Historical Site
Defenses of Washington
1861 - 1865
Here stood Fort Worth, built in 1861. It had a commanding view of the Cameron Valley and guarded the approach to Alexandria by Little River Turnpike. The fort had a perimeter of 463 yards . . . — — Map (db m80466) HM
Former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford and his family lived in Alexandria for 23 years before he became President. The Fords moved to Park Fairfax in 1951, when he was in his second term in Congress (R-Michigan). The family moved into a new house . . . — — Map (db m133935) HM
In 1884, James F. Jackson purchased the largest parcel in "The Fort," a post-Civil War African American community. He paid $300 for his 11.5 acres with the "western slope of a bank of Fort Ward." James and wife Catherine (Katie/Kittie), natives . . . — — Map (db m149737) HM
Lake Cook is named for Dayton L. Cook, P.E., the City of Alexandria's Director of Transportation and Environmental Services, who was instrumental in the purchase, design, and construction of the Eisenhower Valley public improvements. Mr. Cook helped . . . — — Map (db m27160) HM
The plan of Fort Ward consisted of five bastions with positions for 36 guns. The Northwest Bastion illustrates how the entire stronghold appeared in 1864. This bastion is armed with six reproduction weapons based on Fort Ward's original table of . . . — — Map (db m7713) HM
In 1939, Samuel Javins conveyed the land which was referred to as "Oakland Church lot" nine years earlier, to the Oakland Baptist Church, after the death of his wife, Florence McKnight Javins. She inherited the property from her mother, Harriet . . . — — Map (db m81223) HM
This outlying 6-gun battery was constructed to cover the ravine where Interstate 395 is located today. The remains of a covered-way rifle trench that extended from the Northwest Bastion is visible near the park road. This trench provided protection . . . — — Map (db m149735) HM
Phoenix Mill is the last surviving remnant of Alexandria's once thriving milling industry. William Hartshorne built the four-story mill in 1801. The mill was built at a time when Northern Virginia's economy shifted from tobacco to grain . . . — — Map (db m133936) HM
Ammunition for the fort's guns was kept in underground storage facilities called magazines and filling rooms. Shells were armed and sometimes stored in the filling room, while the magazine was used to hold black powder and crated rounds. Implements . . . — — Map (db m7711) HM
This exterior view of the restored Northwest Bastion illustrates the effectiveness of an earthwork fort. The fort walls were 18-22 feet high, 12-14 feet thick, and slanted at 45 degrees. To gain access to the fort an attacker would have to cross . . . — — Map (db m7714) HM
This rifle trench extended from the North Bastion toward Battery Garesche located beyond Leesburg Turnpike (Route 7). Another rifle trench extended from the tip of the South Bastion near the Fort Gate. The rifle trenches prevented enemy troops from . . . — — Map (db m7715) HM
"Known to his friends as Sky and Shaggy, Schuylker was a gentle, giant, the tall guy (6'5") with shaggy hair. He was a rower on Alexandria's T.C. Williams High School Varsity, 8 and an amazing skateboarder who lived to play the guitar. . . . — — Map (db m216129) HM
The Southwest Bastion was the most heavily fortified area of the fort with emplacements for seven guns, as well as a magazine and a filling room. The largest gun in Fort Ward, a 100-pounder Parrott Rifle, was located in the Southwest Bastion. . . . — — Map (db m7684) HM
Several residents of "The Fort" community were founders of the Oakland Baptist Church, which is located at the intersection of King Street and Braddock Road. The congregation started worshiping in a bush arbor as Oak Hill Baptist Mission in 1888 . . . — — Map (db m81185) HM
Few facilities in Northern Virginia offer the variety of recreation options presented by Cameron Run Regional Park. Lying adjacent to the Capital Beltway in Alexandria, Cameron Run is serenity carved among glass and metal — a day long vacation of . . . — — Map (db m197469) HM
Clara Shorts Adams and Robert Adams conveyed a quarter-acre to the Falls Church School District of Fairfax County in 1898 for the purpose of educating African American children. The one-room "Colored School Building at Seminary" was the first . . . — — Map (db m167217) HM
Text, upper half of marker panel:
This house, built by Emmanuel Jones by 1888, stands at the corner of a block that witnessed the extremes of 19th century African American experience. From a slave trading company to significant . . . — — Map (db m46124) HM
Under this plaza is the concrete floor of a gas station, the construction of which desecrated many graves. The flooring was kept in place to protect the graves that may remain below. — — Map (db m188799) HM
Civil War Dead
An estimated 700,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died in the Civil War between April 1861 and April 1865. As the death toll rose, the U.S. government struggled with the urgent but unplanned need to bury fallen Union . . . — — Map (db m92115) HM
On 17 Dec. 1785, George Washington endowed a school here in the recently established Alexandria Academy “for the purpose of educating orphan children.” In 1812, an association of free African Americans founded its own school here in space vacated by . . . — — Map (db m813) HM
Securing the Capital
On May 24, 1861, Gen. Winfield Scott ordered eleven regiments of Union troops from Washington, D.C., across the Potomac River, where they captured Arlington and Alexandria.
