Arlington County officially added 7.5 acres of undeveloped land along N. Glebe Road to its holdings this past fall.
For now, however, there are no plans to do anything of note to the property.
The property acquisition was approved by the County Board in July 2023 and the transaction closed in October, a county spokesman confirmed. It cost $2.88 million and the land, bordering the Arlingwood and Chain Bridge Forest neighborhoods, turned out to be bigger than originally thought: 7.5 acres instead of 6.7 acres.
Arlington bought the land from the Virginia Dept. of Transportation, which originally acquired it in the 1960s and 70s for a planned connector road from Glebe to Chain Bridge Road in Fairfax County. Before that, from the 1850s to 1950s, it was part of an African-American enclave known as The Bottom.
More about The Bottom from ARLnow’s previous reporting:
During the Civil War, men helped build nearby Fort Marcy and Fort Ethan Allen while women sold baked goods and did laundry for soldiers. Some of the Union soldiers, however, raided their farms and burned the land for fuel.
With paltry government repayments for confiscated property, the families built back after the war, Kaplan wrote. They farmed, quarried stone and worked for nearby white families. Their children walked three miles to attend the closest school for Black children, then called Sumner School.
The enclave dwindled to non-existence in the 1950s as residents died, moved to other Black neighborhoods in Arlington such as Halls Hill, or left the area. Economic pressures were compounded by access: Arlington County abandoned a road running along The Bottom’s west side and circumvented it with the new N. Glebe Road to Chain Bridge.
Given the unique history, the rugged nature of the property, and its relative inaccessibility — a steep, dead-end residential street provides the most direct access — it could be difficult to convert the property to an active public use. For now, the county says it has no plans for a trail or any other recreational facility.
“The Parks and Natural Resources Division will be assessing the need for invasive work and tree maintenance,” said Arlington County spokesman Ryan Hudson. “The intent is to keep it in its natural state for now. ”
As ARLnow reported last year, the county acquired the property out of concern that it could be redeveloped if VDOT sold it to a private owner.
“The site is a ‘Generational’ or unique opportunity that if not acquired at the point of time of availability, would likely redevelop and the opportunity would be lost for a generation or more,” said a report to the County Board.
