275th Commemoration of Fairfax County Neighborhood History Project
In 1742, Fairfax
County was created out of Prince William County. The mostly rural population was about 4,125.
Today, more than 1.1 million people live in this urban area. Because Fairfax is
on the doorstep of the nation's capital, residents come and go. Some people
grow lifelong roots. But many don't know the history of their own neighborhood
community.
As part of Fairfax County's 275th
Commemoration, neighborhoods are being encouraged to document their own
history. Fairfax changed significantly after World War II as the federal
government expanded. Workers populated new suburban communities. Schools and
shopping centers were built. Parks were
born.
The Neighborhood History
Project encourages communities to do their own history--to help citizen
historians to document their micro-level, grassroots area for future
generations. Your community can be part of it by generating interest in the
project: Post this on your neighborhood
or community website, in your newsletter, on your blog and Facebook pages. Ask
your neighbors and civic association members to share photos (to compare places then and now), for images
(such as posters or signs), for vignettes about life in earlier days, for short
articles about famous (and infamous) people who lived there. Mine your early
newsletters and community directories for information about significant events
that took place, traditions and how they got started, etc. Ask the oldest residents what they like and
dislike about the neighborhood. Ask new ones the same thing.
If your
neighborhood already has documented its history, share it.
Information about
The Neighborhood History Project will be shared during a public history fair on
Saturday, June 17, at the official Fairfax County 275th Commemoration at the
historic Fairfax Court house. (You'll even have a chance to meet the current
Lord Fairfax, whose forebear Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax, owned the land in
1719!)
THIS IS PART OF MY STUDENT INTERNSHIP FOR A CERTIFICATE IN PUBLIC HISTORY AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION AT NORTHERN VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
PLEASE RECORD YOUR 'HOOD'S HISTORY!
