photo by gusto

The old river port of Alexandria is the official gateway to the South from Washington, DC. Hugging the Potomac River, which acts as a natural border to the state, this city of 120,000 people is steeped in a rich heritage preceding the Revolutionary War (1775-83). Established as a major tobacco port in 1749, most of its Federal-era buildings are fully restored in Alexandria’s historic Old Town District.

A walking tour may include George Washington’s townhouse, and Carlyle House, which was used as a meeting house in the French and Indian War (1754-63).

Captain’s Row features the original cobblestone road constructed around the 1790s, and along Gentry Row, Old Town’s most handsome Georgian dwellings line the streets. Further south on Fairfax is the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, where the funeral for George Washington was held in 1799. The church here also holds the Revolutionary War’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the adjacent graveyard.

George Washington, along with his band of patriots, once frequented the now-restored Gadsby Tavern Museum. The restored boyhood home of Robert E. Lee was occupied by this war hero’s family periodically from 1811 to 1825. An earlier dwelling belonging to Lee’s family is at the Lee-Fendall House Museum, displaying personal artifacts and a period dollhouse collection. Alexandria’s history is chronicled at The Lyceum, an 1829 Greek Revival building that served as a hospital during the Civil War.

Other points of interest are the Torpedo Factory Art Center, which built torpedoes during World War II, and the Fort Ward Museum and Historic Site, used from May 1861 to September 1865 by the Union army to protect the capital from possible Confederate attack.

Alexandria is served by Ronald Reagan National Airport and trains from Washington DC. Drive in via the George Washington Memorial Parkway.