Fairfax County Official Visitors Guide - Fairfax County Official Visitors Guide 2025
EXPLORE HISTORY WHERE IT HAPPENED
2024-11-11 13:22:59
You’ll find fascinating pieces of American history around every corner in Fairfax County, thanks to its political, military, abolitionist and suffragist legacy. Travel through several eras of America’s past at these worthwhile museums, monuments and historic sites.
1700s
At George Washington’s Mount Vernon, discover George’s and Martha’s tombs, more than a dozen historic outbuildings and four separate gardens. Tour Washington’s fellow founding father George Mason’s Gunston Hall in Mason Neck to marvel at Georgian-era architecture and learn about a key architect of the American Revolution.
For war-history buffs, the National Museum of the United States Army details the nation’s oldest military branch and many of its battles, including the Revolutionary War.
Step into the rebuilt Historic Fairfax Courthouse, one of the oldest buildings in Fairfax, and stand beneath some of the same wood from its original late-1700s construction.
1800s
Founded in 1833 by a former enslaved person, West Ford, Gum Springs near Alexandria once provided refuge to those recently freed. Today, it is a community center and museum detailing the lives of the site’s founders and one of the oldest African American communities in Fairfax County.
Tour the Sully Historic Site in Chantilly to learn about this former home of Northern Virginia’s first Congressman, Richard Brand Lee, then visit the historic Woodlawn Estate in Alexandria to learn about its abolitionist influence years before the Emancipation Proclamation.
Fairfax’s 1859 Historic Blenheim and the Civil War Interpretive Center reveal graffiti left behind by the war’s soldiers. Stroll along trails surrounded by sprawling greenery or visit the original owner’s family cemetery.
As Vienna’s first public library, Little Library Museum contains vivid historic details within its tall wood shelves stacked high with books. Steps away is the Freeman Store and Museum, a charming historic destination for exhibits and vintage gifts, including postcards, candy, pottery and more.
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1900s
Visit Lorton’s Lucy Burns Museum at the Workhouse Arts Center, a former prison that once confined this formative suffragist and many others. Or walk through the garden, gazebo and statues dedicated to millions of women who fought for their right to vote at the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial, located nearby at Occoquan Regional Park.
Stop by Tinner Hill Historic Park in Falls Church, dedicated to Joseph and Elizabeth Tinner’s fight against segregation, which birthed the NAACP’s first rural branch in 1915.
YOUR ULTIMATE DC DAY TRIP
VISIT THESE ICONIC STAPLES FROM AMERICA’S HISTORY, MOMENTS AWAY IN OUR NATION’S CAPITAL!
U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING & WHITE HOUSE: Soak up all of the political history that abounds here.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL & WASHINGTON MONUMENT: Discover the site of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech and his memorial located nearby.
U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM: Learn about the tragedies of World War II through compelling exhibits.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN: Explore the first national museum dedicated to Native American life and culture.
SMITHSONIAN’S NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM: After exploring the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Fairfax County, visit this stellar collection chronicling more air and space exploration in a newly renovated, state-of-the-art facility.
SCAN FOR DC TRIP IDEAS!
HISTORY’S HIDDEN GEMS
JOURNEY TO THESE LESSER-KNOWN HISTORY SPOTS TO GLEAN INSIGHTS UNIQUE TO FAIRFAX COUNTY.
COLVIN RUN MILL: Learn about the ancient art of milling using a water wheel at this renovated 1900s dairy barn in Great Falls.
RESTON MUSEUM: Discover the origins of Reston’s post-war planned community and attend fun events.
FAIRFAX STATION RAILROAD MUSEUM: Tune into history about the American Red Cross, the Civil War and the region’s railroading past.
PLUS, SCAN FOR HISTORIC HOME TOURS!
EXPLORE MORE WITH @AUSTINGRAFF
Austin Graff says Fairfax County has a “deep history that you can literally touch.” Scan the QR code to discover some of his top history spots!
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