Browse Resources (34 total)

In Part 2 of two interview sessions, Bill and Elsie (Sheads) Sisson, brother and sister, reminisce about their family, which came to the Braddock District from Culpepper, Virginia, in 1903. They talk about people and places, schools, lumbering and…

On June 1, 1967, six young soldiers from Fort Belvoir died in an accident while working on a community service project to help build the Howery Field athletic complex. They were electrocuted when the flagpole they were erecting contacted a high…

Rosemarie Schelling and her family moved to the Braddock District when her husband was stationed at the Pentagon during the 1960s. Their five children joined a neighborhood of large families. Rosemarie Schelling remembers family activities, outdoor…

James Roland was born in northern Virginia. His parents had moved to the area from Tennessee after World War II because of the better job market. James Roland learned carpentry and dry wall from his father, joined him in business, and then turned…

After Lake Accotink, formerly the reservoir for Fort Belvoir, became a public park, the Lake Accotink Yacht Club, founded by Ernest (Buddy) Belote, sailed there between 1972 and 1982. Members raced according to the rules of the International Yacht…

Lake Accotink served as a water supply for Fort Belvoir until 1963 when the Fairfax County Park Authority opened recreational facilties there, purchasing it from the government in 1965 for $88,250.

A cardboard boat regatta is among park…

Burke Lake Park is an example of county and citizens groups working together to create a recreational area. In the late 1950s, sport fishing leagues and conservative groups suggested to the Fairfax County Park Authority that a public fishing lake be…

Val Vahouny and her family moved to a new home in the original Kings Park development in 1963. Like many families in the 1950s, she and her husband first lived in an apartment until their growing family required more space. She talks about family and…

Mayo Stuntz is a descendant of the Fitzhugh family who came to the area in the 1600s. Born in 1915, he traces his genealogy, childhood, and county history. He talks about growing up in the county and its historic sites. Mayo Stuntz is a founding…

Donna Soderholm moved to the Braddock District of Fairfax County in 1963. Compared to Chicago, the Virginia suburbs were undeveloped and her husband's commute to downtown DC took only a half hour. Most families in her neighborhood had four or more…