Unless you live under a rock, you probably heard about the recent news of the potential move for two major Washington, D.C., sports teams to northern Virginia. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin reached a tentative deal two days ago with the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals (via Monumental Sports & Entertainment) to move the team’s sports venue from the Capitol One Arena to a “visionary sports and entertainment venue” at Potomac Yard in northern Alexandria. The proposed development would include a new arena for the two sports teams, as well as a practice facility, performing arts center, hotels, convention center housing, and shopping.
The proposed stadium/complex area (JBG Smith)
Naturally, most people in the area are split on the potential move. On one end, the location of the team at Potomac Yard near the new metro would mean potential job creation and a boom for surrounding real estate property values. With that, however, comes the traffic hassles in an already crowded area. This of course does not account for what D.C. natives feel for losing two major sports teams, leaving just the Washington Mystics, D.C. United, and Washington Capitals as the only pro-level teams vying for a competition in the nation’s capital. Mayor Muriel Bowser offered a very hefty counter offer which raised the eyebrows of locals wondering where the substantial figure came from.
A very poignant comment (AlxNow.com)
This would be a major deal for Youngkin and his administration. However, this is not the first time a pro sports team tried to play in Potomac Yard. In the early 1990s, then-Redkins owner Jack Kent Cooke attempted to move the franchise from RFK Stadium in Washington to “Kent Cooke Stadium” at Potomac Yard. The huge announcement came on July 9, just several months removed from what would be the last Redskins Super Bowl Win (a game I remember watching fondly as a 7-year-old). On that day, Jack Kent Cooke made the announcement with Virginia Governor K. Douglas Wilder for a plot of land in the approximate area where the shopping area resides today next to Richmond Highway.
Like today, the announcement was highly controversial. The Washington Post reported that many Alexandria-area residents and several City Council members expressed their distaste for the plan, adding that they were “angry that Wilder and Cooke hatched the proposal without consulting the city.” Given that the Metro official was also not notified by Youngkin or the investment firm about the newest iteration of the sportsplex, history repeats itself.
Cooke proposed a 78,600-seat stadium with plans to be ready for the 1994 season. Ultimately, the plan fell through after Cooke “rejected concessions that Wilder said were necessary to keep the proposal alive,” just three months after the initial announcement in October 1992:
“I still believe that Potomac Yard is an ideal site for the new Washington Redskins stadium. I thank the governor for his valiant efforts to bring this plan to fruition, but in light of the dramatic changes which were proposed that I cannot abide, I now have no further interest in the Potomac Yard site.” – Redkins Owner Jack Kent Cooke
Washington Post (Thursday, October 15, 1992; Page A01)
The Redkins later received their long-awaited replacement stadium in Maryland, Fed Ex Field, which is (in my humble opinion) a poor replacement for RFK and considered one of the worst stadiums in pro sports.
Will Youngkin forge a new history and ink a deal for pro sports history? Given what happened outside of Reagan National (just up the street from the proposed site) at Thanksgiving, I am personally finding it hard to fathom what would happen to the stadium when somebody like LeBron James and the Lakes comes to town. Ample parking has never been a strong suit for Alexandria, and I don’t see that happening here.
I am always up for finding new and exciting things to do around Northern Virginia. It doesn’t matter what experience it is—shopping, dining, or entertainment—I’m not the type to do the same old thing every week. After living here for almost a decade, it always surprises me when something pops up that I haven’t heard of before.
I was following one of my favorite content creators on Youtube, Adam the Woo, as he stopped for a brief stint in the DC Metro area. After catching a Nationals-Rays baseball game, he and his friend stopped by the Bunnyman Bridge in Clifton (something we are no stranger of) before filming a short segment at a nearby brewery of the same name.
Was this real? Bunnyman Brewing? No way.
I had to find out for myself.
There are plenty of Northern Virginia breweries with varying degrees of interesting names: Fair Winds, Chubby Squirrel, Two Silos, Two Bears and a Goat. This one directly related to something we wrote about back when Offbeat NOVA first started, so we had to go.
After a quick internet search, I discovered that Bunnyman Brewing opened its doors in 2019. Nestled in the back of a business park in the Fairfax/Burke area near Lake Royal, Bunnyman offers “high-quality beers with an exciting rotation of unique variations.” The best part? It’s family friendly.
We “hopped” in the car this past Saturday to have a few hare-raising beers with a couple of friends. The knowledgeable staff showed us the ropes once we got there. You are given a card that you scan near the self-serve tap. You pay by the ounce—from forty cents up to a dollar. Your standard pint, then, will only set you back about seven or eight dollars. Not bad considering how delicious everything was.
