the needs of the people and were “symbolic manifestations of the authority” of the gentry and justices.
Putting a courthouse in a far corner of a new county might seem like an odd thing to do. But as Donald Swieg explains (“Fairfax County, Virginia, A History”), the location of the courthouse made it easier for those wanting to ride and examine the lands north of the Occoquan. A land boom led to the founding of Fairfax County in 1742, Alexandria in 1749 and Colchester in 1753.
Before it got to the Occoquan River, the Potomac Path skirted past many a shallowing creek that fed into the Potomac. But as the Indigenous peoples knew, the Fall Line had created a gorge at the Occoquan. Its waters did not thin out until a point well upstream. Or as Edith Moore Spouse put it, the “Occoquan was no gentle stream.” Given this lay of the land, there was no choice but to establish ferry service.
The Mason family had a presence in this part of the colony. Thomas Mason, the youngest son of George Mason of Gunston Hall, lived at a plantation south of the Occoquan. Very little is known about it, but Steven B. Shwartzman (“Fortunate Son: Thomas Mason of Woodbridge) shines some light. He tells us Thomas Mason would have built his home on the highest ground available. Its site could very well be where the Potomac Path approached the Occoquan. Richard R. Mason later placed an ad in the Alexandria Gazette. It described Woodbridge as the residence of the late Gerard Mason. “It lies on the Occoquan River immediately opposite the village of Colchester and contains 500 acres of land.”
Mason also operated a ferry. Nothing visible remains, but in 1929, "The Rambler," a reporter for the Evening Star, found remains of a stone house near what is now a sanitary sewer pump just to the north of the end of Colchester Ferry Way. Shwartzman hopes any future surveys there might identify the ferry house as well as the county courthouse. Old Colchester Road ends at the Occoquan and gives one the sense of the Potomac Path.
Ferry service began at this location in 1684. Thomas Mason was the fifth generation of Mason’s to operate the service. One of his customer’s was George Washington. In his book, “The Nine Lives of George Washington,” William Betts, Jr. writes about an incident there in 1791. Four of George Washington’s horses slipped off the deck, but the carriage managed to stay on.
A wooden toll bridge built in 1795 and replaced the ferry service. Shwartzman gives an informative account. He believes Timothy Palmer may have designed the span. It went up around the same time as a wooden bridge at Little Falls. A chain bridge replaced it, so we know the current span as Chain Bridge near Georgetown.
Mason’s bridge made it easier to cross the Occoquan, but heavy rains and flood waters wiped it out in 1807. In some ways, this opened the door for Occoquan, located about a mile upstream. John Ballendine had helped put the village on the map in the 1750s when he built two mills and a commodious stone home there. Already prosperous, Occoquan gained the passenger and mail business.
Woodbridge was never incorporated into a town like Occoquan. But some rail buffs there might have jumped for joy in 1872 when passengers on the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac could finally ride the rails all the way from Fredericksburg to Washington. Previously, they disembarked at Aquia (later Quantico) and boarded a steamer to Washington.
Part of that ride was the first rail bridge over the Occoquan just west of where Mason’s ferry had taken passengers over to Colchester. H.K. Bradshaw of Alexandria built the trestle structure. Griffin, quoting the Gazette, tells us a “goodly gathering of the citizens of Prince William County and a number of fair ladies” were on hand.
Newspaper accounts show some activities at Woodbridge in the 1880s. A horse race track was located at the station. Baseball games were played and political gatherings held. W.D. Clarke ran a store. Republicans, supported by African Americans, gathered in Occoquan, while Democrats (conservative) rallied in Woodbridge.
The torrents of rain waters returned in 1889 and damaged the bridge. The Southern Railway rebuilt it in 1892 with a metal Pratt truss.
The bridge one sees now was completed in 1915 by the RF&P. Nathaniel Lee tells us more about it in his book, “The Iron Road of Franconia.” Designed by the famed Gustav Lindenthal in the “Parker through truss” style, the 920-foot span was “the largest single feat of engineering undertaken by the railroad company in Fairfax County.” Other examples across the country are dwindling in number.
Lee reminds us such structures are works of public art and that the bridge is on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites. It is used by CSXT, Amtrak and VRE and a DC2RVA report points out it is eligible for listing in the NRHP.
