Fairfax County in Northern Virginia has been part of the Washington story since before the capital was established, and GoDC has covered the parts of the county that are inseparable from DC history. From the early history of Mount Vernon and the county’s colonial roots to the postwar suburban explosion that made it one of the most populous counties in the country, these posts explore Fairfax County’s long relationship with Washington.
In 1955 a young Senator John F. Kennedy bought Hickory Hill on Chain Bridge Road in McLean, Virginia. When state highway planners proposed widening the quiet road past his front door, JFK helped push the new alignment onto open farmland instead.
Annandale, VA was named by early settlers who brought the name of their Scottish homeland with them in the 17th century.
Take a journey with us to uncover a 1950s dairy farm advertisement in The Washington Post. See photos of the farm and recent updates, and find out where it stands today!
Explore a Civil War-era map of Fairfax County, Virginia, copied by J. Paul Hoffmann and approved by S. Howell Brown in 1864. Discovered at the Library of Congress.
Everyone calls the CIA Langley. But why? The name traces from a Virginia governor, a Shropshire estate, and exit signs that lied for over a decade.
Delve into the past with an old advertisement from the Maryland Gazette in 1760 promoting a large tract of land for rent in Fairfax, located about 40 miles northwest of Alexandria. Through this historical document and a bit of research, gain insight into life in early colonial America and the social and economic dynamics of the time.
An 1861 Civil War map of rebel fortifications just west of Washington, D.C., found in the Boston Public Library archives.
Do you recognize the women in this photo from 1971? They are shopping at Hecht’s in Tysons Corner, three years after it opened as the largest enclosed mall in the world. Can you identify them?
In 1903, Falls Church was a town of 1,000 people in Fairfax County, serving as a telephone hub for two dozen Northern Virginia communities. Here is a tour through the town as it was.