There were glasses for pints, testers, and even flights. We had a few flights of beers amongst us and had a pint of the beers we liked best. My favorite was the German-style Altbier. If you are looking for something sweeter, I recommend the Dark Bunny almond vanilla milk stout. Moderation is everything, though. One of their beers, the Binders Barrel-Aged S’mores Milk Stout, is 12.5% ABV. That’s over three percent more than a Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA. A couple of those in my wildest of days would have laid me out. I had one sip. That was it.
Our sampling of beers. Hare Raiser and Altbier were amazing.
The atmosphere at our table outside was extremely relaxed. Although there was no live music that Saturday, the location is known for a regular rotation of local favorites. We sampled some food from an Indian food truck while there. The samosas were tasty. You can hear the Amtrak trains in the distance while you sip away on something and converse amongst friends and family. All-in-all, we will most definitely be back for more.
Don’t forget to look to your left once you arrive at the location – there is a small cutout of the Bunnyman in the trees that makes for a perfect photo op.
You could say I couldn’t “axe” for a better afternoon.
Internet trends are weird. More often than not, people who perform them for online audiences toe the line between entertainment and insanity. Are followers that important?
Everything from asking strangers on the street what song’s on their phone to stopping people for obviously staged tours of their apartments, I often find myself cringing as I’m scrolling through Instagram at night. And then there are the pranks. Internet pranks range from the kitschy stuff your seven-year-old watches to the moments that spark public outreach. Say what you want about Jackass, but they were innovators.
Tanner Cook, part of the YouTube channel Classified Goons, has amassed around 40,000 subscribers. Their videos primarily feature “IRL prank videos” that Cook is filmed performing. If you wanna know what kind of people the Classified Goons are, their video with the most views is titled “Fake Target Thug Employee Prank!”
So it should come as no surprise that Mr. Cook got pranked himself last week when one of his IRL stunts went horribly wrong inside the food court of a quiet Northern Virginia shopping center. Tanner was inside the Dulles Town Center Mall last week pulling pranks on strangers using Google translate. That was when 31-year-old Alan Colie of Leesburg pulled a semiautomatic pistol and shot Cook in the Stomach inside the Sterling Mall.
There are only two reasons you should be in this area: to go to the airport, or if you live there for some reason.
Cook was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery but survived even though he was in critical condition. The bullet pierced through his stomach and liver. Colie surrendered to the police and is in custody after the gunshot caused a mild panic inside the mall.
Video footage on Instagram (@thisismyu5ername) showed Colie lying on the ground of the second-floor food court. Tanner, commenting after his recovery, stated that he was “playing a prank and a simple practical joke,” noting that he clearly “didn’t take it very well.” Tanner’s father also made a statement on the news:
“They were making a video at the mall and trying to have fun with people and this guy wasn’t having fun,” added Jeramy Cook. “There was a phone that was around him and they were interviewing or talking to him, and he didn’t like it and he pulled out his gun and shot my son.”
The dad later said to ABC7 News that he forgives the man who shot his son. Despite this, Colie is still under arrest and charged with multiple felonies after the incident. It is unclear whether the YouTube influencer will also be charged for the events that led up to the incident.
A side by side comparison of Colie being arrested and the same spot over the weekend. (Offbeat NOVA/Matthew Eng)
I went to the Dulles Town Center over the weekend to see the spot where Cook was shot. The area where Colie was taken down and arrested is near a small convenience store and a Popeyes. A few guests quietly ate their food as I walked by. Nobody really seemed to notice why I kept staring at that specific spot near the massage chairs. It’s almost as if people were minding their business and wanted to be left alone. Imagine that?
When I was growing up in Virginia Beach, I always heard tales of a friendly ghost at a local restaurant called Tandom’s Pine Tree Inn. The building had been around for decades—it was only natural that a ghost story go with it. Allegedly, the ghost liked to play tricks on staff. A friend’s mother, who waitressed there for time, told a story about plates being stacked one way, leaving the room, then returning to see them stacked another way. Another time, she said, she came in to open the restaurant one morning and all the chairs in the dining room were haphazardly strewn around, even though the person who had closed the night before swore they were neatly put away.
Eventually, that building was torn down to make way for progress (a Wawa, to be exact) and the stories of the friendly trickster ghost faded away. It made me wonder whether Northern Virginia had any tales of friendly ghosts—after all, cities like Alexandria had been around for much longer than Virginia Beach.
Imagine my surprise when I learned that the upscale Overlee Community Center and pool in Arlington was purported to have a friendly ghost hanging about.