Around the time the new bridge was built in 1915, a couple of homes (13221 built in 1913 and 13221 built in 1913) also sprung up near the station on Railroad Avenue. They joined 13215 (1901), 13209 (1910) and 13217 (1913). Historic aerials also show a row of structures on the west side of the tracks. The houses remain but the other structures slowly went away.
The site of the railroad station is just to the east of the tracks near the VRE station. As Griffin points out, the station was alternately known as both Woodbridge and Occoquan. The station to the south at Cherry Hill was Myron and to the north was the Long Branch Station at Newington.
More excitement came to this part of the county in 1927 when the Washington-Richmond highway (Route One) was completed. Instead of a new bridge being built, the metal bridge built in 1892 for the railroad was converted for vehicle traffic. Prior to the new highway, motorists used an out of the way course of Old Colchester Road, Furnace Road underneath the railroad tracks to Lorton Road and then to Ox Road where they crossed over the Occoquan at Occoquan. Another way used Lorton Road.
In 1941, the Route One highway bridge was widened. In 1957, a front page story for the Richmond Dispatch told readers about 9 injured in a head-on collision on the bridge. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes damaged some of the bridge. A temporary bridge was built and became the southbound span in 1981.
Automobiles made captains and conductors of every driver behind the steering wheel. Passenger numbers on the RF&P declined after World War II. The company announced plans to dismantle a half dozen stations in 1952, including Woodbridge. It’s no coincidence that Shirley Highway was completed that same year.
In the second half of the century, Woodbridge continued to grow as a bedroom community and census designated place. Visit Prince William notes: “Woodbridge is probably the most renowned area in Prince William, Virginia.”
A new VRE station and parking garage went up in October 1991. The Post reported it was expected to be the busiest in the VRE system. A new overpass over the RR tracks was also built. Woodbridge was the only station to have a new station house.
An elected official at the ceremony was quoted as saying, “Transportation affects every person who lives in our community.”
Perhaps when Prince William County celebrates and commemorates its 300th birthday in 2031, we will hear something like that again. Maybe even at this tucked away historic spot.
For more than sixty years, a Giant grocery story has stood on top of Beacon Hill in Groveton. Lest we forget what this anchor has meant for the community and surrounding areas, let’s take a brief look at its story.
The Giant in Groveton opened in 1960. It was located where the current one is, near the corner of Richmond Highway and Memorial Avenue (then known as W. Oak Street). The address, as it is today, was 6800 Richmond Highway. The new store was part of a wave of supermarkets from the growing chain. The first Giant had opened at Georgia Avenue and Park Road in NW DC in 1936. Five years later, Arlington got bragging rights as the first outside the District, followed by Silver Spring in 1946.
In the summer of 1955, the supermarket company, based in Landover, opened their 30th store and eighth in Virginia at the Bradlee Shopping Center at 3708 King Street. It must have seemed like the company could not build them fast enough. The great suburban boom was on in the Washington region. Fairfax County’s population would leap from 98,557 in 1950 to 275,002 in 1960. Giant was on its way to a total that has now reached more than 150 stores in the greater DMV region.
A long forgotten figure in Washington’s retail history is Nehemiah Myer Cohen (1893-1984), who founded the company. A native of Jerusalem, he owned three grocery stores in Lancaster, Pennsylvania before opening that first Giant in DC in 1936.
The story of the Groveton Giant began in 1956. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors held meetings to discuss two proposals in this growing part of the county two to three miles south of Alexandria. One developer wanted a shopping center in Hybla Valley. Tower Construction, Giant’s shopping center builder, wanted one in Groveton on top of Beacon Hill.
At that time, this crown of land was occupied by the Beacon Airport and City View II, a landmark home built in 1920. Beth Mitchell's Interpretive Map of Fairfax County in 1760 shows small tobacco plantations made up the county. To get to Alexandria, George Washington took the colonial road that Route One partly follows today. Groveton sprung up on both sides of the road in the 1870s. The completion of the Richmond-Washington Highway in the 1920s signaled the start of a new era that would forever change the once rural landscape.