After their defeat in July at Manassas, . . . — — Map (db m92113) HM
Alfred Street Baptist Church is home to the oldest
African American congregation in Alexandria,
dating to the early 19th century. It has served as a
prominent religious, educational, and cultural
institution. In 1818, the congregation, then . . . — — Map (db m14623) HM
Henry A. Crump 60th Inf • William M. David 62nd Inf • George W.L. Francis 7th Cav • William H. Haws 8th Inf • George W. Herndon 13th Inf • Elias M. Herring 18th Inf • Elijah F. Hutchison 6th Cav • Edward S. Jett 56th Inf • John J. Knoxville 9th . . . — — Map (db m150721) HM WM
Brown, Alexander H. • Carter, Merriwether T. • Darley, William • Jones, George W. • Lawler, John Joseph • Lewis, William L. • Pitts, Henry Segar • Pitts, Robert Tyler • Proctor, John J. • Roland, Richard N. • Sutherland, John W. • Turner, Albert . . . — — Map (db m150723) HM WM
African Americans escaping slavery found refuge in Alexandria after Union troops occupied the city in 1861. The Rev. Clement “Clem” Robinson established the First Select Colored School in 1862. Hundreds of students registered for day and . . . — — Map (db m98079) HM
John Tucker's small factory at Broomilaw Point was one of several brickyards that operated in the City of Alexandria. Park Agnew and M.B. Harlow bought the brickworks in 1890, expanding and mechanizing Tucker's small operation. By 1890, the . . . — — Map (db m127763) HM
Built 1816-18 by
Capt. James McGuire
Occupied for much of his
Alexandria ministry by
Rev. Samuel Cornelius, Pastor
First Baptist Church, 1824-41
Restored 1964-65 by
Mr. & Mrs. John Page Elliott — — Map (db m66551) HM
An archeological investigation was conducted in 2007 and 2008 to find and protect the cemetery's remaining graves. City archaeologists discovered an American Indian site in this area with a broken quartzite fragment fro a 13,000-year-old spear . . . — — Map (db m188802) HM
The Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial is dedicated to honoring more than 1,700 people of African descent buried here during and following the Civil War, as well as those who may have been laid to rest after the cemetery officially . . . — — Map (db m77244) HM WM
Seeking freedom and a chance to begin a new life thousands of African Americans fleeing slavery flooded Civil War-era Alexandria. The city was quickly overwhelmed, and as living conditions grew dire, many perished from disease and deprivation. In . . . — — Map (db m86652) HM
Courtesy of Bethel Cemetery,
Est. 1885
on whose grounds rests ten members of Col. John Singleton Mosby's Rangers, 43rd BN CSA. The area of Northern Virginia was known during the war and ever since as Mosby's Confederacy
Ayre, George . . . — — Map (db m150722) HM WM
The Douglass Cemetery Association was founded in 1895 as a non-denominational, segregated cemetery for Alexandria's African American community. The Douglass Cemetery is named in memory of Frederick Douglass, who was an American abolitionist, . . . — — Map (db m140586) HM
This stone taken from the canal of the Potomac Company of which Washington and Fitzgerald were Directors commemorates the erection of the First Catholic Church in Virginia, A. D. 1795, which stood until 1839 about twenty feet behind this . . . — — Map (db m79678) HM
We are not contrabands, but soldiers of the U.S. Army. We have cheerfully left the comforts of home, and entered into the field of conflict, fighting side by side with the white soldiers…
As American citizens, we have a right . . . — — Map (db m87058) HM
Isaac Franklin and John Armfield leased this brick building with access to the wharves and docks in 1828 as a holding pen for enslaved people being shipped from Northern Virginia to Louisiana. They purchased the building and three lots in 1832. From . . . — — Map (db m72628) HM