The Overlee (meaning “north of Lee Highway”)1 Community Center is a private club that was founded in 1957. It has multiple pools, park land, sports areas, and a clubhouse. The clubhouse is the item of interest in all the stories I read—though it is not the clubhouse that is standing today. The former clubhouse was a historic home, known as the Febrey-Kincheloe house, that served as the clubhouse for the association until 2012, when the pool members voted 55 to 4 to renovate the complex.2 Part of the renovations included tearing down the historic home and building a new clubhouse.
The Febrey family was the first to own the historic home. The Febreys bought a 176-acre tract of land in 1849; in 1890 Ernest Febrey built a three-bedroom home that overlooked an apple orchard and creek.3 Shortly after he built the home, his wife gave birth to a little girl, Margaret. Margaret, unfortunately, passed away on January 15, 1913, at the age of 14. She had Pott’s disease, a rare infection of the spine.4 Supposedly the family no longer used the home after Margaret died. She is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, not far from the site of her home, with her mother and infant brother.
Margaret A. Febrey Tombstone in Oakwood Cemetery, Falls Church (FindAGrave)
In 1947, a lady named Florence Kincheloe bought the property. She converted the home into what was known as the Crestwood Sanitarium, a home for retired Washington dignitaries.5 Little details exist about the Crestwood, though a publication from the Arlington Historical Society notes that “it was a burden to manage [the sanitarium] and that the population in the area was too young to need a nursing home,” so she sold the property in 1957.6 Soon after, it became the Overlee Community Center.
Febrey-Kincheloe House, 1997 (Arlington Library)
Over time, the creek and the orchard disappeared, but the house remained. However, it seems that more than just the house stuck around.
A former swim coach that lived in the Febrey-Kincheloe house in the late 70’s and early 80’s reported hearing weird noises (but never seeing anything) that reminded him of the ballroom dancing scene in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.7 One of the Overlee Board members mentioned “other ghost stories” that included “music and strange noises and things . . . most people believe it’s from the time it was a sanitarium.”8
Sounds like something straight out of a Stephen King novel, if you ask me.
However, there is another well-known ghost that is said to haunt the property.
Multiple people have reported seeing the ghost of a young girl wandering the grounds. Described as chatty and friendly, she was said to enjoy playing with other children at the pool.9 When the property was renovated and the original Febrey home torn down, construction workers reported seeing a girl in Victorian clothing climbing through the construction debris and walking around the site.10 Others reported talking to a young girl in “strange clothing” that they later identified as Margaret.11 One former manager recounted odd happenings, such as a lifeguard chair swiveling on its own, the sound of rocks being thrown into construction equipment, or the shuffling of feet in a breezeway.12One construction worker even quit after he sighted her in the house. He went in to find her, came out, then saw her on the steps. He turned away for a moment, and she was gone. A coworker said that the worker who sighted the girl immediately packed his stuff and left the site.13
The Overlee Community Center Clubhouse, site of the former home (Offbeat NOVA)
No one reported any malice or frightful happenings, just small, slight occurrences that suggested there was more at work than just an active imagination. Even so, there have been few sightings of Margaret since 2012. An article from Arlington Connection, dated 2013, asks, “Where are you, Margaret?”14 and recounts one story of a sighting.
Overlee Community Pool (Offbeat NOVA)
The friendly ghost of my childhood, the Pine Tree Inn ghost, disappeared after the building was razed. The stories and occurrences stopped the second the building came down (though I’d love to know if anyone’s ever encountered something weird at the WaWa). Like the Pine Tree Inn ghost, the ghost of Margaret Febrey seems to have disappeared with the destruction of her home.
The board members didn’t take any chances when the house was demolished, though. They left flowers and a note that said, “Dear Margaret, we are building you a new house. Please come visit any time.”15
And maybe, she will.
But I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Footnotes:
Zak, Dan. “Haunting at Overlee pool in Arlington shows past is still part of community’s future,” The Washington Post, June 13, 2012. Accessed April 24, 2021, LINK.
Zak, “Haunting at Overlee.”
Ibid.
Ibid.
n.a. “The Spirits at Overlee,” Rediscover Haunted Arlington. October 28, 2019. Accessed April 24, 2021. LINK.
Vogel, Sophie. “Growth of a Suburban Village: Fostoria, Overlee Knolls & Westover, 1730-1998,” Arlington Historical Society Magazine. October 1998. Accessed April 24, 2021. LINK.
Zak, “Haunting at Overlee.”
Pyzyk, Katie. “Workers Report ghost Sightings at Overlee.” ARLnow. March 16, 2012. Accessed April 24, 2021. LINK.
Zak, “Haunting at Overlee.”
n.a.“Spirits at Overlee.”
Ibid.