Harry Lehman, grandson of W.F.P. Reid and son of Franklin Reid, was born and raised in City View II. Its all-weather top deck provided sweeping views of not only Alexandria, but also Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C.
“When you sat up there,” Lehman said, “you were high in the sky.”
Note: City View II replaced City View I, which was built in 1868 and burned down in 1918).
Groveton was an early suburban neighborhood in the county. By 1937, a number of homes had sprouted up near the airport and on both sides of the highway. Route One was on its way to becoming a busy artery for both local traffic and travelers. Interstate 95, the Beltway and the Wilson Bridge would not be built until the 1960s. This part of the county, especially Penn Daw, became a mecca for travelers. Almost all of the motels are gone, but a few remain to remind us of those earlier times.
Another busy place in Groveton was the Dixie Pig Restaurant, a culinary landmark that fed many a hungry tummy from 1947 to its closing in the early 1990s. In her book, “Groveton, Images of America,” author and local resident Charlotte Brown tells us Benjamin and Helen Bishop of North Carolina imported the Tar Heel state’s signature recipe for moist pork and beef barbecue to their location. Their restaurant was situated across the street from City View II and the airport.
In 1957, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors initially denied the application by Tower Construction for the City View tract. The Board was worried that a shopping center there would pull business away from the one approved for Hybla Valley, about a mile to the south.
The dispute went to court. That same year Judge Harry L. Carrico ruled the Board of Supervisors could not deny a request for a commercial zoning on the basis of “fear of competition.” The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision.
City View II (site Famous Dave's) was demolished in 1959. That summer Giant Food announced record sales and the start of their new “Super Giant” stores, which combined foods and department store items.
Photo: Historic Aerials, 1949
One of those Super Giants was the new Giant in Groveton, built right where the one is located today near the corner of Richmond Highway and Memorial Avenue.
Historic aerials show that for a few years, parts of the two runways were still there. The store was located steps from where the two runways had crossed. Even today, the long fence behind the store between Memorial and Southgate marks the location of the north-south runway. The site of City View is between the Panera and Famous Dave’s.
Photo: Historic Aerials, 1962
How exciting it must have been on Monday, August 22nd, 1960 when the new store opened their doors. The Washington Evening Star (August 21) reported “the store will display some innovations in super market design.” An ad in the Star said, “Super Giant, a new dimension in retailing.” A photograph in the August 23rd edition shows Cohen admiring a “modernistic 90-foot agricultural mural decorating each of two Super Giants, which the firm opened yesterday.”
The manager was James L. Tartar, 30, of Alexandria. He previously ran the Giant on North St. Asaph Street in Alexandria.
A Super Giant also opened in Springfield. The stores were 30,000 square foot combination supermarket and self-service department stores and “the first examples of Giant’s new market designs.”
In addition to food, shoppers could purchase clothing, small electric appliances, glassware, china, toys, and kitchenware, and “Charge It” with the company’s credit plan. Bonus stamps was another popular program.
It’s hard to know the store’s sales figures, but the 1960s was certainly a good time for retail in the area. The population of the county lept from 275,000 in 1960 to 455,000 in 1970. The surrounding neighborhoods such as Bucknell Heights, Jefferson Manor and Virginia Hills were on board or coming soon.
The store also brought good attention to Groveton. For example, an ad in the Star (December 6,1967) showed the manager of the Giant in Groveton, presenting a scholarship award to the Thomas Edison High School faculty advisor Miss Elizabeth Cofer and three students. Giant sponsored the popular TV Quiz program on WRC, Channel 4.
It’s also hard to know all the places where folks in Groveton went for groceries before the Giant was built. Alexandria was certainly an option. Anne Marie Hicks told this writer about “Chauncey's Groveton Market,” a full service grocery directly across from the airport. Margaret W. “Peggy” Chauncey’s obituary in the Post tells us she (1906-1996) she helped run the King Street store in the 1940s and 1950s.
In “Snake Hill to Spring Bank,” Jason Hoffman recalled Chauncey’s Market being “up here on the hill.”
The Giant store was initially the only building on the footprint that is now the Beacon Center (renamed in the 2000s. In 1972, the Washington Post reported the start of construction for “Beacon Mall,” the “first enclosed shopping mall in southeastern Fairfax County.”