Federal authorities established a cemetery here for newly freed African Americans during the Civil War. In January 1864, the military governor of Alexandria confiscated for use as a burying ground an abandoned pasture from a family with Confederate . . . — — Map (db m122082) HM
Many of the African Americans who fled to Alexandria to escape enslavement and those already living here succumbed to disease and deprivation during and shortly after the Civil War. Carts bearing the dead entered the cemetery along a path in this . . . — — Map (db m188795) HM
During the Civil War, Freedmen's Cemetery extended into the middle of South Washington Street. Each tan stone in the sidewalk marks a grave identified by archaeologists investigating the location of the original cemetery. — — Map (db m188794) HM
The bridge is one of the last remnants of Alexandria's first railroad, the Orange & Alexandria. The “O&ARR,” as it was commonly called, opened in 1851 and had 148 miles of track in 1860. The bridge was constructed by the railroad as . . . — — Map (db m99330) HM
In honor of those who gave the Ultimate Sacrifice in service to the United States of America and the families they left behind. The sacrifice will not be forgotten. — — Map (db m140585) WM
A consummate public servant, role model, and leader whose tireless work for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, including planning for the new multimodal Woodrow Wilson Bridge and the promotion of walkable, bikeable communities, is . . . — — Map (db m188808) HM
Named for Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Haitian
revolutionary. L’Ouverture Hospttal opened early
in 1864 near the Freedmen’s barracks in Alexandria
to serve sick and injured United States Colored
Troops (USCT). Designed by the U.S. Army, . . . — — Map (db m108153) HM
During the Civil War, 217 was the headquarters of the L'Overture Hospital. It was named after Tousaint L'Overture — Hispaniola's (Haiti) slave revolt leader. Patients were African American Union Soldiers & “contrabands” (escaped . . . — — Map (db m74279) HM WM
In this cemetery rest the earthly remains of Patriots in the Revolutionary War, many of whom were of Scottish ancestry.
These Patriots, along with many Presbyterians from Alexandria, fought for the cause of Liberty and assisted the Soldiers . . . — — Map (db m129163) HM
Original Federal Boundary Stone
District of Columbia
Placed 1791 - 1792
Protected by Mt. Vernon Chapter
Daughters of the American Revolution
1916 — — Map (db m154752) HM
The Alexandria's Board of Trustees established Penny Hill Cemetery in 1796 as the town's municipal burial ground. The cemetery became the final resting place for indigent and unidentified people in the City, as well as residents. Because nearly all . . . — — Map (db m188793) HM
At the end of the 18th century, African Americans constituted half of the congregation at Alexandria's Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. With support from Trinity, black members founded a separate congregation early in the 1830s, and their . . . — — Map (db m127781) HM
Alexandria, occupied by Union troops during the Civil War, became a refuge for African Americans escaping slavery. Before the war ended, about 50 former slaves founded the Shiloh Society, later known as Shiloh Baptist Church. Members held services . . . — — Map (db m91684) HM
The area around duke street between Hooff's Run and the base of Shuter's Hill was once known as "West End." Originally subdivided and sold by John and Thomas West in the 1780s, West End became a thriving community well positioned for commerce along . . . — — Map (db m72367) HM
Dedicated by the City of Alexandria and Alexandria's Veterans' organizations on Veterans' Day November 11, 1979, in honored memory of the deceased Alexandria Veterans of all the United States wars.