Zak, “Haunting at Overlee.”
“Arlington ghost: construction worker quits after Margaret Febrey sighting.” YouTube video. November 9, 2012. Accessed April 24, 2012. LINK.
McMorrow, Michael. “Where Are You, Margaret? TheArlington Connection. Connection Newspapers. September 11, 2013. Accessed April 24, 2021. LINK.
Offbeat Postscripts is a series of short posts where we cover small topics of offbeat history in Northern Virginia.
By Matthew T. Eng, Offbeat NOVA
When we started this blog in July of last year, I talked about the reasons we started the project. One thing that prompted us to begin this endeavor was, like so many other people borne out of boredom and the nearly infinite amount of time on our hands, a Netflix binge. For us, the binge-worthy show in question was Netflix’s Mindhunter.
Above all other shows I binge watched (or rewatched) in while in quarantine (Cobra Kai, Black Sails, Gotham, Stranger Things, etc.), I enjoyed Mindhunter the most. After all, it got both of us thinking about this project. As much as Holden Ford wanted to discover the psychology behind serial killings, I wanted to learn more about the history, legend, and lore of the area where I now call home.
Interestingly enough, that show happens to “take place” largely in several locations in Northern Virginia. I use the term “locations” because the majority of these scenes take place at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. The academy is located in Prince William County. Quantico is a frequent location in many popular films and television series, including Mindhunter. Whether it be Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, Criminal Minds, or the short-lived eponymously-named show on ABC, “Quantico” is never really Quantico.
(Top) “Quantico” from the Highland Park VA Hospital; (Center) Highland Park VA Hospital; (Bottom Left) Guard Station at “Quantico;” (Bottom Right) Highland Park VA Hospital from the Sky. Images: Atlas of Wonders, SetDecorators.org, Google Earth.
In the case of Mindhunter, the film’s third scene begins in Quantico as Holden heads back to train Academy students on hostage negotiation. The exterior shots of the building, all done up in perfect late 1970s nostalgia, was shot at the former Veterans Hospital in Highland Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.1 Looking at the images on Google Maps, I can see why producers chose the location: it is a large complex (168 acres) with ample space set within a small forest of trees on all sides for privacy.
The hospital, which opened in 1953 as a neuropsychiatric facility for World War II veterans suffering from PTSD, was officially closed by the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System in 2013, allowing Netflix the use of a relatively new abandoned property along the Allegheny River.2 The interior shots of the building were filmed at a place called 31st Street Studios, a few miles down the bend in Pittsburgh in the hip Strip District. The studio was also where the interior shots of Holden’s apartment in Fredericksburg were shot in the second scene of the first episode.
Looking at the actual building Quantico, you can see a small resemblance. The architecture and style is similar, reminiscent of the Soviet-style Brutalism that is either loved or hated by DMV residents. The doll-up passes muster, as does most of the production for the show. The budget was undoubtedly high, allowing them to take creative license within acceptable taste.
Entrance of George Washington Hotel in Washington, PA, where Holden and Debbie exit (Wikimedia Commons)
Also in the first episode, Holden has a drink with another instructor at an unnamed bar near Quantico. We only know that it is south of Quantico, because Holden later tells his future girlfriend Debbie that he worked “up the road.” Reading too far into it, one might assume the bar would be fictionally set in Fredericksburg near where he lived. The exterior location of the bar in question was filmed at the George Washington Hotel in Washington, Pennsylvania, just south of Pittsburgh where many other scenes for the series were shot.
So the next time you are in the “Steel City” and its surrounding bedroom communities, take a look and think about that show where Kristoff from Frozen is naked a lot and basically becomes a serial killer/sociopath by the end of the second season. You know, just normal thoughts we all have in quarantine, right?
Images courtesy of Atlas of Wonders/Filming Locations.
Footnotes:
Ra Moon, “Filming Locations Guide: Where was Mindhunter Filmed?” Atlas of Wonders, October 2017. Accessed March 3, 2021, LINK.
Bob Bauder, “Pittsburgh closing in on acquisition of former VA hospital in Highland Park, Trib Live, July 14, 2020. Accessed March 3, 2021, LINK.
Ah, yes. Thanksgiving. The unofficial start of the holiday season. For many of us in the United states, it is that time-honored day when friends and families come together to share stories and a wonderful meal. Political arguments are forcibly made. An invisible 38th Parallel of maturity is drawn once the kids table is set out downwind of the adults. Somebody’s uncle gets drunk. Everyone eats enough carbohydrates to easily pass out on the couch in the early evening while the opening credits to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory comes on the television screen for the children who ate their body weight in sugar-soaked pies.
Magical.