The Beacon Mall grew throughout the 1970s. A 1978 ad in the Post listed 33 stores. Among them were Baskin-Robbins, Beacon Florist, Beacon Mall 4 Theatre, Beacon Tailors, Eastern Palace, Giant, Goodyear Tire, Mr. Foto, People’s Drug Store, Record Rack, and Woolco.
The Beacon movie theaters must have been a big deal. The first movies, shown in March 1974, were Jesus Christ Superstar, M*A*S*H* and Westworld. Prior to that, residents could choose between the Alexandria theaters and the Mount Vernon Drive-In that was located where Costco is today on Route One at the corner of Ladson and Richmond Highway. In the late 1980s, the drive in was demolished and replaced by a set of theaters that were later demolished to make way for the Costco.
Like neighboring Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties, Fairfax County’s population continued to grow. It reached 596,000 in 1980 and 818,000 in 1990. Giant grew with it every step of the way. In 1989, the company controlled 48 percent of the local grocery market. Israel Cohen, son of Nehemiah Myer Cohen, had kept the helm steady. In 1998, Royal Ahold, a Dutch conglomerate, acquired Giant for about $2.7B. It ranked 19th in sales in the US. Israel Cohen, the founding CEO and Chairman, had passed three years earlier.
The turn of the century saw the population of the county reach 969,749. In the mid 1990s, the Beacon Mall had gained more restaurants, including the Outback. In the first part of the 2000s, the design of the mall was tweaked to its current configuration. A big and popular newcomer was Lowe’s, giving the shopping center a one-two punch.
Groveton’s identity, lacking in historical and “third places,” continues to be juxtaposed with the popularity and size of the shopping center. The neighborhood had also lacked historical markers. But several years ago, a county historical marker was erected to honor the Beacon airport. It stands just a few steps from the Giant.
Last year, the Giant store was revamped with a new look. Perhaps pleasing many long time shoppers, the seafood section was moved from the far corner spot to a more central location. The self-service area in front was also reconfigured.
With competition from Harris Teeter, Whole Foods and others, Giant’s share of the market in the region has dipped to about 20%. Nevertheless, it remains the region’s largest grocer.
What the future holds for this landmark store we do not know. County planners have big ideas that would transform the Beacon Center into an urbanesque footprint with residential and mixed-use. Metro has said it could extend the Yellow Line to Groveton, possibly by 2040. A new Bus Rapid Transit line is on tap for later this decade and one of its stops will be Groveton (Beacon Hill).
They say you can’t eat history, but you can sure appreciate buying food from a place that now has six decades under its belt. We salute all the workers who have brought us and sold us the food these past sixty plus years and related items. Their efforts were especially noteworthy during the Covid.
I’m a place south of Washington. Tall ships, hogsheads of tobacco, and Scottish merchants are part of my early history. I have an historic district and proud to know George Washington lived just a few miles away.
Too easy, right?
Well, yes, Alexandria is correct, but did you know that the above also applies to Piscataway?
Piscataway, both an unincorporated community and the smaller historic district within it, came across our radar screen when I was reading, “Along the Potomac Shore, in Prince George’s County.” The book was written by the Tanta-Cove Garden Club, a group of caring members whose community-minded organization began in 1966.
Note: Piscataway, which is located east of Fort Washington, is not to be confused with Piscataway Park, which lies south of Mount Vernon. They do share the history of being where the Piscataway peoples lived.
As an historic village, Piscataway is not exactly a one-of-a-kind place. Northern Virginia has the time capsules of Millwood, Buckland and Waterford. But from Alexandria, you have to invest some time to get there and back. This one is just a half dozen miles south of National Harbor.
Piscataway is part of four mile stretch south of National Harbor that is rich in historical assets. However, it’s a mixed bag. Although one can visit Oxon Hill Manor, St. John’s Church, Fort Washington, and the Colonial Farm at Accokeek, some of the others stand in limbo.
I have to confess I knew next to nothing about Piscataway until I read about it in this book. As they say, half the fun is getting there. Let’s take the plunge…
Almost a half-century before Alexandria was founded in 1749, signs of English life began to emerge on the Maryland side of the Potomac. Around the first part of the eighteenth century, both Broad Creek and Piscataway got their start as tobacco ports. Planter Thomas Addison built a brick mansion on top of Oxon Hill, long an early landmark in this part of Prince George’s County until fire took it down in the 1890s. The site is the MGM Resort, just north of Oxon Hill Manor, built 1920s, in the above map).
