Browse Items (34 total)
- Collection: Communities
Sort by:
Bailey's Crossroads
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln reviewed Union troops nearby. Springdale, later known as Bailey’s Crossroads, was settled by freed enslaved people in the 1880s. The community thrived and built their own school and church. The school was built on a five-acre…
Tags: Mason
Black, White, Segregated: Forgotten Black Communities in Fairfax
Black communities that once existed in Fairfax County are discussed. They include Merrifield, originally called Mills Crossing; The Pines; and Williamstown, now Merrifield and Dunn Loring.
Tags: Dunn Loring, Merrifield, Providence
Bull Run/Gatepost/Hortontown
A group of more than 40 people emancipated from Robert Carter III’s Leo Farm between 1793 to 1826 established a community southwest of Centreville between Bull Run and Cub Run. The Harris and Robinson families were prominent, but there were many…
Camp Beckwith
During the first years of the Civil War, thousands of enslaved people escaped to the District of Columbia in search of freedom. During May and June of 1863, as the number of contrabands grew, the Union Army decided to relocate the growing number of…
Tags: Dranesville, McLean
Camp Wadsworth
Camp Wadsworth was located on the property of Commander James W. Cooke that includes today’s Madison of McLean townhouse development, and the nearby property of Lewis Means, part of today’s McLean Central Park.
Collingwood Beach
From approximately 1888 to 1900, Collingwood Beach was an African American resort, a getaway for church groups and fraternal organizations from the District of Columbia. A white steamboat Captain L.J. Woolen purchased the property in 1888 and built…
Tags: Alexandria, Mount Vernon
Cooktown
In 1968, Cooktown was still home to an estimated 15-20 families. Among the 15 dwellings there was one with a septic tank and indoor plumbing. There was no gas, water or sewer service. There were seven homes with electricity, four with telephones. …
Tags: Dranesville
East Woodford
A Black community existed in Dunn Loring after the Civil War along Haney Lane, where Kilmer Middle School is located, and in the area west of what today is the Dunn Loring Volunteer Fire Station 13 at 2148 Gallows Road. That land was owned by George…
Tags: Dunn Loring, Providence
Floris
Floris Community
(Known as Frying Pan until c. 1892)
Location: On Centreville Road (657) from Frying Pan Road to intersection with West Ox Road (608), approximately one mile east of Dulles Airport. Within the Floris National Register Historic…
Freedom Hill community
Tysons, Virginia’s Untold Stories: The Freedom Hill Community https://ourstoriesandperspectives.com/2022/02/08/tysons-virginias-untold-stories-the-freedom-hill-community/
Interpretive signs at Freedom Hill
The stories about the Civil War, the…
Gum Springs Community
West Ford purchased a 214-acre farm in this area in 1833. He was formerly enslaved by the Washington Family and worked as a carpenter and estate manager. He subdivided his property among his children. Others moved into the neighborhood and the land…
Tags: Mount Vernon
Gum Springs: The Triumph of a Black Community
History of the Historic African American Community from 1833-1990
Tags: Mount Vernon
Hughesville
The Hughesville community developed near the intersection of Braddock Road and today’s Fairfax County Parkway. The history of the community began around 1866. Jackson Hughes a formerly enslaved followed the Union Army from Louisiana and chose to live…
Tags: Springfield
Lincoln-Lewis-Vannoy community
Lincoln-Lewis-Vannoy, a community of approximately 169 homes, fought to have sewers and indoor plumbing brought to their community. In 1982, many of the residents still depended on wells and outdoor privies.
Lincoln Area Lifting Living…
Lincolnville Community
Lincolnville was a mixed-race community that developed along Kirby Road shortly after the Civil War ceased. It was probably so named by Reverend Cyrus Carter, a Haitian immigrant, or General John S. Crocker, Warden of the Prisons in the District of…
Tags: Dranesville, McLean
Malcolm Heights – The Neighborhood
A planned segregated neighborhood for African Americans was built in Vienna.
Mills Crossing/Merrifield
The Merrifield area originally known as Mills Crossing. It also was known as Williamstown. An African American community existed on the east side of Gallows Road roughly from Lee Highway in the north to south of the current Route 50 and what is now…
Tags: Providence
Oak Grove Community
Portions of the unincorporated area of Oak Grove, Sterling, Loudoun County, Virginia, were once located in the Town of Herndon, Fairfax County. But due to boundary line changes/corrections between Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, the area is now located…
Tags: Dranesville, Herndon
Odrick’s Corner
Location: North of Dulles Toll Road, intersection Spring Hill Road (county 684) and Lewinsville Road (county 694).
African American community history: Named after Alfred Odrick, a former slave and carpenter who purchased 30 acres in 1872. Odrick’s…
Reston African American History
Reston holds a unique place in Fairfax County African American History. Conceived and created by its founder, Robert E. Simon, as an integrated community, Reston was established and opened in 1964.
A series of interviews with a selection of…
A series of interviews with a selection of…
Tags: Reston
School Street
In the early 1920s an African American community was settled not far from the Historical Courthouse. After a fire had damaged most of Main Street, a developer John Rust, bought the land around School Street and subdivided it into lots. Many African…
Tags: Fairfax
Sideburn Community
An African American community was established after the Civil War. Its location was Zion Drive and Sideburn Road, Fairfax VA.