Well, that was all before COVID. 2020 is a different year altogether, for a variety of reasons we don’t need to get into. With the pandemic reaching some of its highest numbers in Northern Virginia to date, hopefully most around the beltway will stay safe and hold their family meals in virtual form.
Even without COVID, there are some who do not have the option to head home to break bread with friends and family. For members of the United States military, having a meal at home is a luxury reserved for few individuals. The United States Marine Corps, an organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., but regionally centered thirty miles down I-95 in Quantico, have historically eaten their Thanksgiving dinners in locations all around the world in conditions we can only dream of. Whether it be on the tropical island of Guadalcanal in the Solomons in 1942, the frozen mountain landscapes of Chosin Reservoir in 1950, or the deserts of the Middle East, Marines have always made the best of whatever situation they encounter, especially during the holidays. They are the embodiment of their unofficial slogan,“Semper Gumby,” or “always flexible.”
But what do Marines eat stateside in Quantico? This year, the Clubs at Quantico and Crossroads Events Center is holding a special Thanksgiving brunch for families on base that want to have their meal taken care of. The menu includes all the trimmings, plus champagne for adults and even omelette station for those who shy away from the usual fare. Thinking about the hardships endured by Marines eating their special meal on the front lines, I find it hard to believe that there would be an omelette station back then.
Luckily, vintage copies of Thanksgiving menus exist thanks to the diligent work of historians and archivists. There is a menu from a Thanksgiving dinner held by the First Signal Company in Quantico on Thanksgiving 1937 that speaks to what Marines ate long ago.
Thanksgiving in Quantico, 1937 (USMC Archives/Flickr)
Looking through the menu, there are several items that stick out as either unusual or a remixed version of what is classically placed on tables today. The first (and most obvious) is the roast young turkey, a smaller version to the much larger male version (roast tom turkey). Oyster dressing has an interesting connection to military history, specifically with the Navy and Marine Corps. Oyster dressing was a common menu item on U.S. Navy menus throughout the 1920s-1940s. It’s origins in America dates back to the 18th century when oysters were the most commonly eaten shellfish in America. Oysters were stuffed inside turkeys as an inexpensive source of protein. Other dressing options for similar menus during the time period included caper dressing or giblet gravy. Snowflaked potatoes were a special form of mashed potatoes made with sour cream and cream cheese. According to the New York Public Library website “What’s on the Menu,” snowflake potatoes were included in restaurant menus between 1928 and 1954. The mince pie, a British-inspired sweet fruit pie, were traditionally served to service members throughout the 1930s and 1940s at the start of the holiday season. The “hot rolls” were most likely a mimic of the famous parker house rolls, a staple across all military branches since the early twentieth century.
There is one item missing from this 1937 menu that was often included during that time period: cigarettes or cigars served during the dessert course.
The following year, Quantico served similar fare, but switched up the young turkey for the “roast Maryland turkey” with oyster dressing. From what I have gathered, a “Maryland turkey” is cooked and served with roasting vegetables. Some other menus found on the NYPL website have the turkey served among the cold dishes. The mince pie was swapped for the marble cake, a far better choice.
If you are interested in tracing the culinary history of Marines and Thanksgiving, the USMC Archives Flickr page is an excellent resource. I also did something similar in a different life for U.S. Navy menus (of course, not specific to Northern Virginia) back in 2014 for the Naval Historical Foundation.
Happy Thanksgiving from Offbeat NOVA. Wear a mask.
Offbeat Postscripts is a series of short posts where we cover small topics of offbeat history in Northern Virginia.
Confederate monument removal in Alexandria, now completely gone (Offbeat NOVA Photo)
By Matthew T. Eng, Offbeat NOVA
There was another march/protest yesterday.
For the DMV region, that’s nothing new. There is always somebody protesting something, especially in Washington, D.C. The 1963 Million Man March during the Civil Rights era, however, made making your voice heard and proving a point en masse a popular concept with national media attention. Much like the women’s suffrage movement growing from Seneca Falls to the steps of the White House decades earlier, the noise and activism started by a few noteworthy individuals grew to a collective effort of a large segment of the population.
Most recently, there have been a wave of protests, marches, and demonstrations in response to the Donald J. Trump presidency. In a grand wave of irony, they are marching for the same exact things they did previously: women’s rights, racial equality, and the unnecessary violence that stems from poor policy making.
And then there was the march yesterday: The Million MAGA March. In completely unoriginal fashion, the organizers literally took one of the most important names in Civil Rights history, the Million Man March, and added “MAGA” to it. Over a week after the 2020 election was called in favor of Joe Biden, Trump supporters flocked to the aptly named Freedom Plaza near the White House to protest the election results in support of the ideologue watching from his television. It’s like they are still yelling at people for sitting at a lunch counter. The lunch counter is just a lot longer with more seats.