In terms of shipping activity and a place of some commerce, Broad Creek would not prosper like Piscataway. But some of the first stories of that part of Prince George’s County took place there. The parish vestrymen built the first of several churches, whose site is at or near the current St. John’s Church, about three miles north of Piscataway.
An older sign in Piscataway says, “Established 1640.” Perhaps that refers to “the Baptism of the Piscataway Chief Kittamaquund by Fr. Andrew White, S.J.” Of course, the history of the Piscataway peoples here goes way back. On this land they knew so well as their home, the new port town of Piscataway was founded. Unlike Broad Creek, it emerged as one of Maryland’s four major ports (Annapolis, Upper Marlboro and Port Tobacco). Like so many other ports, including Dumfries and Colchester, the ships would eventually stop coming to Piscataway. The American Revolution rang the death knell and silting finished them off.
Piscataway, however, had a hey day as a port and then held on as a hamlet with farming, some fishing, being a cross roads place, including the post office. The village had a tavern, stores, a church, a school, and the post office. The Maryland Gazette and Alexandria Gazette covered some of its shipping, steamer, and estate news, as well as obits. Sadly, the coverage included ads for the selling of enslaved humans and reward notices for their return.
Like Alexandria, Dumfries, Colchester and others, Piscataway provides windows into the area’s colonial past. As Alan Virta points out in “Prince George’s County: A Pictorial History,” Piscataway was a thriving little place.”
The Scottish shipping firm of John Glassford & Company had trading stores in a number of ports in Virginia and Maryland (One of the great losses in Alexandria was the (1915) demolition of the company’s commodious brick and stone store at the corner of Lee and N. Fairfax). The company was the Walmart of its day, with stores in Alexandria, Colchester, Dumfries, as well as Port Tobacco, Upper Marlboro, Piscataway and elsewhere. The triangle of trade involved mostly tobacco from the Chesapeake, sugar and rum from the Caribbean, and the household goods from England. Sadly, enslaved humans were part of the economic flows.
Bringing some of the Piscataway story back to life is Thomas W. Cuddy and his book, “Revolutionary Economies.” He first tells us about Ebenezer Cooke’s “infamous tale,” The Sot-Weed Factor, Or a Voyage to Maryland” (1708). The setting for the long, satirical poem was “Piscato-way.”
The port town seemed to get the last laugh. It prospered and became a “substantial community.” George Mason was a regular customer. James Marshall, Alexander Hamilton (no, not that one!) and Thomas Clagett ran the trading stores so vital to the life of the planter community.
Piscataway, closer to Mount Vernon than Alexandria, was in the orbit of George Washington. With a good number of entries, Washington’s diary reflects his interest in Piscataway. On May 13, 1762, he wrote: “Got a Cask of Leith Ale from Mr. Marshall Piscataway.”
That same month he wrote to the London-based Robert Cary & Company, another major shipper of tobacco.
The Tobacco’s of most of your friends upon Potomack (or that Ships from thence) lies within 15 Miles above & below this place, and as good, or the best harbour (Piscataway) is within sight of my Door. It has this great advantage besides good Anchorage & laying safe from the Winds that it is out of the way of the Worm which is very hurtful to Shipping a little lower down & lyes in a very plentiful part of the Country.
Another future President and Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, dined at Piscataway (August 4, 1775).
The town was connected with the Virginia side of the Potomac by a ferry ride to Clifton Landing, modern day River Farm. Martenet’s Map of the county in 1861 shows a road running northeast up to Upper Marlborough. The modern day equivalent is roughly Piscataway Road/223 past Clinton.
Horse racing was popular in Maryland and Piscataway held days for races and the accompanying festivities. The village did not make the cut for Eshelman’s “A Travel Guide to The War of 1812 in the Chesapeake,” but the townsfolk surely felt high anxiety during the British campaign and some may have heard the sound of gunfire during the Battle Of White House Landing at Belvoir.