Their service in war and peace contributed . . . — — Map (db m150724) WM
Alexandria Academy
(Washington School)
Built 1785-86
George Washington member
Board of Managers
Washington Lancastrian School
(Site of)
Built 1812
Razed 1870
Alexandria Community Y
Erected . . . — — Map (db m129166) HM
During the Civil War, Alexandria's population swelled with more than 20,000 enslaved African Americans fleeing Confederate territory for safety behind Union lines. Initially called Contrabands because they were considered "property" taken during . . . — — Map (db m127734) HM
Artist David Hess created this transept of found and cast materials. His design is in recognition of William Clayborne, the colonial surveyor and is based upon the artist's personal research into tools of the surveying trade from that period. — — Map (db m127733) HM
Built in 1941 for World War II workers at the Torpedo Factory on the Potomac River in Alexandria, the Chinquapin Village War Housing Project was designed with a series of courts radiating from the circular road present today. Four to six duplexes . . . — — Map (db m150804) HM
People have lived and worked along Taylor Run for thousands of years. The first Alexandrians probably walked along the stream bank at least 10,000 years ago. These early peoples lived in small, mobile bands and subsisted through hunting and . . . — — Map (db m150807) HM
“Alexandria is ours,” declared Col. Orlando Wilcox of the 1st Michigan Vol. Inf. as his regiment captured the city on the morning of May 24, 1861. When Virginia's vote of secession became effective, Union forces immediately crossed the . . . — — Map (db m159) HM
“Alexandria is ours,” declared Col. Orlando Wilcox of the 1st Michigan Infantry as his regiment captured the city on the morning of May 24, 1861, one day after Virginia officially left the Union. Due to its strategic location on the . . . — — Map (db m152570) HM
Whether going to their workplace, a vacation getaway or war, generations of passengers have embarked on journeys and were welcomed home at the Alexandria Union Station. It exemplifies the time when railroads were the dominant means of . . . — — Map (db m152574) HM
Travel the Chinquapin Trek
The Chinquapin trek takes you back in time. Interpretive signs discuss the process associated with the formation of Taylor Run and forest succession. Illustration of trees, plants and wildlife assist you in . . . — — Map (db m150802) HM
With Alexandria under British control in August 1814, top-ranking U.S. military men gathered at this high point above the city. President Madison conferred with Secretary of the Navy William Jones, Brigadier General John Hungerford, and U.S. Navy . . . — — Map (db m81243) HM
Fort Ellsworth, one of 68 earthen forts built to protect Washington during the Civil War, was constructed in 1861. When completed, the fort had a perimeter of 618 yards and was an irregular Vauban-type star design of French origin. The fort was . . . — — Map (db m45046) HM
Here stood Fort Ellsworth, named for Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth who was killed during the Union Army's occupation of Alexandria on May 24, 1861. Built in 1861, the fort had a perimeter of 618 yards and emplacement for 29 guns. — — Map (db m133932) HM
has been designated a National Historic Landmark
This site possesses national significance in commemorating the history of the United States of America.
Built from 1922-1932 to symbolize George Washington's character and virtue, this . . . — — Map (db m204971) HM
Numerous creeks, such as Taylor Run, crisscross Alexandria's landscape. Each creek is an important part of the ecology of the woodland through which it flows, providing habitat for small fish, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates. Creeks also . . . — — Map (db m150811) HM
What is Succession?
The forest in this area of the Park is changing from primarily an evergreen (conifer) forest of white pine trees to a younger oak and hickory (deciduous) forest. The white pine forest began about 80 years ago . . . — — Map (db m150809) HM
One of the most familiar inhabitants of the Park's woodlands is the Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus). This small mammal constructs an elaborate underground burrow consisting of several chambers connected by a series of tunnels. As it . . . — — Map (db m150805)
In the early part of the 20th century, the Chinquapin Park area was a wooded place with abundant water. People living along King Street walked to the spring near here to obtain water for use in their homes. Sugar was also grown and processed . . . — — Map (db m150813) HM
Original Federal
Boundary Stone Southwest 3
District of Columbia
Placed 1791-1792
This plaque placed here on the 200th anniversary of the founding of the City of Washington D.C.
Placed here and protected by Colonel John Washington . . . — — Map (db m154929) HM
Camp of the 44th New York Volunteer Infantry, also known as the "Ellsworth Avengers" and the "People's Ellsworth Regiment." The unit was raised in honor of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, who was killed at the Marshall House Hotel on May 24, 1861, . . . — — Map (db m196) HM
President Gerald R. Ford, Jr.
Residence
has been designated a
National Historic Landmark
This residence possesses significance in
commemorating the history of the
United States of America
From 1955-1974, this was the home . . . — — Map (db m133934) HM
The Bloxham Cemetery is the last visible sign of 3,000 years of human occupation in this area near Cameron Run. Flintknappers, farmers, and fruit growers all left their imprints beneath the surface of the ground here. Small groups of American . . . — — Map (db m216713) HM
James and Mary Bloxham, whose descendants are interred within this cemetery, came to Alexandria from England in the late 18th century. By the mid-19th century, two of their sons — William, a miller by trade, and James (II), a farmer — had settled . . . — — Map (db m216714) HM