Are you sitting or standing?
Despite the misgivings of Trump supporters, change has happened. Joe Biden will be the 46th president. After January 20, 2021, the government can officially begin to undo all of the harm the previous administration has done to large segments of the population in the United States. That being said, the activism of many have already made changes, especially with regards to the removal of the racist effigies of the Confederacy that feature so prominently in the state of Virginia.
Changing the Lee High School in Springfield to John Lewis (Offbeat NOVA Photo)
Monuments are coming down all around in Northern Virginia. Fairfax County. Loudon County. Alexandria. Symbols of hate are being removed. The Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield turned into John R. Lewis High School this summer. JEB Stuart Park is now called Justice Park. The Washington-Lee High School is now called the Washington-Liberty High School. The Fairfax High School mascot is a lion, not a rebel. It’s not removing history. It’s correcting a mistake. As a student of history by trade and profession, you can’t kid a kidder.
Thinking about everything that is going on, one of the things that pops in my head regularly is the film Pleasantville. In the film, the two protagonists are transported to a seemingly idyllic small midwest town set within a tv show, only to realize that their lives in black and what are anything but perfect.
(Pleasantville/New Line Cinema)
Slowly, citizens in the town slowly gain “color” as they come to dramatic realizations and new emotions and world views. Naturally, the townspeople react by rioting by destroying property, burning books, and harassing the “colored” people in the streets. They were angry, violent, and self-centered. Yet despite that emotion, there is no realization; no change in perception. They remain in black and white.
It’s been less than one hundred years since the Klu Klux Klan marched in a parade on the same streets where MAGA hopefuls did yesterday. Let that sink in. The irony would be dripping if it wasn’t so sad and terrifying. So where can we improve?
Many places in Northern Virginia. In case you were wondering where, I’ve come up with a list for you. If we just focus on removing the racist remains of the Confederacy, here is a list to start with:
GENERAL
Jefferson Davis Highway (various)
Lee Highway in Fairfax and Arlington
Lee Jackson Memorial Highway, Chantilly
PLACES
Alexandria:
Lee District Rec Center
Matthew Maury Elementary School
Manassass:
Stonewall Jackson Volunteer Fire and Rescue Dept.
Fairfax:
Lanier Middle School
Lees Corner Elementary
Mosby Woods Elementary School
Springfield:
Sangster Elementary
ROADS
Alexandria:
Beauregard Street
Bragg Street
Braxton Place
Breckinridge Place
Chambliss Street
Dearing Street
Donelson Street
Early Street
Floyd Street
French Street
Frost Street
Gordon Street
Hardee Place
Hume Avenue
Imboden Street
Iverson Street
Jackson Place
Janney’s Lane
Jordan Street
Jubal Avenue
Lee Street
Longstreet Lane
Maury Lane
Pegram Street
Quantrell Avenue
Reynolds Street
Rosser Street
Van Dorn Street
Wheeler Avenue
Annandale:
John Marr Drive
Lanier Street
Rebel Drive
Centreville:
Confederate Ridge Lane
General Lee Drive
Chantilly:
Mosby Highway
Old Lee Road
Fairfax:
Confederate Lane
Mosby Woods Drive
Old Lee Highway
Pickett Road
Rebel Run
Manassas:
Beauregard Avenue
Lee Avenue
We’re in the middle of a historical moment, and one day the existence of these roads and monuments will be an offbeat coda to a long-standing fight to eradicate symbols of hate and racism. Like the MAGA march, they will exist as a footnote to an embarrassing moment in our history.
One day soon. Here’s my favorite quote from Pleasantville:
“There are some places that the road doesn’t go in a circle. There are some places where the road keeps going.”
Offbeat Postcripts is a series of short posts where we cover small topics of offbeat history in Northern Virginia.
By Matthew T. Eng, Offbeat NOVA
We were going to wait until January 20, 2021, to write this short piece on Richard Spencer and his short stay in Old Town Alexandria. After recent events, however, it just felt like the right time.
On February 5, 2017, the Eng clan got into the family truckster and headed into Old Town Alexandria for a relaxing morning of shopping. It was cold that day, with the temperature hanging somewhere in the forties. Our daughter, Zelda, was just a few days shy of her first birthday. With two teeth poking out of the bottom of her mouth, she was very much the vision of a fussy 1-year-old. Admittedly, Angela and I were also a little fussy too. That morning was less than two weeks after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. As proud as I was for Angela and her friends to take part in the Women’s March the day after Trump took office, we still had to settle into the grim reality of a Trump presidency. We both thought the fresh air would do all of us some good.