At first thought, it’s tempting to say not much happened in Piscataway during the Civil War. That is relatively true, but then we came across the story of Thomas Harbin (1833-1885). He lived in Piscataway and was a Confederate agent. At the beginning of the Civil War, Harbin was the proprietor of the hotel Harbin House, which later became Piscataway Tavern.
Forgotten is the role he had in helping John Wilkes Booth and David Herold as they fled southward from Washington in April, 1865. The military commission decided not to prosecute Harbin. He later lived in Washington and worked as a hotel clerk. In 1884, George Alfred Townsend, the famed chronicler of the war, interviewed Harbin.
Townsend wrote:
On one occasion he concluded to go into Piscataway, where he had once kept a hotel, and about all persons in the town knew him, and all knew that he was the chief Confederate in that part of the country. The bar-room was full of Federal soldiers, and a whole regiment was stationed in the neighborhood. He walked to the counter and asked them all to drink - soldiers and citizens. The citizens stood trembling for fear he would be arrested or informed upon. Harbin himself reflected a moment that he had better be cautious, so he had his horse sent to the neighboring house of Dr. Dyer, from which he departed.
After the Civil War, the African-American community of Chapel Hill emerged just north of Piscataway. Like elsewhere, larger plats of land became smaller ones for farms.
GM Hopkins map of Washington 1879 shows Piscataway as one of 14 districts in Prince George’s County. The southern border of Oxen Hill was Broad Creek. Piscataway ran from there down to Mattawoman’s Creek, about a mile south of Accokeek. Names dotting the district included Dr. Hurttt, Dr. Edelen, Joseph Hostetter, and Joseph Hatton.
The short lived Baltimore and Potomac RR (1872-1892) ran about five miles to the east. That was too far away to make an impact for Piscataway. In the other direction, perhaps young boys popped a blade of grass in their mouth and wandered over to the Potomac to wave at the steamboats or skip stones across the waters of the creek. Maybe some climbed the step hill up to Fort Washington to get a better glimpse of Mount Vernon.
Memories can be sweet, but Piscataway was on a slow fade away from its former glories. In 1905, a visiting writer with the Evening Star described it as “a shabby hamlet.” Nevertheless, it still had its setting in “an amphitheater of splendid hills” and “a proud long past.” The writer pointed out the main feature of Piscatway was the St Mary’s Catholic Church. It was just one year old and had been erected on the site of a church in 1838.
In the 1920s, Prohibition gave a few in the village an opportunity. In his indispensable guide, "This Was Potomac River," Frederick Tilp recalled “Piscataway Corn,” was a big hit in the Alexandria speakeasies during Prohibition.
The post office in Piscataway closed in 1943 (became Clinton). In the 1950s, Highway 210 gave motorists the faster, divided highway option. For those hoping the highway would not portend the end of Piscataway's rural nature, they could be pleased that post war growth in Washington did not overtake this part of the region in the sometimes overwhelming way it did in other parts of the region.
In 1992, however, Wayne Hardin ("Uneasy Times for Nice Little Village," Baltimore Sun) wrote a story about Piscataway. Mary Forsht-Tucker, Piscataway Citizens Association president, said, “We’re tremendously threatened by development.”
Twenty years later, a new set of homes, Preserve at Piscataway, was built east of Piscataway Road. The archaeological investigations there near the Edelen House (2445 Bailey's Pond Road) enabled Cuddy to pair the artifacts (12,793) with the Glassford records. This helped further tell the story of the great reach of the Glassford company and also shined a light on the Edelen family.
For now, there’s been no further encroachment. The dozen contributing buildings along Floral Park Road provide a unique and special place.
Below are our photos. The final three are not part of this historic district but we include them for reasons noted.
St. Mary's Church
St. Mary’s Church is a striking landmark, rising tall in the Gothic style. Catholic congregations here go back to the 1770s. The convent and school were built in 1961.
The cemetery holds the passed souls and reveals names of the past.
