Since moving to Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C. in 2010 for a career move, I’ve grown to love the city for many reasons, most importantly for its small town feel and character within the middle of a huge bustling metropolis, as well as for its architecture, history, and innovation. While Alexandria is located a mere four miles south of downtown Washington D.C., it can feel like it’s a hundred miles away because of its slower pace, friendly and welcoming residents and historic and compact downtown area. Alexandria does well at celebrating and preserving its history, while embracing its future. Today, the city has a growing population of approximately 160,000 persons.
Founded in 1749, Alexandria played an important part of Colonial America, both the War of 1812, and the American Civil War, and once held one of the country’s largest slave trading companies. The historic part of the city known as “Old Town” is nestled along the Potomac River. Old Town has a vibe similar to Washington D.C.’s wealthy Georgetown neighborhood, but without the pretentiousness. In Old Town, one can walk along beautiful cobblestone streets flanked by eighteenth century brick and wood townhomes, many with gas lamps greeting visitors. King Street, the spine of Old Town, connects the waterfront on the east, to the King Street-Old Town Metrorail Station a mile to the west. In between are hundreds of retail shops, including many restaurants of all types, cafes, boutiques, bookstores and galleries. Beyond King Street on either side are dozens of easily walkable blocks that contain beautiful and historic homes, parks, churches and museums. While Old Town is fairly compact and easy to navigate, a free Alexandria trolley traverses along King Street every fifteen minutes between the Metrorail station and waterfront, allowing residents and visitors to easily access most points of interest.
Historic Christ Episcopal Church, located on Washington Street, was completed in 1773 and among its original parishioners were George Washington, Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee. Museums include the Gadsby Tavern Museum (a tavern and inn dating to 1785), and the Carlyle House, an elegant stone mansion completed in 1753 by John Carlyle, a wealthy merchant and founder of Alexandria. The Alexandria Lyceum, once a Civil War hospital ward, is the City’s History museum. The Lee-Fendall House, built in 1785 and home of thirty-seven members of the Lee family over the years, also housed Union soldiers during the Civil War and generations of enslaved and free African Americans. Other museums in Old Town include the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum, and the Alexandria Black History Museum. On the west end of King Street, the George Washington Masonic Temple rises 333 feet above a hill offering stunning views of Alexandria and the Washington region. The tower, dedicated in 1932 to honor George Washington who was a Mason, was fashioned after the ancient lighthouse in Alexandria, Egypt.
A number of tours of Alexandria, including ghost tours, history tours, pub crawls, and food tours are available through Viator.
Since the City’s Waterfront Plan was approved in 2012, steady progress has been made on making the Potomac River waterfront more vibrant, accessible and usable for everyone. A new King Street Park brings thousands of people a year to an area that was once dominated by the Old Dominion Boat Club that blocked the view of the river from King Street. The park offers rotating public art, seating and picnic areas, a children’s play area, and swinging benches to enjoy the view. Near the park, and a highlight for anyone visiting Old Town, is the Torpedo Factory Art Center, that contains over 80 artist studios open to the public on three levels of what was once a munitions plant. New condominiums and restaurants are opening up along the river, and further south is the recently renovated Windmill Hill Park, as well as Jones Point Park which includes an old lighthouse built in 1855, and the south cornerstone for the original layout of the District of Columbia. The entirety of the Old Town waterfront is connected by a series of trails and parks, that also connect to the larger Mt. Vernon Trail system that connects to the Mount Vernon estate to the south, and to Arlington and Washington D.C. to the north.
Beyond Old Town are other interesting and colorful neighborhoods to explore. Del Ray, located northwest of Old Town, has many restaurants and shops centered along Mount Vernon Avenue. The neighborhood also has a small town feel, where families and their canine friends can be seen gathered in the parks, at outside eating areas, and ice cream shops such as the Dairy Godmother, a Del Ray institution.
Alexandria is also looking to the future, actively redeveloping older and underutilized areas throughout the city to better uses. North of Old Town along Route 1, the Potomac Yard neighborhood, today dominated by a large and popular strip mall, is being converted to a higher density mixed use area of residential, office, retail and institutional uses, including a new Virginia Tech Innovation campus. A new Potomac Yard Metrorail station is currently under construction, and anticipated to open in 2022 to serve the growing area and improve regional accessibility. Much of this growth is being spurred by the Amazon HQ2 being constructed a mile to the north in Arlington. On the west end of the City, a dead mall (Landmark Mall) where Wonder Woman 1984 was recently filmed, is being converted to a mixed-use neighborhood and a new regional hospital. In the Carlyle-Eisenhower East area, to the southwest of Old Town, a new mixed use town center is being developed across from the Eisenhower Avenue Metrorail station. The City is served by its own local transit system known as DASH, and is also implementing three transitways that will provide frequent and reliable transit service along higher density corridors and connecting to other transit centers and the regional Metrorail system.
One of the best parts of living in Alexandria is the ability to attend numerous festivals and events throughout the year. The bustling Old Town Farmers Market, held every Saturday morning, is the oldest farmers market in the country held continuously at the same site. A number of other farmers markets are also held throughout the City. Alexandria is recognized as a premier artistic hub. Every fall, the Alexandria Old Town Art Festival hosts hundreds of artists from throughout the Country on display. Art on the Avenue, held each fall on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray, is another popular arts festival. The Alexandria Film Festival is held each November, and each December, a fun event is the Scottish Christmas Walk and Parade, where a highlight is seeing the bagpipers and the hundreds of Scottie dogs.
Getting There and Around
Easy access to Alexandria is one of its best assets. The City is easily accessible via the blue and yellow lines of the regional rail system known as Metrorail, with four stations serving the City (and soon to have another new station). For those that are more interested in driving, the George Washington Memorial Parkway is a stunning corridor to travel during all seasons. The parkway links Alexandria to Arlington and Washington D.C. to the north, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate to the south. The parkway follows the Potomac River, with a number of accessible parks and viewpoints along it. Alexandria is also bounded on the south by the I-495 Beltway which links it to the greater metropolitan area. The city is also five minutes south of Ronald Reagan National Airport, which is also served by Metrorail and the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
The Mt. Vernon Trail connects Alexandria to Arlington and Washington D.C. to the north, and Mount Vernon to the south, is a great way for walkers and bikers to access and see Alexandria. Capital Bikeshare has 37 bikeshare stations throughout the City that allows residents and visitors to rent a bike and explore the city and access hundreds of stations throughout the region.
Another way to get to Old Town Alexandria is by water taxi. Water taxis connect Old Town to the Wharf, Nationals Stadium and Georgetown in Washington D.C., and to the National Harbor entertainment district across the river in Prince Georges County, Maryland.
Links
Visit Alexandria https://www.visitalexandriava.com/
Torpedo Factory https://torpedofactory.org/
Old Town Boutique District https://www.oldtownboutiquedistrict.com/
City of Alexandria https://alexandriava.gov