You can basically separate Old Town Alexandria in a two sections, split between the north and south of King Street cut off along its Washington Street intersection. Everything across Washington Street towards the Potomac is the heavy-traffic area of Old Town where most of the restaurants and tourist traps are. Do you want to go to the Old Town Alexandria ghost tours or eat at a restaurant with overpriced appetizers? Head to the water. The other side towards the King Street Metro is much quieter with less foot traffic. There’s still a lot of cool shops and restaurants, just not in the same frequency.
Sign in front of BLOW Salon (Matthew Eng Photo/Offbeat NOVA)
That morning, I parked on a side street off the main road. Our first stop was the former location of Fibre Space, an excellent place for all your yarn needs if you are thinking about getting into knitting or crocheting. I waited patiently with Zelda as Angela shopped for supplies she needed for an upcoming project. After finishing up there, we decided to stroll up King Street to Misha’s Coffee on the corner of King Street and South Patrick St. Walking on the right side of the road on King, we kept noticing “No Vacancy for Hate” and “Everyone is Welcome” signs in the windows and doorways of shops and businesses. Almost every shop had at least one of these signs. A large dry-erase board in front of a salon called BLOW finally tipped us off to what was going on:
“The people who HATE the most are often the people who hate themselves the most.”
The sign included a tongue-in-cheek “Let Us Make Your Hair Great Again” slogan complete with a Trump caricature. It was then that it finally clicked why all the signs were up. It wasn’t just because of the recent tenant in the White House. Old Town Alexandria also had a new member to its population: notorious white nationalist Richard Spencer.
Richard Spencer rented the top two floors of a large white building at 1003 King Street, on the corner of N. Patrick Street, in early 2017. The bottom floor tenant at the time, Blüprint Chocolatiers, had no say in her landlord renting Spencer the space. According to a Washington Post article, however, the owners quickly made it known to residents and visitors that she had nothing to do with their upstairs neighbor. She adorned the front of their shop with red and white ribbons and a sign that read “Everyone is Welcome Here,” which many others in the surrounding area had also done. This, along with the newest addition to Alexandria, was likely in direct response to the then-recent Executive Order banning foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim country from visiting the country for ninety days, and suspending entry of all Syrian refugees into the country indefinitely.1
Of course, we all remember what happened to Spencer on Inauguration Day:
Previously, Spencer and the National Policy Institute, his white nationalist think tank, were headquartered in neighboring Arlington, Virginia. Perhaps Trump taking the Presidency gave him the idea to seek classier accommodations on the busy Alexandria intersection.
Throughout his time there, Spencer had to endure a stable group of protestors and demonstrators below his apartment. He had plenty of time to nurse his wounded face and pride as he watched the throng of protestors through closed blinds and darkened rooms from above like a pathetic “man in the high tower.” According to WTOP, they would congregate to protest twice a month. The protests were organized by Grassroots Alexandria, a citizen-led group advocating for the safety and security of fellow Alexandrians.
So why did he move there? The Washingtonian said it best:
Why would Spencer, when he relocated from Montana, choose to pitch his tent in a deep-blue city whose diverse population is 51 percent minority? The answer is quite basic, actually. “It’s just a nice place,” he says. Spencer thinks Old Town is beautiful. He likes the restaurants. He likes “how it feels—the whole look.”2
The Washingtonian (August 1, 2017)
Spencer only stayed in Old Town for a year and a half. Throughout the course of his time there, we never saw much movement in the upstairs rooms of the white building any time we walked by or drove through the area. Hopefully he got the hint that he wasn’t welcome. There must have been a strong indication in May of 2017 when Spencer had his membership at the Old Town Sport & Health club revoked after the owner made a “business decision” to pull it. Spencer protested the decision, telling Buzzfeed that he was a “model gymgoer” who didn’t bother anyone. When the general manager, a professor at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, asked Spencer if he was in fact the same person, he denied it. She published photos of the confrontation in a blog post, adding, “not only are you a Nazi, you’re a cowardly Nazi.” Protests only increased in the wake of the Charlottesville “Unite the Right Rally,” which Spencer attended.3
Today, the shop beneath the apartment is a sock shop called the Old Town Sock Co. Blüprint Chocolatiers closed their doors on Easter Sunday 2020 after five-years. As of November 5, 2020, the floors above the sock sheet remain without a tenant.