Contributing Buildings on Floral Park Road
Miller House, 2312 Floral Park Road
Dr. Edgar Hurtt House, 2308 Floral Park Road
Gallahan-Davis House, 2306 Floral Park Road
Hardy Tavern, 2305 Floral Park Road
Bond Bungalow, 2209 Floral Park Road
Clagett Store/Harbin House, 2208 Floral Park Road
Stanton-Bladford House, 2207 Floral Park Road
Piscataway Tavern, 2204 Floral Park Road
Sarah Underwood House, 2004 Floral Park Road
Thomas C. Underwood House, 1908 Floral Park Road
Farmington Landing
Steamboats ferried passengers to and from here. By the 20th century the landing had fallen out of commercial use due to the rapid accumulation of silt, but the spot remains a favorite for local fishers and kayakers. Close your eyes and imagine George Washington sliding by.
St. James Hill
St James Hill lies on a small hill about a half mile south of the historic district. It is also known as the Hostetter House. The name of the dwelling might have come from a plantation of the same name. Reverend John Fraser, the first rector of Piscataway Parish, owned the 700-acre tract. This would have been around the 1710s and was where the Piscataway had lived south of the creek.
In “Along the Potomac Shore, in Prince George’s County,” Pauline Collins shows a long list of owners and neglect. Perhaps the most famous was Dr. Benedict Semmes (1789-1863), who married Emily Edelen. He served at the House level in the State and then the US.
The build date is uncertain. A Digital Maryland document shows the original frame part as mid eighteenth century. The two and a half story brick is early 19c. Collins tells us Lorena Boswell and her brother restored it in 1936. They added a hyphen that connects to the brick part. In 1976, Mr. and Mrs. Briesmaster acquired the home and restored it. They added a wing.
Piscataway House
This is a fascinating story, one touched on by the nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places for Piscataway. Charles Wallace Collins (1879-1964), a lawyer, writer and librarian with the Library of Congress, acquired Harmony Hall in 1929. He and his wife lived there.
Around the same time, he also purchased one of the homes in Piscataway. It was a Tidewater-style framed house that was going to be demolished. He had it moved brick by brick to a spot north of Harmony Hall. Collins also dredged part of the canal to help facilitate the move by water.
The most fascinating history of a neighborhood in Alexandria? Carlyle, believe it or not, is certainly in the conversation.
Note: The area for our coverage is, at least on planning maps, called Eisenhower East. Carlyle is a part of it and the more used name, and more developed, so we used it.
After being a backwater for many years, Rip Van Winkle woke up in the 1990s and began a mercurial rise. But even during those slow years, there were a variety of stories. The one older marker in the neighborhood touches on the village of Cameron, but as the timeline shows, there are other candidates.
From time to time in the past ten years or so, we have written about Carlyle. “Rising” is the word we used to describe it. Although the full buildout is still a distance away, the neighborhood is now a mature adult. For many who whizz past the city on I-95, Carlyle’s impressive building scape might be their main visual take away.
In a piece (1990) in The Washington Post, Roger Lewis, Washington’s longtime architectural critic, had great things to say about the plans for the Carlyle neighborhood in Alexandria:
“Carlyle represents a significant, positive step in the evolution of urban design theory and practice, public land use policy and entrepreneurial initiative… Alexandria has wisely sanctioned a durable, understandable, compelling urban design.”
We thought it a good idea to pay tribute to the neighborhood with some photos and the following timeline. The most remarkable thing about Carlyle is just how long it remained a backwater. Having said that, there was activity here.
For future hopes, we would like to see the construction of the “Old Cameron Run Trail,” a pedestrian and bicycle trail still on the planning boards. A mural or two three would be great. One idea we have is a transportation mural. Through the years, the land that is Carlyle has seen a number of transportation stories, including horses and carts on old paths, the tall ships coming in from the Potomac, railroad tracks and yards, metro, automobiles and its infrastructures.
Note: We give a big thank you to all the archaeologists who have conducted their studies and published their reports on this part of the city.
Timeline for Carlyle/Eisenhower East Neighborhood
1730s
The village of Cameron (site probably near I-95 and Telegraph Road) lies at the junction of the road to Colchester/Potomac Path (Telegraph Road) and Great Hunting Creek.
1749
Alexandria founded. A road runs northeastward from Cameron to the seaport.
1754
Hugh West (1705-1754) buried in West Family Cemetery (vault) near village of Cameron (site on western portion of Carlyle Crossing).
