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Visit a section of river between Rock Creek and Alexandria...
Rock Creek
Aqueduct Bridge Site
Roosevelt Island
Arlington National Cemetery
Anacostia River
Alexandria, Va.
Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant |
When the United States became a nation, this Potomac River community was already one of America's largest ports. A major tobacco "rolling" road (named for the rolling of hogsheads of tobacco along its path) extended from the high Piedmont in Loudoun County to Alexandria-generally following the present Virginia Route 7. The town developed tobacco warehouses, mills, and loading facilities to move both tobacco and milled grains such as wheat and corn to seagoing ships. In George Washington's time, many beautiful mansions were built and occupied. Historic sites include Christ Church, where both Washington and Lee worshiped; Carlyle House, 1752, now restored as a museum; Gadsby's Tavern Museum (which includes a restaurant), and the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum. Although Alexandria was part of the 10-mile square surveyed by Andrew Ellicott (L'Enfant's assistant) in the early 1800s, it was "retroceded" to Virginia along with all other land south of the Potomac River in 1846. Alexandria became a town in Virginia, not part of a county-a governmental system unique to the Commonwealth. Arlington County was created out of the land beyond Alexandria returned to Virginia.
Alexandria was once in contention to be America's premier port. In the first half century of the United States' existence, the town grew rapidly, established industries, and developed a shipbuilding center. Alexandria merchants built a connecting canal to meet the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Georgetown (see below), but both Georgetown and Alexandria lost out as the Potomac was supplanted by better trading routes to Baltimore and New York.
Occupied during the Civil War, Alexandria never recovered as a major port. It was not until the city of Washington started to expand in the 20th century that Alexandria began its revival. Construction of the George Washington Memorial Parkway in the 1930s helped preserve some of the Potomac shoreline nearby, and brought tourists on their way to Gadsby's Tavern and Mount Vernon. Gradually, the old mansions of the 18th century were demolished or restored; outlying areas were developed quickly following the Second World War. The city's population tripled from 1940 to 1960, with most of the growth located away from the city's central district, called Old Town.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, Alexandria rediscovered its Old Town area. Merchants and families moved into carefully restored houses; the waterfront area was redeveloped by people interested in the city's port heritage. Several of the large warehouses that blocked Old Town's access to the river were removed; one was turned into an art gallery (The Torpedo Factory Art Center). The town that had grown up as a wheat and tobacco port on the Potomac re-created itself as a modern city.
Historic Alexandria Office, 201 S. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. Telephone: 703-838-4994.
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