Browse Resources (30 total)

The Bryce family represents four generations of Fairfax County residents. They discuss daily life growing up in the country from the time of dirt roads to present-day development.

Ernest (Buddy) Belote can trace his family roots in Northern Virginia to pre-Revolutionary days. His ancestor, Colonel William Fitzhugh of Bedfordshire, England, purchased about 22,000 acres of land in Northern Virginia and began cultivating what…

Jennifer Cornelson Addington grew up in Old Burke where her family lived in Whiteoaks, the original edifice of the Burke Elementary School. She reminisces about her childhood and neighborhood growth.

Kings Park was part of the growth of suburban communities in the Braddock District during the 1960s. Most residents were families with a stay-at-home mother, and community activities for children and adults developed including Friday night movies…

During the 1960s, bookmobiles brought library materials to new suburban communities because libraries themselves were far away. During the summer, the bookmobile came about every three weeks to some neighborhoods and children looked forward to their…

During World War II, elementary school children in the Braddock District joined in home front support of the war. Children would buy stamps, put them in books, and trade in each completed book for a war bond to help the war effort.

Four young friends, (l to r) Bernice Rice, Mildred Simpson, James Wycoff, and Virginia Simpson at Spring Grove Farm, circa 1935. With no electronic entertainment, children played outside and with each other as late as they could.

Sweetie Pie was the childhood doll of Suzanne Fowler Neal. Sweetie Pie even played the Baby Jesus in a Christmas Eve Pageant at Burke Methodist Church.

Patty Ruffner's Riding School in Burke, Virginia, advertised in the Fairfax Times Herald, June 8, 1956. The advertisement read: "PATTY'S RIDING SCHOOL Near Fairfax at Burke Offers Lessons In Riding and Jumping. Lessons: 6 1-Hour - 12.00. Trail…

Lee Highway Drive-in Movie Theater, Merrifield, Virginia, circa 1950. The movie theater was an entertainment center for families, since parents could take children along in the car.