1760
John West, Jr. owns 25 enslaved humans near Cameron.
1786
Col. George West buried in West Family family cemetery.
1787
Sybil Harrison West (1705-1787) buried in family cemetery beside husband, Hugh West.
1790s
A pair of mills and a mill race built near West Family cemetery.
Early 1800s
West End rises up, teeming with the activity of “butchers, tanners, millers, carriage maker, tavern keepers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, soap and candle makers. Later came the selling of enslaved humans, glassmaking, brewing beer, selling dry goods and food, providing water, as well as growing flowers."
1810
Bridge built over Great Hunting Creek at modern day Route One. Gives quicker access to Alexandria than the Cameron path.
1848
Rueben and Robert Roberts, Quaker brothers from New Jersey, acquire land and mill.
1851
Roberts brothers sell eastern mill to the Alexandria Water Company. Continue to farm the land.
1850s
Mention is made of “Cameron Valley” in the Alexandria Gazette.
The Orange and Alexandria RR inaugurates its service. The line runs under a tunnel on Wilkes Street and eventually reaches Gordonsville.
1861-1865
Fort Lyon overlooks and protects Alexandria. Soldiers have bird’s eye view of the city. Any timber in the area would have been cut down for firewood.
1932
George Washington Masonic National Memorial opens. Not within the boundaries of the neighborhood, but the temple certainly serves as a landmark.
1940s
Southern RR continues to use their Cameron Yards facilities. Site is on and near USPTO).
1950s
Temple Trailer Village built for veterans and Federal Government workers. Dirt roads include Lee, Temple Terrace, Mason, and Washington Drive.
City annexes land from Fairfax County.
1958
Developer Hubert Hoffman Jr (1920-2002) purchases 80 acres. Land still mostly a back water.
1960s
Interstate 95/Capitol Beltway built, as well as Holiday Inn and Hoffman Building I.
1970s
Hoffman Building II and parking lots.
American Truckers Association built. Site near ParcMeridian.
1980s
Metro’s Yellow Line, Eisenhower Avenue Station and Eisenhower Avenue.
“Eisenhower Valley” and “Cameron Valley” begins to show up in The Washington Post.
1990s
Roger Lewis article in The Washington Post praises plans for Carlyle, mixed-use development on 76 acre site.
Hoffman Town Center Development
Discovery of West Family burials
2000s
Office Buildings, Residential, Hoffman 22 Theaters, US Patent and Trademark Office, Courthouse, slip ramp as part of part of new Wilson Bridge and thru/local.
2010
Lost Boy Cider
National Science Foundation
2020
Construction starts for Carlyle Crossing, which will include a Wegman’s.
Marker Erected for Hubert Hoffman at end of Hoffman Street on Foundry Apartments Building.
Inspired by a new book by Sue Kovach Shuman, I had a fun walk this morning through parts of Mantua, a neighborhood located between the Beltway and Fairfax. Accotink Creek, Crook Branch and Long Branch are saving graces which run through the green oasis. Like a lot of places in suburbia where the only thing left from the past are the water fingers, folks may not realize there is enough of a demolished past here to cover in a book.
Much is owed to Richard Chichester (1736-1796), who obtained the patent in 1776. His mother was Ellen Ball Chichester, a cousin to George Washington. His second wife was Sarah McCarty. They lived previously at Newington, which stood from 1760 to 1875 as the second Truro Parish Glebe House. Sarah’s father was Daniel McCarty of Mount Air. Their story is emblematic of a shifting economy away from tobacco to wheat. The Chichesters built their mill on Long Run near where it flowed into the Accotink. A good guess is they wanted to be closer to Alexandria but Beth Mitchell’s map of 1760 shows a number of mills already established west of Alexandria.
Images of America books are of a varying quality. Shuman gets an A plus for her full on research, knowledge and insight. She covers the large petroleum leak (1990) from the storage facility on Pickett Road. The company settled a lawsuit brought forth by the 110 homeowners. Shuman points out this was the first time a company did so with homeowners rather than the EPA. She also tells us Leroy Eakin’s donation of 15 acres in 1950 created the first park in the county system. We bet he would be proud to see Mantua today, a community protecting the natural beauty, and balancing its needs in a good way.
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