Jonathan Krall of Grassroots Alexandria had no sympathy after Spencer’s exit from his prime real estate in Alexandria on King Street. In fact, he felt he played a part in him leaving. “Oh, I think we had an effect,” he said in the closing words of a 2018 interview with the Alexandria Gazette Packet. “We did our best.”4
Donald Trump has been voted out of office. People like Spencer no longer has a platform almost anywhere. His National Policy Institute was banned by YouTube in June of this year for not following the platform’s policies against hate speech. Free speech still (rightfully) exists, but thankfully fewer people are listening to his ilk.5
For others before him, like George Lincoln Rockwell, their presence was not welcome in this area. Northern Virginia can be many things. A cesspool of traffic. A white liberal cross-section of society filled with unaffordable houses. The bedroom community of government workers. The ends of the yellow, blue, orange, and silver Metro lines. And, most importantly, a suitable substitute for “D.C.” when you tell people you don’t know ask where you’re from because it’s easier geographically.
It is not, however, a place for fascists, bigots, and small minds. That goes double for the big white house just up the road from Old Town.
But it’s not over. For now, we can be happy and breathe for the first time in four years. Tomorrow, let’s put our masks on and get back to work.
Donald Trump: You’re Fired (Angela H. Eng Photo/Offbeat NOVA)
Footnotes:
Patricia Sullivan, “The chocolatiers and the white nationalist, coexisting in Old Town Alexandria, The Washington Post, February 17, 2017. Accessed November 5, 2020, LINK.
Kim Olsen, “This Virginia Town Can’t Get Rid of Richard Spencer, and It’s Driving Locals Crazy,” The Washingtonian, August 1, 2017. Accessed November 5, 2020, LINK.
NBC4 Washington, “‘Alt-right’ Leader Loses Gym Membership After Confrontation,” NBC4 Washington, May 22, 2017. Accessed November 5, 2020, LINK.
James Cullum, “A Vigil to Bid Farewell in Alexandria,” Alexandria Gazette Packet, August 20, 2018. Accessed November 5, 2020, LINK.
Kaya Yurieff, “YouTube removes Richar Spencer and David Duke a year after saying it would ban supremacists,” CNN (online), June 20, 2020. Accessed November 5, 2020, LINK.
Offbeat Postcripts is a series of short posts where we cover small topics of offbeat history in Northern Virginia.
By Matthew T. Eng, Offbeat NOVA
There is a flagpole in the middle of a garden and brick path in the desirable Montclair neighborhood in Dumfries, VA. A small set of benches sit nearby like restful sentries waiting for neighborhood residents to take in the patriotic tableau in quiet reflection. The small area is located directly in front of the Montclair Property Owners Association, Inc. The flagpole, unassuming in its position off the road near the busy intersection of Waterway Drive and Cardinal Drive, is even more mysterious in its true purpose.
A Blue Star Memorial marker shows the location as a “tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America.” On the brick path leading up to the flag are the names and short messages of Montclair residents who have served in foreign wars and conflicts from World War II to the present day. It’s a nice way to honor the men and women who lived locally but served globally.
If that was the real reason why the flagpole was there, we would certainly not be covering it here for Offbeat NOVA. There are countless flagpoles and Blue Star Memorial markers around the region with similar stories and purposes.
This one is different.
Resting on the ground on the opposite end of the flagpole is a small rock, largely obstructed by some of the overgrown grass on its edges. The inscription highlights the true reason why the flagpole was erected:
“DEDICATED TO THE BRAVE MONTCLAIR RESIDENTS WHO SERVED OUR COUNTRY IN
OPERATION DESERT STORM.
JULY 4, 1991”
The flagpole was dedicated in 1991 in honor of those who served in Operation Desert Storm. What is most interesting is the date it was dedicated: July 4, 1991. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
One of the things I can remember about the Gulf War was the overwhelming sense of patriotism Americans felt for those fighting in the Middle East. Although the Cold War ended that year, the one big moment that stands out for me was Operation Desert Storm. I had a relative who served over there during the conflict and it was a big deal for my family to show our support. I remember the ticker tape parades. The trading cards. The patriotic songs. Dedicating the Montclair Veterans Flagpole on Independence Day, only four months removed from the end of the brief war, is a testament to the patriotic fervor many felt back home. Although 650,000 Americans served in the Gulf War region between 1990-1991, there are not many monuments to it today, even if plans are supposedly underway to create a national memorial up the road in Washington, D.C.
Now that we are currently in the thirtieth anniversary of the conflict, we felt it was the perfect offbeat anecdote to the United States’ Cold War farewell tour.
If you happen to be in Dumfries, VA, stop by this unassuming flagpole. Who knows. Maybe you’ll love it so much you’ll want to live there. Judging by the location of it, you’re already halfway there.
Offbeat NOVA 