Arlington’s Green Valley community has a long and, in many ways, distinguished past.
Coming into being before the Civil War, it served as a home to freed Black residents and carried on as a refuge for the African-American community in a county and commonwealth that, until the 1960s, adhered to a rigid system of segregation in housing and other facets of daily life.
A new Arlington Historical Society exhibition looks at the life and legacy of what may have been Arlington’s first Chinese-inspired restaurant.
“The Family Tea House: Where Culture and Cuisine Met in Arlington” delves into the story of Family Tea House, the dishes it offered and the role it played in a brief but important episode in Virginia’s civil rights movement.
A new documentary delving into the lives of residents at a Columbia Pike affordable housing complex made its debut on Saturday.
“We Are Barcroft: A 60-Acre History of People & Place,” seeks to preserve the stories of people who came to the Barcroft Apartments from around the globe.
New research is shedding light on a 40-acre military camp for Black soldiers that fanned out from the southeast corner of Columbia Pike and S. Courthouse Road during the Civil War.
Camp Casey served as a key recruiting and training ground for the military regiments that would become known as the U.S. Colored Troops. Some of the soldiers had been enslaved, while others were either born free or emancipated.
Sitting on the reference stacks at the Charlie Clark Center for Local History at Arlington Central Library are five thick, blue, nearly 50-year-old bound editions.
They are the archives of the Arlington County Bicentennial Commission, which, from 1974 through the end of 1976, was tasked with overseeing local efforts to celebrate the nation’s 200th birthday.
A multi-day history festival commemorating the United States’ 250th birthday could be coming to Arlington next year.
The Arlington Historical Society, which presented an update on its plans for the landmark anniversary at a meeting of the Arlington County Civic Association last week, hopes to host the event next May, likely at Kenmore Middle School.
Two brothers born into slavery in the 1820s have been honored with new “stumbling stone” historical markers on Columbia Pike.
The bronze emblems, embedded into the sidewalk at the intersection of the Pike and S. Ode Street, honor the lives of Thornton and Daniel Check.
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Crandal Mackey was born in a Confederate field ambulance at the conclusion of the Civil War, and lived long enough to catch the first glimpses of the space race.
A 28-year-old reportedly trying to pass classified documents to a foreign government last week is the latest episode in a long history of espionage-related cases in Arlington.
Nathan Vilas Laatsch, an IT specialist for the Defense Intelligence Agency, was arrested on Thursday after allegedly arranging to hand sensitive records to an undercover FBI agent in an Arlington park.
The exterior of a chapel in a North Arlington local historic district will receive a deep cleaning and restoration work over the summer.
The county’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) voted 13-0 last week to allow Walker Chapel United Methodist Church to use PVC materials to replace rotted wood in some areas. In other places, wood will still be required.
Arlington leaders on Tuesday (May 13) honored the legacy of a once-vibrant community wiped off the map to make way for construction around the Pentagon.
Board members also expressed regret at how those residents were treated by county leaders eight decades ago.
Crowds descended on the Arlington Historical Museum on Saturday as the facility reopened after months of renovations.
Hundreds of people filtered through the six-hour open house, appreciating the new facelift to the museum’s physical presence and exhibitions. The building at 1805 S. Arlington Ridge Road had been closed since the summer of 2024 to allow for the restoration of 47 original windows.
