Virginia

You can hear the rumble from miles away, a deep roar of engines joined together for a cause. This Memorial Day weekend, thousands of motorcyclists will ride in unison across Memorial Bridge, a moving force of memory and action for POW's and soldiers listed as Missing in Action. Rolling Thunder, as the demonstration is called, has been a Washington Memorial Day tradition since 1988. But do you know the history behind it?

It is generally an accepted practice of militaries around the world to not tell the enemy what you plan to do. It’s also a good idea to avoid passing secrets to enemy spies, especially if you know they are enemy spies. Apparently, however, Union troops stationed in Herndon, Virginia didn’t get the memo. Either that or they were too mesmerized by local belle Laura Ratcliffe to think straight. 

Everyone knows that the President lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. But some locals may remember a time when that wasn’t the case. For ten days in August of 1974, the leader of the free world lived in a relatively modest red brick and white clapboard house in Alexandria, Virginia and commuted to the Oval Office each morning. Life changed pretty quickly for Gerald Ford that summer.

All we know for sure is that Stonewall Jackson's left arm was buried at Ellwood plantation in 1863. What has happened to it since is anyone's guess.

On February 2, 1959, four African American seventh‑graders walked into Stratford Junior High and became the first students to integrate a public school in Virginia. With over 100 Arlington County police officers in riot gear standing guard, it was an orderly and historic moment that helped break the state’s “Massive Resistance” to Brown v. Board and opened the door to wider desegregation across Virginia

In recent years the small brick building at 2507 N. Franklin Rd. in Arlington has been the home of coffee shops and eateries. That is quite a departure from the building’s previous life. From 1968-1984, this duplex was the national headquarters of the American Nazi Party. A swastika hung over the doorway (visible from busy Wilson Blvd half a block away) and khaki-clad “storm troopers” occupied the space, periodically clashing with neighbors.

Sometimes a trip to the mechanic turns into a history lesson. Don't believe us? Visit Joe's Service Center in Warrenton, Virginia. The waiting area is unlike any auto shop you've ever seen.

If you haven't seen it yet, make sure to check out the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington's online exhibit, "Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City, 1861-1865." The exhibit provides an interesting look at Civil War Washington through the lens of the Jewish experience in our fair city.

December 14th marks the anniversary of George Washington's death from an unknown illness, which came on quickly. Centuries later, historians still debate what killed the first President and doctors are weighing in. So, how exactly do you diagnose an illness of a patient who died over 200 years ago? Very carefully.

In 1903, just weeks before Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully flew their Wright flyer in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Smithsonian secretary Samuel Langley launched a daring, government-backed attempt to fly a motorized craft off a houseboat in the Potomac River. Langley's Aerodrome promptly crashed, but — much to the Wright Brothers' dismay — that didn't stop the Smithsonian from crediting Langley with creating the first motorized, manned craft “capable of flight.”

So where do you think Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath made his professional football debut? Shea Stadium in New York? Wrong. Fenway Park in Boston? Wrong again. D.C. Stadium in Washington? Nice try, but no. The correct answer is George Washington High School in Alexandria, Virginia.

The year is 1943. You’re new to the area and looking for a place to live that’s close enough to the city that the commute to your government job won’t be completely terrible. The war is going on and Washington is buzzing with activity. Where are you going to live? Well, if you were looking in Arlington, there’s a good chance you might end up in the new Fairlington neighborhood.