Cherrydale Community Archives

In numerous articles and books i read in the Virginia room in the Arlington Public library I found the issue of small, old historic type houses being knocked down and new large houses being placed in that do not go with the community. Cherrydale has many sears houses, bungalows and other old small houses. Many people moved t0 this neighborhood because of its small community feel. In June of 2005 Cherrydale residents created a neighborhood conservation plan to try to keep old homes, old trees and other historic aspects of Cherrydale. http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/CPHD/Documents/4614Cherrydale_PLan_Final.pdf (Cherrydale Conservation Plan)

Cherrydale was settled over 100 years ago so keeping old homes and restoring them has proven to be very difficult since it is much easier and cheaper to build a new house or multiple new houses in place of where one used to be. Cherrydale also used to be much more diverse than it is now, but with rising home prices throughout Arlington many of the blue collar workers that used to live here can no longer afford it and Cherrydale is now mainly filled with white collar workers.

Brockwood Community Archives

I chose to do my follow up of the Virginia room on a picture I found there of abandoned railroad lines as of 1990. I noticed that one in particular, the W & OD Railroad, was located within my neighborhood's boundaries. I then discovered the history of this W & OD Railroad.

The W & OD Railroad, which stands for the Washington & Old Dominion Railroad, stretch approximately 45 miles from Purcellville, Viriginia to Shirlington, Arlington, Virginia with 14 stops in between the two. The W & OD Railroad was built in 1859 to replace the successful Alexandria, Loudoun, and Hampshire Railroad. The entrepreneurs who founded the railroad fantasized about bringing coal and other riches from the Applachian Mountains to the Port of Alexandria. Although the railroad was nearly destroyed in the Civil War (1861-1865), the railroad was able to establish itself as an important means of transportation. The heyday of the W & OD Railroad was approximately from 1900 to 1920 when electric trolley lines were popular means of transportation. During its heyday, the W & OD Railroad ran its course three times a day. (The nearest stop to the Brockwood Neighborhood is at Bluemont Junction, which is located in Bluemont Park across Wilson Boulevard from Bon Air Park and the Brockwood Neighborhood.) However, as the popularity of electric trolley lines diminished with new means of transportation, such as cars (Regarded as the first affordable automobile accessible to a variety of people and social classes, the Model T was built from 1908 to 1927.) Today, what once stood the W & OD Railroad now stands the W & OD Trail, a lengthy course of bike path for bikers and runners alike. Many parts of the bike path are in the exact location where railroad tracks used to be.

Community Archives Clarendon War Memorial

On item that interested me was the War Memorial in Clarendon located at the Intersection of Washington, Wilson, and Clarendon. I first stumbled across it when I saw a then and now picture published in the March 6th, 1979 issue of the Northern Virginia Sun. The article shows two pictures one from 1936 that contains the memorial and a second from the time of publication that does not contain the memorial. When I further resesarched the memorial I discovered that it was built with stones from a wall of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Clarendon Circle. Clarendon Circle was in the middle of the intersection and worked as a traffic circle. When the circle was taken out the memorial was removed and it was not until after the metro stop had been installed that the memorial was moved back to the intersection very close to its original position. The memorial still stands today at the end of the park between Wilson and Clarendon Boulevards.